Proposed School Budget Reflects Enrollment Growth

I once had a mentor who told me that he spent most of the current school year planning for the next one. While that is a bit of an exaggeration, there is some merit to such a proclamation. As we progress through our collective school years, we must always do so with an eye to the future. In some respects, that future is now upon us in Hudson and is based on current and projected enrollment growth. Some of those plans include expansions to early childhood education, career and technical training (with specific emphasis on workforce preparedness), new and exciting elective courses at the high school; and growth in the fine arts program. All of this of course is framed around the work of our high school renovation task force. For certain each of these topics warrant a discussion on their own, but for today we'll just focus on the overall broad picture.

At our school board meeting on Wednesday, the board was presented with a draft proposal of the 2023 fiscal year school budget. One important realization is that as our enrollment grows so too will our need for staffing. Luckily, we have settled the matter of teacher compensation and wages for the new school year which will enable us to go to the market sooner and recruit quality educators to our ranks. That is great news, because we are looking for some teachers right now. To view our open positions for the 2022-2023 school year, click here. Of those current postings, the 6th grade teaching position that is listed is due to enrollment growth. Our initial projection for grades P-6 suggests an enrollment boost of 17 students.

Part of our ongoing conversation this school year has also included debate about an expansion of our early childhood program. While we are very close to making a decision about program growth, the board has not yet had an opportunity to give their final approval for that plan. I look for final action to take place on this issue in March. Our budget also includes increases to our music faculty which was enacted this past January and an increase in our Family and Consumer Science program which was approved last spring. Finally, we are contemplating the addition of a school social worker to assist our school counseling staff with the very large case loads they are now handling. Again, the theme of this fiscal plan is that as our enrollment grows, so too will our budget,

Obviously growth on the revenue side of the ledger makes it a bit easier to manage added expenditures on the other side. In January I discussed with you the need for adequate and timely SSA. Thankfully, at the writing of this column, the SSA rate has been set. Regrettably, the SSA number that will ultimately be enacted into law is far from adequate. While our growth from SSA suggests an increase of only $5,189, we can see the real impact in the bottom line of the budget. Originally, I had planned for a 2.25% increase in SSA based on a 'worst case scenario', which suggested a gap just north of $90,000. Based on preliminary calculations using the now known 2.5%, that number is closer to $74,000. Even so, there is a silver lining for us here in Hudson.

The real growth [in revenue] for our budget is coming from open enrollment tuition. Likewise we are anticipating substantial growth from residential enrollment over the next several years. However, to put some real numbers with that [open enrollment] growth, our current budget suggests $871,750 in revenue from open enrollment, which is up substantially from the originally budgeted number for FY 2022. In FY 2023, we are currently budgeting $1,042,459, which is an increase of $170,709. 

The good news for you, our taxpayers is an anticipated decrease in the tax rate of almost 74 cents. This would equate to an approximate $100 savings for the average residential property owner.