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Budgeting at Crestone Charter School K-12

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How school budgets are created at CCS w/in MCSD#2

For viewers of this document, there are notes attached to these slides, but please contact me with any questions, tcleary@crestonecharter.com.

This material was presented at the budget approval Governing Council Meeting, Nov 20, 2024; all stakeholders were encouraged to attend.

Please refer to the 2024-2025 FY FINAL Budget doc for line numbers quoted throughout this presentation.

CCS is a rural K-12 public charter school of 100 students, using site-based and zero-based budgeting, for the whole school but w/ grade-band differentiation

CCS collaborates w/ geographic authorizer, but is mostly autonomous except for passthrough federal, state, and grant monies; we pay the district for Central Administrative Overhead Costs and some additional purchase services

Here is a brief video explaining the relationship between achievement and funding, and how CCS allocates funding to improve student performance.

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Essential Questions: How is the budget developed?

Assess the challenges and opportunities

student demographics and academics, staffing numbers and expenses,
facilities and capitalized needs, and strategic planning foci.

Goals and objectives,

input of teachers, Parental opinions
District and state Offices of Education

Build the budget

estimating revenue and expenditures; prior unspent funds go to reserves (Beginning Fund Balance).
each new year starts at zero, and is planned to end at zero.
Expenses are based on two End-of-Year Actuals and Year-to-Date expenditures.

Provide a breakdown summary

total Revenue,
General Educational Expenses, District costs, Administrative and operational costs
a bottom line balanced budget is submitted to the district, and added into the district budget for approval.

Preparation for the following year’s budget,

reflect on the year’s goals and a cost-benefit analysis re: continuation or re-allocation of funds
CCS is audited independently and by the district, also MD&A and IRS 990.

At the highest level of Budgeting, as Director I assess the challenges and opportunities before the Crestone Charter School. This includes student demographics and academics, staffing numbers and expenses, facilities and capitalized needs, and strategic planning foci.
Second, I identify goals and objectives, generally with the input of teachers. District and state Offices of Education also influence these objectives. Parental opinions are also factored into this goal-setting process.
Third, I build the budget by conservatively estimating revenue and expending the funds. Unspent funds from prior years go to reserves, or Beginning Fund Balance. These funds are not built into the budget and may not be carried over from the prior year without Governing Council approval. Therefore, we start each new year at zero, and plan to end at zero. Expenses are based on two End-of-Year Actuals and Year-to-Date expenditures.
Fourth, I provide a breakdown of total Revenue, General Educational Expenses, District costs, Administrative and operational costs, and a bottom line balanced budget. The CCS budget is submitted to the district, and added into the district budget for approval.
Lastly, in preparation for the following years budget, I reflect on the achievement of the year’s goals and a cost-benefit analysis geared towards continuation or re-allocation of funds based on the prior year’s gains and needs. Additionally, CCS is audited independently and by the district, including a Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) and, as a non-profit, must complete an IRS 990.

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Essential Questions: How is the budget developed?

Challenges and opportunities
student demographics and academics:

Increase in students from 87 to 100 across 7 grade-band classrooms. 8 students per K-12 grade, up to 10
Free and reduced lunch: 76%.
NWEA, CMAS, and P/SAT scores low in Reading and Math
Mission driven expansion of Experiential Education programing.

staffing numbers and expenses:

increase aide hours, and student support team personnel, K-5 reading intervention.
Staff recruitment and retention: salary and hourly scale increases, and staff support through coaching.

facilities and capitalized needs:

more staff overall led to the need for a modular office space.
Experiential education: greenhouse dome, and increase in the van/bus fleet.

strategic planning:

Students: academic growth, increased enrollment, attendance, 4 day school week implementation,
Staff: retention / salary scale, PD, Behavior Response Matrix,
Instructional Curricular and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Coaching (ICMC), Student Support Team, Experiential programs and safety,
financial independence.

