Along with the many great things that happen in our classrooms every day, we are already planning for the next school year. We wanted to share an update with you about our budget planning for the 2023-2024 school year and beyond. This follows our budget update sent on March 14, 2023 and the School Board meeting on March 27th. 

All Minnesota school districts are required to establish an annual budget that balances revenue and expenditures. We have been working with the board for several months on budget planning. Unfortunately ISD 192, along with many metro school districts, is facing a budget deficit for the 2023-2024 school year. The budget deficit for 2023-2024 is primarily caused by the following three factors:

• A decline in birth rates in our community of 28% over the last 10 years, resulting in declining student enrollment in ISD 192
• Lack of adequate funding from the state to keep up with inflationary costs
• Lack of adequate funding from state and federal sources to cover the cost of special education services provided by the district (often referred to as the “special education cross subsidy”)
  

 At the March 27th business meeting, the ISD 192 School Board approved the Budget Realignment Recommendations for the 2023-2024 school year. Our administrative team, finance committee, and School Board have spent a significant amount of time over the last six months considering different ways to approach balancing the budget. The recommendations were made in the context of looking at our system as a whole. You can review the 2023-24 Budget Recommendations as approved at the March 27th meeting as well as frequently asked budget questions here: https://bit.ly/budgetfaq 

Currently, more than 70% of our funding comes from the state of Minnesota. While the State is projecting a budget surplus and is currently considering varying proposals in the House, Senate, and governor's office, a final determination of state educational funding is not anticipated until the end of the legislative session on May 23, 2023. Even if the legislature increases funding for schools, underfunded State and Federal mandates may still result in a budget deficit for our district. You can learn more about underfunded mandates and how they affect school district budgets at https://bit.ly/budgetfaq. 

We are doing our best to balance the budget while maintaining the quality of education and services we provide our students. To learn more about school finance and the budgeting process please visit https://bit.ly/budgetfaq.