Budget community forum
Join us for a Community Budget Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 28
Arlington Public Schools is facing the need to make future budget reductions to take effect next year. Our district has strong financial management and has maintained a healthy fund balance, but several issues combined are making budget reductions necessary:
· Pandemic-induced federal and state aid are ceasing
· Enrollment is recovering more slowly than hoped
· The district has continued to provide high levels of services many of which were previously bolstered by federal/state aid
· On the heels of this pandemic, the Board directed fund balance be used as 'rainy-day-one-time-funds' in order to continue to mitigate the impacts and accelerate learning, even as costs are rising, rather than a formal reduction in staff for 2022-23
· We estimate dipping into minimum reserves by roughly half, by the end of 2022-23
· State funding models (reformulated by the legislature in 2018) continue to lead to funding gaps
· The district is working to make comprehensive reductions across the district to take effect for 2023-24 (the year after this one)
· There are many priorities of great magnitude and difficult decisions will need to be made to right-size the budget
Community engagement is important for feedback on values and priorities to help inform the decision-making process. Please join us for a Community Budget Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Post Middle School (1220 East 5th Street, Arlington).
If you are unable to attend Tuesday’s forum, an additional forum will be held on April 11 at Eagle Creek Elementary School.