At the May 18 work session, RISD trustees continued 2023-24 budget planning discussions that began in January. After approving a teacher and staff compensation package on May 4 (catch up on previous budget discussions here) discussions continue to focus on identifying areas to operate more efficiently in the face of a deficit operating budget. The district has cut expenditures and job positions at the central level in the current year, and is building the 2024-25 budget that includes additional cuts to all central departments.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance David Pate shared information on several fronts:
- The debt service fund of the 2023-24 budget would include a debt service tax rate of $0.35 – unchanged for the eighth consecutive year. The debt service fund exists to finance the voter-approved bonds issued from previous district bond packages. RISD has $150 million of bonds remaining to be issued from the Bond 2021 package. Property values across RISD are expected to increase in value an average of 6.5%, which benefits RISD’s debt service fund but does not benefit RISD’s larger operating budget. The district continues to aggressively pay down outstanding bonds to both save interest costs and also create future capacity without raising the debt service tax rate.
- The child nutrition fund within the budget is expected to reduce expenditures in 2023-24 by approximately 8%. Meal prices have been unchanged since 2019.
- RISD continues to monitor the current legislative session and is strongly encouraging lawmakers to allocate additional funds to public schools to keep up with the 17% increase in inflation since the last time per-pupil funding was increased in 2019. RISD’s property tax rate for operations is at a 30-year low. The current legislatively proposed level of per-pupil funding falls well short of keeping pace with inflation, and the unknown level of state funding is contributing to the possibility of using one-time funds to adopt a 2023-24 deficit budget.
- The district continues to attempt to educate parents, taxpayers, and elected officials about how different legislative proposals would impact RISD and specifically budget ramifications.
- As previously discussed in budget planning, RISD’s enrollment has decreased and the district does not operate as efficiently in key areas as surrounding and peer school districts. The 2024-25 budget year is projected to be challenging, and barring unexpected legislative funding relief, will require changes to RISD’s staffing and operational model. The district plans to form a Community Budget Steering Committee to study the fundamental factors contributing to RISD’s budget imbalance, and make recommendations to trustees in advance of the 2024-25 budget planning process.
The work of the community budget steering committee will be critical in determining what steps RISD may take to reduce expenditures and increase revenue. The committee will begin meeting in July and work toward recommendations to the board by December. RISD will soon be publicizing opportunities for community members to express interest in serving on this important committee.
Trustees are expected to adopt the 2023-24 budget in June.
