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Voters in most of Colorado’s largest school districts will be asked to dig into their pockets this fall to help schools that are suffering from escalating food and fuel costs and a sagging economy.

Districts contemplating fall ballot initiatives to stave off more cuts include Jefferson County, Douglas County and Cherry Creek school districts.

Others across the state are choosing to forgo ballot initiatives but are making deep cuts to offset the lack of tax revenue.

Financial problems are even affecting districts with growing student enrollments.

Douglas County, the state’s third-

largest district, has made $21 million in cuts from next year’s budget though its enrollment is expected to jump by 2,000 students next year. A mill-levy increase and bond election are being discussed for the fall.

Cherry Creek, the state’s fourth-

largest, has sliced $3.2 million from its 2008-09 budget. It expects 1,000 more students next year, and officials say they must cut $12 million more from the budget if a mill-levy vote fails.

St. Vrain, the state’s 10th-largest district with 24,587 students in and around Longmont, is laying off 85 employees, mostly teachers, to avoid a $4.5 million shortfall. At the same time, the district is seeking to open three new elementary schools.

“It’s likely to get worse,” said Mike Paskewicz, superintendent of Adams 12 Five Star Schools, which for the third year in a row is slashing its operating budget.

For next year’s budget, Adams 12 is cutting $4.9 million, forcing each of its 13 middle and high schools to eliminate roughly one teacher.

Officials in Colorado’s struggling districts say they are being dragged down by a variety of issues.

Prices for fuel, food and utilities are rising at double-digit rates.

Jefferson County, for example, is adding $1 million to its fuel budget.

Denver expects to spend $344,000 more in fuel costs next year, an increase of 20.8 percent.

Health-coverage costs, wages and retirement-related costs also have continued to rise.

At the same time, schools are getting less money than they expected because of relatively flat inflationary adjustments and, for many, because of decreasing enrollments.

In 106 of Colorado’s 178 school districts, state funding has declined because enrollments in those districts have dropped.

State money follows students into the classroom — an average of $6,658 per pupil across Colorado.

When students don’t walk through the school doors, the money stops, said Jane Urschel, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards.

Education officials speculate on a variety of reasons for declining enrollments.

Jefferson County, which lost about 2,000 students over the past decade, blames the county’s aging population.

Aurora Public Schools, which anticipates 1,000 fewer kids next year, says the reason for the drop is tougher immigration laws and an increasing number of students going to charter schools.

Colorado’s public school enrollment increased by about 1 percent last year to 802,639 students. But roughly 7 percent of those students were in charter schools. In those cases, 97 percent of the per-pupil funds go to the charter school and 3 percent to the district.

Also, Aurora blames the loss of students on the foreclosure crisis.

“When people are losing their homes, that really hurts schools,” Urschel said.

Metro-area foreclosures were up 24 percent in the first two months of the year, forcing some families to pull their children out of neighborhood schools to live where housing is cheaper.

The housing crunch also is bringing down the metro area’s U.S. Consumer Price Index — also known as the area’s inflation rate — which affects school budgets.

Amendment 23, passed in 2000, requires K-12 spending to be increased by at least inflation plus 1 percent for 10 years.

Many districts projected an inflation rate of 2.8 percent for their 2008-09 budgets based on the skyrocketing costs of living.

Fuel costs were up 10.3 percent and food costs had risen 4.3 percent, according to Adams 12 officials.

But the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — which sets the inflation rate based on a variety of costs — put the increase in the Denver metro area at 2.2 percent, effectively cutting the amount of revenue districts get from the state.

About 40 percent of the Consumer Price Index calculation is based on housing.

Cary Kennedy, the state’s treasurer, says the index does not reflect the typical operational costs of school districts.

“Their primary expenses are teacher salaries, insurance, then it’s fuel costs,” she said. “There is a real mismatch there. In the long run, it would serve the education community better to have a growth index that is more reflective of their actual costs.”

That would need a legislative change.

The legislature this year did appropriate more funding for schools for next year — $1 billion for school construction in poor, rural areas — and will provide money to send 25,000 more at-risk kids to preschool and full-day kindergarten.

Kennedy expects problems when homes are reassessed for property-tax purposes. The assessments are done every two years.

“The valuations that people receive and the funds that school districts receive are based on the assessments done last year,” she said. “It’s not going to pick up. The following year, that’s when we will see the weakness.”

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com

Budget cuts at DPS

Denver Public Schools has 73,053 students — up 420 from the 2006-07 school year. The district has cut

$80 million from its budget over seven years. It has higher retirement costs than other districts but recently had an influx of money from a bond restructuring. The district is discussing a bond election to pay for new construction.

Schools aim to tighten belts — even while serving more students

School districts are facing budget cuts because of increasing costs. Some will go to the voters this fall for help. Here is a breakdown of the state’s large school districts: