Inflation figures that drive school funding have risen almost 2 percentage points, potentially sending more money to schools but forcing governments to find new places to cut.
“It’s all this stuff working against each other,” said Todd Saliman, Gov. Bill Ritter’s budget director.
The inflation figures affect everything from how much money the state will give to school districts to how much teachers will be paid.
At the end of February, inflation figures for the Denver metro area were released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing inflation at 3.9 percent for the second half of 2008 — above the 2.2 percent from the previous year.
The figure, known as the Consumer Price Index, is used to determine school funding every year. As inflation grows, so does money for schools.
Amendment 23 requires the state to provide districts with money based on the inflation rate plus one percent. In 2011, that extra one percent bonus is due to end.
For 2009-10, all Colorado school districts will receive a base amount of $5,507 per student, $237 more per student than the year before because of the CPI figure. That number cannot be tinkered with under the law.
But districts get more than that base amount — sometimes double or triple — after other factors are included, such as the district’s size, cost of living and numbers of at-risk students.
Those factors are not protected under law.
“It’s all up in the air right now and under discussion,” said Vody Hermann, finance director for the Colorado Department of Education. “We’ve not faced a year like this before. Fortunately, it’s still early in the process.”
The governor’s office submitted a final budget request to the Joint Budget Committee on Feb. 23 that asks for $685.7 million for statewide K-12 education spending in 2009-10 — $70 million more in funding than the budget proposal submitted in January.
School districts are waiting for the final budget numbers to be released in order to set their budgets for next year and negotiate with teachers unions over contracts.
“There is a lot of uncertainty at this point both for this year and for future years when Amendment 23 expires and the stimulus money potentially goes away,” said Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Denver’s teachers union worked out a three-year contract over the summer that gives teachers annual raises based on the inflation number plus 0.25 percent. They also get incremental increases for each year of service. That means next year, DPS teachers will get a 4.15 percent salary increase.
“We are excited,” said Kim Ursetta, union president. “There were a lot of compromises over the last few years when teachers got less than CPI. We’re fighting to compete with neighboring districts.”
Other metro districts and their unions are in the middle of contract negotiations, waiting to see what the final amount to be divided will be.
Typically, salary negotiations begin with the CPI numbers. But this year’s number is high, and it is creating unrest.
“Districts are signaling that they don’t have any money,” said Deborah Fallin of the Colorado Education Association. “But they always say that, even when they do. We can’t predict what is going to happen. It will not be a typical bargaining year.”
Jefferson County Public Schools is also waiting to see what the legislature’s final decision will be on school finance.
“Even though we have the CPI number, I believe the state will have to make other adjustments,” said Lorie Gillis, chief financial officer for the district. “If we go with a high cost-of-living increase, that will cost jobs. That’s the balancing act.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it had incorrect information about what happens to Amendment 23’s funding level in 2011. That’s when the extra one percent above the inflation rate payment to school districts is due to end.
