Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Santa made a brief appearance at Thursday night’s meeting of the Denair Unified School District school board. If there was one thing school officials could wish for this Christmas, it is more students.

Trustees heard an interim budget report from Chief Business Officer Linda Covello, who shared that the district remains on track to meet its fiscal targets this school year, largely due to a one-time $500,000 infusion of state funding to its $13 million budget. But lurking on the not-too-distant horizon is a sobering reality: Unless the district can begin to grow enrollment again, there may be some difficult financial decisions to make.

Total district enrollment this school year, Covello said, is 1,316, a 2% decline from the previous year. The loss of students has dramatically slowed from a few years ago, when the rate was as high as 11%. The trend is critical because enrollment is at the heart of how the state calculates Average Daily Attendance, or ADA. Each student is worth roughly $8,000 per year in state funding.

“Our decline is getting better, but we’re still going down,” Covello said. “The middle school is pretty much stable. We have declining enrollment at the high school and growing enrollment at the elementary school.”

Part of Covello’s responsibility is to project three years out. Right now, her forecast is for the district to creep back into deficit spending in 2016-17 and 2017-18 because of fewer students and higher mandated contributions to state retirement funds. Even under those scenarios, Denair still would meet the state requirement to have at least 3% of its budget in a reserve fund. Continue reading “DUSD Enrollment Decline Slowing, but Still Affects Budget Outlook” »

Submitted by Denair Unified School District

Though the challenge of growing enrollment remains, the financial condition of the Denair Unified School District continues to improve.

District trustees and the public were briefed at Thursday night’s board meeting about Denair’s budget status, which required a loan of $1.3 million two years ago to avoid state intervention. Those dark days are well behind the district thanks to a series of necessary austerity measures, including an 8% pay reduction for teachers.

The district finished the 2013-14 fiscal year with a $73,000 deficit, much lower than earlier projections that were four times higher. In 2012-13, Denair operated at a deficit of $709,000. That’s when the Stanislaus County Office of Education stepped in with a loan to avert state takeover of the district.

The loan has since been repaid, a new administrative team is in place, staffing has been calibrated to match current enrollment and morale across all six campuses has markedly improved.

The revised 2014-15 general fund budget of $8.2 million anticipates a revenue surplus of $331,791, Chief Business Officer Linda Covello told Denair trustees Thursday. That will help to replenish the district’s reserves.

“I’m pleased that the budget report shows that our fiscal recovery plan remains on a proper and positive trajectory,” said Superintendent Aaron Rosander, who took over in February. “Based on this report, it appears that Denair schools may well be out of the red and into the black by or before the end of next school year. This is indeed good news for DUSD.”

Douglas Crancer, a school funding expert sent to Denair by the state, said while there are still uncertainties regarding state funding and future pension costs, “We’re definitely on our way to gaining fiscal health.”

One of the key revenue streams for any public school district is based upon average daily attendance, or ADA. The state pays Denair an average of about $7,600 per student enrolled in the district.

Denair’s enrollment this year is projected to be 1,287, down from 1,353 in 2013-14. The district’s enrollment peaked at 1,553 students in 2011-12. Continue reading “Budget Picture Brighter at Denair Unified” »