Yearly budgets for eight public schools in Jefferson County increased slightly from the 2020–21 school year to this school year, 2021–22.
Budgets were finalized by each school before the school year started and, as a formality, the County Commission approved the budgets at the Sept. 14 County Commission meeting.
The total budget for each school is comprised of 10 different funds: the general fund, transportation, bus depreciation, tuition, retirement, adult education, non-operating, technology, flexibility and building reserve. All of the school’s non-operating budgets for this year and last were zero.
The amounts allocated in a school’s general fund for the current fiscal year were derived either from a school’s current enrollment numbers or a school’s average enrollment numbers over the three preceding school years, whichever is greater—this number is generally referred to as “average number belonging” or ANB. If the ANB used to determine the amount in the general fund increased from the previous year to the current year, the amount of money in the general fund increased, and if the ANB decreased, the school’s general fund decreased.
Basin
Basin Elementary School’s total budget for this year is $300,048, up 7.5% from last year. All of the school’s funds increased this year, except for the school’s technology and bus depreciation funds, which stayed the same as last year. The school’s general fund increased $8,059 from last year because the school’s ANB is 23, up from 21 last year.
Boulder
Boulder Elementary School’s total budget for the 2022 fiscal year is $2,119,399, up 4.9% from last year. The school’s general fund, however, is down almost $14,832 from last year due to a decrease in the school’s ANB, from 186 last year to 179 this year. The rest of the school’s funds have increased, which makes up the difference for the money lost by the general fund. This excludes the bus depreciation budget, which stayed at $0.
Jefferson High
Jefferson High School’s total budget is $3,764,385 this year, an increase of 4.6% from last year. The school’s transportation fund decreased by 16.6% to approximately $351,853 this year. Despite the school’s ANB being down to 291 from 298 last year, the school’s general fund increased by $15,922, or 0.6%, through levies and grants.
The school’s tuition, technology and building reserve funds also increased, and its tuition fund has more than doubled, from $81,787 last year to $291,218 this year. The school’s adult education, bus depreciation and flexibility budgets stayed the same as last year.
Cardwell
Cardwell School’s total budget this year is $715,582, up 1.36% from last year. The school’s retirement, technology, bus depreciation and building reserve funds are up from last year, while the general fund is down 6.2% from last year, due to a slight decrease in the school’s ANB, down to 36 this year from 40 last year. Cardwell School Clerk Lisa Morgan said the number of mills required to fund all the school’s budgets decreased from 87.99 mills last year to 82.82 mills this year. One mill represents $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value that is collected in taxes.
“Our mill levies are impacted significantly by our taxable valuations, which have also been declining significantly over the past couple of years, due to the closing of the mine in our district,” she said.
Clancy
Clancy Elementary School’s budget for this year is $3,292,847, up 5.3% from last year. All of Clancy School’s funds increased, except for its transportation fund, which decreased 0.2%, and its flexibility and bus depreciation funds, which stayed the same. The school’s ANB used for this year’s general fund budget is 372, up from 355 last year, resulting in a 5% increase in the school’s general fund budget, to $2,551,669 this year.
Montana City
Montana City School’s total budget is $4,702,204 this year, up 7.6% from last year. The school’s general fund is $3,646,982, down 2.1% from last year due to a decrease in the school’s ANB, down to 503 from 523 last year. Montana City School Clerk Diane Smith said that the school could have requested approval of a general fund levy of $80,969.82 in May, which it decided not to do. All of the school’s other funds increased, except for the flexibility fund, which decreased 10% to $31,434 this year.
Whitehall Elementary
Whitehall Elementary School’s budget for this year is $2,935,756, up 9% from last year. The school’s ANB increased to 329 this year from 325 last year, resulting in a 3.3% increase to this year’s general fund. The school’s transportation, bus depreciation, tuition and retirement funds all increased from last year, while the adult education, flexibility and building reserve funds stayed at $0. The school’s technology budget fund decreased 0.7% to $21,712 this year.
Whitehall High
Whitehall High School’s budget for this year is $1,830,325, also up 9% from last year. The school’s ANB increased from 138 last year to 144 this year, resulting in a 4.5% increase to $1,343,899 in the school’s general fund. The school’s transportation, bus depreciation, tuition, adult education and flexibility funds increased from last year, while the building reserve and retirement funds stayed the same, and the technology fund decreased 1.2% to $21,102.
ESSER Funding
Each school in Jefferson County received Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funding this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The funds were distributed based on poverty levels by the state Office of Public Instruction per the U.S. Department of Education. Montana City School received the smallest amount of this funding in Jefferson County, while Whitehall Elementary School received the most. Smith said these numbers seemed to her to be a little unbalanced given that Montana City School has the highest enrollment numbers in Jefferson County.
“All kids are suffering in this pandemic,” she said.
Clancy received $463,895; Whitehall Elementary received $1.57 million; Whitehall High received $390,540; Basin received $250,082; Boulder received $815,345; Jefferson High received $527,406; Cardwell received $292,077; and Montana City received $227,038.
ESSER funds are separate from the schools’ regular budgets.
