Letter to the Editor: Explaining the School District Budget
Author: Jason Noyes, Townsend School Board Chairman
Explaining the School District Budget
Jason Noyes
Townsend School Board Chairman
In the MT 43 News school budget article from August 25th, there is a statement being misunderstood by citizens. The sentence reads;
“Total funds for the year 2023 were $7.3 million. The budget passed on August 8th by the school board stands at $8.25 million.”
That is being interpreted that the school has $7.3 million available to it and yet knowingly approved and adopted a budget requiring $8.25 million, meaning there is almost a million-dollar deficit from the start. That is not correct.
The intended reference in that article is comparing the Fiscal year 2023 (2022-2023 school year) budget to the Fiscal year 2024 (2023-2024 school year) budget. The numbers themselves are not quite accurate either.
The Fiscal year 2023 budget adopted was $7.6 million.
The current Fiscal year 2024 budget adopted in August is $8.21 million.
The increase in the budget is most notably from the increased enrollment or ANB (average number of belonging) used to calculate school funding. The article mentions a decrease in our recent high school enrollment but the continued increase in grades K-8 has contributed to a significant overall increase in Townsend School District enrollment and therefore our ANB.
Thanks,
Jason Noyes
Townsend Schools School Board Chairman
