The Cherry Creek School District Board of Education formally approved a budget for the 2018-19 school year totaling about $885.4 million including about $594.5 for General Fund operations during its regular meeting held June 11 at Cherry Creek Academy.
Chief Financial Officer David Hart led a presentation highlighting revenues, expenditures and other factors that steered the budget for the coming year. Estimated per-pupil funding for the 2018-19 year is $8,100, which represents an increase of $473 from the 2017-18 school year. That bump aligns with the statewide average of $475 over last year.
Were the state able to provide full funding for CCSD for the '18-19 school year as spelled out per Amendment 23, their total contribution would be approximately $471.1 million. Actual funding for the coming year is projected at $430.3 million. That results in a negative factor – a term used to describe reductions in state funding for schools introduced in 2008 – at about $40.8 million.
The district's balanced budget for the coming year keeps the district's priorities and values intact – staffing ratios and class sizes will remain steady, as will targeted staffing resources. All of these resources will help maintain the vision and mission of the Cherry Creek School District, "To inspire every student to think, to learn, to achieve, to care." |
Even so, the district's balanced budget for the coming year keeps the district's priorities and values intact – staffing ratios and class sizes will remain steady, as will targeted staffing resources. All of these resources will help maintain the vision and mission of the Cherry Creek School District, "To inspire every student to think, to learn, to achieve, to care."
"The 2018-19 budget aligns with the mission, vision and objectives set out by the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education," Hart said. "It does so in a way that stands in compliance with and that, in many ways, exceeds requirements spelled out by the state of Colorado."
Thanks to funds from the voter-approved bond and budget measures of 2016, the coming year will see progress on a host of capital construction projects. The district's building fund of about $89.4 million for the coming year will fund a host of exciting ventures approved by voters in 2016, including innovation spaces at every elementary and middle school, the construction of the new Cherry Creek Innovation Campus dedicated to connecting high school students from across the district with professional learning and opportunities and the completion of Infinity Middle School and Altitude Elementary School.
The budget also reflects the district's commitment to employees and its goal to recruit, hire and retain the finest licensed personnel and support staff. More than 89 percent of the 2018-19 general fund budget will go toward personnel.
For more information on the 2018-19 budget, please click here to visit our financial transparency page.