student demographics and academics: Our student numbers increased from 87 to 100 spread across our 7 grade-band classrooms. We target 8 students per K-12 grade for 104 students, but can take up to 10 in a grade and did so in a few classrooms. Free and reduced lunch numbers remain at 76%. NWEA and CMAS scores are low in Reading and Math across the grades. Mission driven expansion of Experiential Education programing identified.
staffing numbers and expenses: the increase in students led to a desire to increase aide hours, and student support team personnel including K-5 reading intervention. Staff recruitment and retention necessitated additional salary and hourly scale increases, and staff support through coaching. The cost of fringe benefits increased.
facilities and capitalized needs: The increase in student support team, addition of a district nurse, and more staff overall led to the need for a modular office space. Experiential education space included expansion into a greenhouse dome, and increase in the van/bus fleet.
strategic planning: Student academic growth, increased enrollment, attendance, Staff retention / salary scale, 4 day school week implementation, Instructional Curricular and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Coaching (ICMC), PD, Student Support Team, Experiential programs and safety, Behavior Response matrix, financial independence.

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Essential Questions: How is the budget developed?

2. goals and objectives:

Unified Improvement Plan (UIP) goal to increase to 50th percentile across all grades in reading and math on NWEA, CMAS, and P/SAT by year’s end, up from 40th percentile,.
A mission driven expansion of Experiential Education programing in quality, quantity, and safety.

3. build the budget: see subsequent slides (6: Revenue)

4. summary of the balanced budget: see Budget Summary slide (7: Expenses)

5. reflection on year’s goals:

academic improvement is needed to avoid a second year of a priority improvement rating (secondary math),

student engagement and rigor,
teacher instruction and management practices,
curricular resources and fidelity, and
experiential educational integration.

24/25 is an expansion year in terms of

student numbers, student and teacher supports,
programming, facilities, and financial resources.

At the end of 24/25 reassessment

ICMC, student support team, and the experiential education coordinator,
based on NWEA, CMAS, and staff, student, and parent satisfaction surveys.

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Building the Budget: Revenue

2024-2025 FY FINAL Budget REVENUE: Lines 3-47

The CCS Beginning Fund balance is at $2.11M, having increase from $1.46M over three years since I became the Director.

Total projected revenue for CCS 24/25 SY	$2,953,364
State Per Pupil Operating Revenue (PPOR)	$2,262,718	(76.6%)
Other State Revenue	$210,370	(7.1%)
Federal money (Titles I, II, and IV, SRS)	$190,383	(6.4%)
CCS generated income and grants	About 10%

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Building the Budget: Expenses

2024-2025 FY FINAL Budget EXPENSES: Lines 48-644

Personnel Costs: $1,662,909 (56.9%) [minus capital and durable expenses (64.9%)]

Total projected revenue for CCS 24/25 SY	$2,953,364
Total General Ed Expenses (Teachers, aides, specialists, mentors, travel, SpEd, Counselor, PD, Exp Ed Coordinator, Instructional, Curricular, MTSS Coach, class budgets, supplies, enrichment, programming)	$1,430,930	(48.4%)
Cost to District (Central Admin Overhead Costs, additional purchased services)	$407,289	(13.8%)
CCS Admin and operating expenses (Admin, office, Tech, facilities, transportation, food service, Capital construction and maintenance) w/out district	$1,085,145 W/dist	(36.7%) (50.5%)
BEST and TaBOR reserves	About 1%

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Essential Questions: Who is involved? What roles do they play?

Preliminary budget (April): Director, Business manager, classroom staff and a parent input

Projected Enrollment and PPOR (adjusted during Spring, prior to Oct revised budget, and end of the calendar year)

Year to date (YTD) expenses, prior two end of years (EOY) actuals: Director and Business manager

consider upcoming expenses; adjustments to line items that continue into next budget.

Staffing costs: Director

about 65% of our budget, therefore by the April Preliminary budget,

salary scale adjustments, intent to return, and new hires in process.

