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Created: May 24, 2021 03:36 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque Public School board members discussed the upcoming budget for next year, including how to make up for a big shortfall, during a meeting Monday.
The entire budget amounts to $1,868,703, 090. The largest portion of the budget, more than $800 million, will go directly toward running the schools. It also includes pay raises for teachers and staff, and an increase in money for instructional materials. However, the district is expecting to be about $45 million short due to a big drop in enrollment.
According to data from APS, enrollment dropped by 5,200 students. That’s in large part due to the pandemic.
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Show Transcript THE GAPS. BUT IF THE ENROLLMENT DOESN’T BOUNCE BACK AS MUCH AS WE NE,ED WE WILL HAVE ANDD AITIONAL PROBLEM NEXT YEAR. THEY’RE CURRENTLY FACING A BIG DECLINE IN ENROLLMENT AND LOST ABTOU 5,200 STUDENTS THIS PAST YEAR APS SPOKESPERN,SO MONICA ARMENTA SAYS THE DISTRICT WAS ALREADY LOSING ABOUT 1040 A YEAR ON AVERAGE MAINLY IN ELEMENTARY THIS PAST YEAR. THEYOS LT NEARLY 4,000 MORE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHGIN WE CAN TO RECRUIT STUDENTS AGAIN NEXT YEAR WHICH WE WILL ACTIVYEL BE DOING WE ALREADY ARE WHEN IT COMES TO RECRUITING LEADERSAY S THEY’RE INCREASING THE COMMUNICATIONS BUDGET AND TAKING A CLOSE. LOOK AT CHARTER AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS, WHICHAV HE DONE. WELL IN THAT AREA THEY PUT MONEY INTO BILLBOAR
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Meeting in a special Monday morning session, the Albuquerque Public Schools Board approved a budget for the FY 2021-22 school year of $1.868 billion, of which the district’s $811 million operational fund is the biggest piece.
The operational budget assumes $45 million more in expenditures than revenue due to declining enrollment, said APS chief financial officer Tami Coleman.
It also features a number of expenditure increases, including a 1.5% salary bump for all APS staff; a raise in the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2022; an increase for appropriation of the Extended Learning Time Program; an instructional material allocation increase; and continuation of the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act Leave Program.
“Extraordinarily challenging.”
That’s how Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Scott Elder described the budget planning for the fiscal year that starts in July.
“We estimate that we have $45 million more in expenditures than we have revenue in our operational fund,” Elder said, forecasting next school year’s fiscal situation.
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Elder said the district’s distribution from the school funding formula will be roughly the same as the previous year, but there are additional costs, such as salary increases.
However, that deficit could significantly change depending on how many kids return to APS and how much funding the district ultimately gets from the state, according to chief financial officer Tami Coleman.