Denver Public Schools chief Michael Bennet knows a thing or two about filling budget holes. When he was Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s new chief of staff, the city was staring at a $70 million budget deficit.
As DPS superintendent, his budget shortfall for next year – $22.5 million – isn’t as large, but it could be more difficult to patch in the long run. He can’t wait for the economy to rebound, and for sales tax revenues to climb.
Instead, Bennet has to orchestrate one of the greatest turnarounds ever for an urban school district.
His Denver Plan for schools – along with other innovations, such as Denver’s new teacher compensation system – must not only reform our city classrooms and improve achievement levels but also lure more students back into traditional public schools. Otherwise, DPS will continue to have budget problems.
Part of next year’s shortfall stems from the district’s mostly flat enrollment in traditional public schools as more kids opt for charters, private schools or home schooling. While charters are public schools, they operate semi-autonomously from the district yet increase district costs since they create more schools, and thus more costs, than the district normally would have.
DPS receives about $6,600 in funding for each of its students. This year, 570 fewer of them are attending traditional schools, with a total of 6,213 in charter schools. That adds up to $41 million in funding, yet the district estimates it costs an extra $23 million to run those charter schools. The difference alone just about makes up the budget shortfall.
But Bennet is quick to say he’s not blaming charter schools. Nor should he. Many of DPS’s charters are last-resort options for students who would otherwise be out on the streets because of various problems in traditional schools. Some others are innovative schools with high achievement levels that force DPS to compete for students. And that’s not a bad thing.
By having to compete, DPS in the long run should be a much better district.
It’s one of the surest ways to fix its budget woes since the other reasons for the shortfall aren’t going away. DPS will contribute $4.1 million more toward its retirement program in 2006-07, and it will also pay out another $9 million for salary and benefit increases. Funding DPS’s pensions may hurt its operating fund, but it’s the right thing to do.
Filling the budget gap won’t be easy for Denver’s school board, nor will it be easy to turn around DPS in the next few years. But there’s really no other option.