Strategic plans and initiatives Director and all stakeholders

based on staff, student, and parent surveys; helps guide programming and capital purchases.

For the preliminary budget in April, the business manager and I, with the help of the classroom staff and a parent survey, make an estimated projected Enrollment, as this determines our largest funding source, PPOR.

We use the CDE projected PPOR amount, knowing that this gets adjusted over the Spring, and prior to the Oct revised budget, and finally at the end of the calendar year.

We look at year to date (YTD) expenses, compare to the prior two end of years (EOY) actuals, and consider upcoming expenses through then end of the year. These numbers provide a basis for adjustments to any line items that will continue into the next budget.

Staffing costs are about 65% of our budget, therefore by the April Preliminary budget, we have the salary scale adjustments made and approved, intent to return agreements signed, and new hires in process. This mainly involves the Director, but requires salary supports from the Governing Council, and staff and parent interview committees.

Strategic plans and initiatives, based on staff, student, and parent surveys help guide programming and capital purchases.

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Essential Questions: How do budgets assist school boards in achieving their goals to meet the needs of the students?

CCS Governing Council model is based on Policy Governance (formerly Carver Governance).

delineates Ends (the End Goals), all Means (to achieve Ends) goes to Director, then to staff.
GC influences goals, Director interprets the goals and sets the methods to attain them.
Director sets dollars to pay for methods to achieve those goals.
GC guides measures used to assess efficacy of initiatives used to achieve goals.
Director submits budget with justification
GC ensures budget within Executive Limitations, then leaves means to the Director and educators.

In the case of the Crestone Charter School, the Governing Council model is based on Policy Governance (formerly Carver Governance). This model delineates Ends (the End Goals) to the GC, and all Means (the methods to achieve the Ends) to the Director and the staff I work with.

When the Director submits a budget, and the justification for it, the GC ensures it stays within the Executive Limitations, such as, not placing the school in fiscal jeopardy, or using reserves without GC approval. Otherwise they leave the means of running the school to the Director and the professional educators.

The GC may have more to say about the goals the Director has set than the dollars set aside to achieve those goals. They can guide or question the rationale for the measures used to assess the efficacy of the initiatives used to achieve those goals. But the Director, with support and input from stakeholders, sets the goals and the methods to attain them.

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Essential Questions: How is the budget influenced by grade?

Budget is applied to all teachers and students as a K-12 whole.

Travel budgets vary by classroom

HS credit needs, MS/HS science teacher, K-12 art supplies, and grade level book and textbook budgets also vary.

Teacher payscales and number of contract days do not vary to keep things equitable!

As a small, rural, K-12, seven-room schoolhouse, the budget is readily applied to all teachers and students as a whole.

At CCS, all classes travel throughout the year and on a classroom spring trip. The K-1 classroom stays local therefore has a smaller travel budget than the HS classrooms, which alternate domestic and international trips annually, their budget is correspondingly larger.

Similarly, HS has concurrent enrollment and credit recovery needs and expenses that the younger grades do not. The MS/HS science teacher has a larger supplies budget, as does the art teacher. The book and textbook line items also vary accordingly.

An interesting complication to this is that younger student require fewer contact hours, and yet all CCS teachers are on the same payscale and have the same number of contract days (and theoretically hours). This leads to creative scheduling and extra duty compensation, to keep things equitable!

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How school budgets are created at CCS w/in MCSD#2

Budget Priorities:

student needs and goals
adequately compensated and supported staff,
data for informed decisions,
tools to assess the outcomes.

Director meets the Ends given by the Governing Council, with any reasonable Means, within Executive Limitations.

CCS uses a zero-based and site-based approach to budgeting, fairly traditional budget-building process

setting goals,
determining spending norms based on projected revenue, EOY and YTD expenses,
funding for initiatives and capital expenses.

For viewers of this document, please contact me with any questions, tcleary@crestonecharter.com.

Here is a brief video explaining the relationship between achievement and funding, and how CCS allocates funding to improve student performance.