Denver Public Schools administrators need two major things right now: a little public relations and, ultimately, some school closures.
After a bleak prediction about what could be the district’s future – budget cuts in the tens of millions of dollars that would boost class sizes and freeze teacher salaries – Superintendent Michael Bennet told board members Thursday that he wanted radical changes to the way the district spends money.
That will include consolidating underenrolled schools.
It also will include bringing in some help to market the district to the tens of thousands of straying parents who live in Denver but are walking away from the city’s public schools.
The district estimates that number at about 30,000 students.
“This is very, very intimidating,” Bennet told the board. This is a “kind of fundamental decision on whether you’re going to fix things, or you’re going to do the best you can year by year.”
The sweeping two-hour talk was the first time in years that district administrators forecast budget woes so far in advance.
The presentation, which Bennet will give to the Denver City Council today, is meant to brace the public for what will probably happen this fall.
“My real optimism is that everything’s being looked at differently,” said board member Jeannie Kaplan. “Even with no money, it’s an exciting time to be here.”
The district, which has 61,000 students in traditional schools and about 7,100 in charter schools, has for the past several years faced two massive problems each spring come budget time.
Enrollment in traditional schools has fallen by more than 8,000 students since 2002. Each child brings in about $6,600 in government funding to the district.
The district also must compensate for years of underfunding its pension program. Next year, the district will have to devote about $75 million to those funds – it is roughly $68 million this year.
In recent years, cuts have usually been felt at schools in areas such as class size and textbooks because that is where administrators have budget flexibility.
Almost all of the $1.3 billion budget is devoted to specific programs, such as special education, under federal law.
By May, Bennet hopes to create a commission that will look at Denver’s demographics and recommend not just where schools could be consolidated but neighborhoods where new schools could open.
Bennet acknowledged this would be tough.
“Who would want their school to close? No one would,” he said. “But something better has to be offered to the potential consumers.”
It saves about $350,000 to “mothball” an elementary school each year, about $890,000 for a middle school and $1.3 million for a high school.
That commission’s recommendations should be ready this fall, Bennet said.
DPS chief financial officer Velma Rose said after the meeting Thursday that the budget predictions weren’t something she wanted to brag about, but solving the problem could be an incredible success story.
“We’ve always looked at it (the budget) in a piecemeal fashion,” she said. “But, really, you can’t separate out the financial needs from the student needs. … You need to have a consolidated conversation.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
