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Early looks at property valuations and Colorado Department of Education funding expectations show the Aspen School District could see only a slight increase in funding for the next fiscal year.
ASD approved its lowest mill levy in five years last January, even as property values in Pitkin County increased by nearly 60%. Early assessed valuations from August show about a $5.4 million increase from 2023 assessed valuations (about 1%), ASD Superintendent of Business Mary Rodino told the ASD board of education in an Oct. 23 meeting.
The school district is scheduled to set its millage rate during a Dec. 18 meeting. Early funding expectations from the state show an approximately 4% increase in total program funding, Rodino said, the amount of funding the state says school districts can collect to remain operational.
It means the district is looking at “small modest increases,” she said, and changes to the state school funding formula could further impact how much money the district takes in each year.
“Four percent is OK, but when you’re having costs of materials and goods going up 5% and then we’re having salary conversations … those are competing, and 4% probably doesn’t cover all of that,” Rodino said.
She expects a smooth year in approving the district’s mill levy. Last year, deadlines to set mill levies were pushed back after ballot measure proposition HH failed and the state legislature called a special meeting about property taxes. But even with a 58% increase in property valuations in Pitkin County, the district could not collect 58% more funds in property taxes because of state restrictions.
The state education department determines how much money school districts can collect each year through a formula that includes the number of students and the state’s set cost of per-pupil funding. In 2023, the state switched ASD to local funding (meaning it did not receive any money from the state) because its local sources of funding — like property tax rates, the Aspen Education Foundation, the Aspen Public Education Fund and the Snowmass Village Public Education Fund — exceeded the amount of money the district could receive from the state.
But switching to local funding does not change how much money the district is allowed to collect each year.
“The district would look drastically different without those three funding streams from our partners,” Rodino told the school board. “It’d be bare bones.”
Despite those funding sources, the district is still in a precarious financial position. Its general fund reserves have decreased nearly 75%, from about $8 million to $2 million, in the past five years due primarily to the pandemic, curriculum upgrades and salary increases.
The school board has been discussing how to build up its reserves over the past year, as certain spending requirements and state-level funding restrictions at times have hindered the district’s ability to save money.
Changes approved by the state legislature in the spring that overhauled the state’s school finance formula could also hamstring the district’s funding in the future, Rodino said. The legislature approved the first changes in 30 years to the state funding formula in the spring to allow districts to collect more money based on its district profile and its percentage of “at-risk” students. ASD is one of only a handful of schools in the state that would lose money under the new formula, largely due to the county’s cost of living.
The new funding model includes a “hold harmless” provision, which would keep the district from losing any money until 2030. The state would make up for the revenues lost under the new formula for five years, Rodino said. Afterward, the district could pursue a mill levy override, which would allow the district to recapture lost revenues.
“ASD would be capped at a lower amount, which would mean tax bills for the portion of the schools would be less,” said ASD Controller Max Marolt.
But, the district would have to figure out how to cover $5 million, Rodino said. The new school finance formula will go into effect for the 2025-26 school year.
During the Oct. 23 meeting, Rodino said first-quarter finances are relatively on track for the school district, but there are still spots in which the district needs to make cost-saving decisions. The district’s experiential education makes up a big chunk of expenditures, and there are $144,000 in outstanding fees from families for the Ex Ed trips. Rodino said the Ex Ed spending has been “a little problematic” because the district is struggling to offset the funding with appropriate revenues.
But Rodino said after a few difficult financial years, the district is working to address its general fund reserves and monitor spending. An auditor’s visit last month went smoothly, she said.
“This is the first time since I’ve been on the board that the audit has not been hanging over our heads like the ‘sword of Damocles,’” said school board member Stacey Weiss. “There are always other issues to be dealt with, but it’s nice that that’s not one of them right now.”