Mesa Vista School District officials are gearing up for the District’s budget process for next fiscal year.
Officials held a community budget hearing April 13, at Mesa Vista High School, to start discussions on the District’s financial outlook for Fiscal Year 2016.
District Business Manager Brenda Halder said at the hearing, state officials have identified the highest unit value for New Mexico schools this year. This means the state Public Education Department might allocate more money to the District.
“This is a big impact on our revenue,” she said.
The unit value is a number formulated by state officials to compute a district’s State Equalization Guarantee, to determine how much money it will receive every fiscal year. It approximately equates to the amount of money the Department will allocate to each student in a school district.
Halder said state funding
accounts for about 90 percent of the District’s total revenue.
According to a PowerPoint presentation Halder presented, the state unit value for next fiscal year is set at $4,027.75, an increase of $20 from last year’s $4,007.75.
The unit value has been consistently increasing since Fiscal Year 2012, when the number hit a five-year low of $3,598.87. Mesa Vista currently sits at about $1.5 million.
Halder said she does not have an estimate of how much next year’s budget might be. Officials only discussed potential numbers and did not take any specific action regarding the budget, at the hearing.
But Halder said she doesn’t know if the change in unit value will indicate an actual increase in the District’s budget. She said the District’s decreasing student enrollment has a big impact on schools’ finances.
According to Halder’s presentation, District student enrollment has been consistently declining the last four years. Based on yearly 120th day counts, enrollment decreased from 393 in School Year 2011-2012, to 341 this school year.
The enrollment change represents a 13 percent decrease.
She is unsure why enrollment has been consistently falling.
“There’s a lot of factors why enrollment is falling,” she said. “Families are moving out of town. Mom and dad are getting jobs somewhere else than here in our community. Also, parents aren’t having that many kids these days. A lot of them just have two.”
Halder said District officials should be cautious when projecting numbers during the budget process, as Department officials may change funding allocations depending on mid-year enrollment changes.
“So, say in the middle of the year, we lose 20 students,” she said. “In around December or January, we get an adjustment. You never want to budget high because they can take away the money. ”
District Superintendent Ernesto Valdez said he doesn’t know what to expect when it comes to next year’s enrollment. The slated renovation of Ojo Caliente Elementary might impact that, he said.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “We’re building a new school. There’s going to be a lot of construction and it’s going to be hard for parents to bring their kids in.”
Officials plan to begin construction on the project in July and it is slated to be completed in August 2016.
Valdez said after the new school’s completion, officials will try to recruit students from neighboring school districts, such as the Española School District.
He said officials are currently reaching out to the school community in an effort to increase enrollment.
“Right now, we’re doing open enrollment,” he said. “We advised the parents about open enrollment and we’re probably going to advertise on the Rio Grande SUN that we have open enrollment.”
Mesa Vista officials have to submit their final budget to Department officials May 11. Mesa Vista School Board members are set to approve it May 27.