Budget picture brighter for schools; Carry-over offsets enrollment decline in Moscow district

The Moscow School District may be able to restore some items cut from its budget despite an additional drop in student enrollment.

Thursday there were 28 students fewer than was anticipated when the district found itself $700,000 short of balancing its 1999-2000 school year budget.

Yet even as enrollment continues to decline, Superintendent Edward Fisk said that drop won't hurt the district or mean additional cuts. Instead, at the school board's Sept. 28 meeting, members will discuss adding such things as textbooks, teachers' supplies and technology to the budget.

"We'll still be able to operate the way we've been operating," Fisk said about the effects the low enrollment numbers would have on the district.

In fact, things are looking better thanks to poor estimates of how much carry-over money the district would have for this year's budget. The district also received more state aid than was originally anticipated.

In addition, the district based this year's $15 million budget on the assumption that it would lose state funding because of lower enrollment. The maximum the state can lower monetary assistance to a district from year to year is based on a maximum 1 percent decrease in enrollment. That 1 percent decline from last year's budget was assumed by administrators as it prepared Moscow's budget in the spring.

FISK FEELS BADLY: As Fisk explains the situation, he said he feels badly for not having been more accurate about how much of the 1998-1999 school year budget would be carried over to this year. If he had, the effort and controversy surrounding what programs and supplies needed to be cut could have been reduced. Now, there's about $300,000 in unanticipated funds that could pay for some of those reductions.

"It's a lot easier to add than to take away," Fisk said.

If some of those cuts hadn't been made, the district would be struggling to reduce its budget now in light of the lower enrollment, he said.

The elementary grades are where the most students were lost. Kindergarten projections made last year were off the most. Actual numbers in kindergarten are 19 students fewer than budgeted with only 15 students in Judy Pilcher's afternoon kindergarten class at Russell Elementary.

Some of the kindergartners the district planned for may have gone to Renaissance Charter School (RCS) or Moscow Charter School (MCS), which now has two sections of kindergarten.

MCS Director Mary Lang said besides her kindergarten classes, she has about 20 students who attended regular public school in the past. RCS has 26 students who chose to go there instead of continuing in the other public schools.

Overall, there are 2,475 students in the district instead of the 2,503 planned for. Those numbers don't include the alternative school nor was that school's budget part of the district's budget negotiations in the spring.

NO APOLOGIES: School Board Chairwoman Karen Falke made no apologies for the rough enrollment and budget estimates the district ended up with in the spring. With the extra money now, she said textbooks and teachers' supplies are her priority.

"When you talk about a $15 million budget, when you're off a couple thousand, that's not a whole lot," she said.

Fisk said it's hard to predict if the district will lose many more students this year. Last year about 80 students left the district from the time school began in the fall. Reasons included students who dropped out or those who moved to other schools.

With projections showing a continued decline in enrollment and to avoid a similar budget crunch this year, Fisk said it's his recommendation that some of the district's unanticipated funds be left alone.

One area he does want to see funded immediately is an additional section of seventh-grade physical education because of some growth at the junior high.

The overall enrollment drop does come with some good news. Class averages are lower than anticipated this year with 18.44 students in kindergarten, 19.66 in first grade, 21.44 in second grade and 20.11 in third grade. The largest class average at the elementary level is 22.23 compared to the 24-student average that was projected.

The lower numbers don't bother Pilcher, who two years ago had 52 students in her morning and afternoon kindergarten compared to the 35 she has this year. Now students are getting more individualized time and have more opportunities to work at educational centers or to be called on in class, she said.

"You can just do much more one-on-one," she said. "It's much better."

Though the U.S. Department of Education expects Idaho's school enrollment to increase 16 percent by 2009, Fisk said he doesn't see that same trend here. Areas like Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene and the Boise Valley are growing while Fisk expects numbers in eastern Idaho to drop, partly because of educational options like charter schools.

"It's where they're going to school more than just a decline in numbers," he said.