Superintendent's Scoop

The weather appears to finally be on the mend. I am not meant for the freezing cold anymore that started our week. We are thankful that Tuesday is the only Snow Day (cold) day so far this school year. I did receive an email from a student politely requesting an additional Snow Day on Wednesday.

In this edition, there is a link to the District's General Fund Five-Year Financial Forecast that was shared at the February 18th Board meeting. Details will be shared in that section.

The 2025-2026 District Calendar is linked.

The post-season for winter athletics has begun. Please go to the St. Charles website and click on the District Event Calendar button for more details. Congratulations to the Girls Basketball team and the Wrestlers who recently their postseasons. Both had fantastic seasons. Boys Basketball will play Cotter at home this week @ 7pm.

Dates to remember:

• Friday, March 7 - Student Early dismissal
• Monday, March 10 - Regular Board meeting
• Tuesday, March 11 - No School - Large Group Music competition
• Tuesday, March 18 - Board Work Session
• Tuesday and Thursday, March 18th and 20th - HS Conferences
• Friday, March 28th - Last day of Quarter 3

The attached images come from the Elementary and High School principals'' reports from the February Board meeting. HS Principal Dustin Pautsch noted several elements including speaker Emma Beniot. Emma's story is a powerful one. As a high school student, Emma notes that people on the outside thought she was the American girl - cheer leader, great student, etc. But on the inside, Emma struggled with depression. Her story focusses on her life after attempting suicide resulting in the loss of full use of her legs. Emma stresses the event is not important but the change on how she views life and her individual growth is. She shared the context that she does not let how others view her impact how she views herself. It is not to say she does not struggle with weak moments or emotions, but Emma stresses the importance of sharing those feelings with others. Do not try solve those emotions on one's own. Verbalize those emotions and seek help - healing and growth come from those moments. Thank you to Emma and Aidan's Light for sponsoring the event. Google My Ascension if you want to learn more about her very impactful story. Many of our students and staff shared how much Emma's story impacted them.

Elementary Principal Ryan Ihrke continues to use the school forest as a reward system. His belief is that positives like a campfire and smores go a long way in improving students emotional context. Just the idea of spending time with others without phones or other distractions - moments of being human with other humans - is so critical in the development of kids. Thank you Principal Ihrke for giving our students these human experiences.

LINK - General Fund Five Year Financial Forecast.

The following notes will give context on specific slides in order of the presentation.

Revenue Assumptions -

• For enrollment, the district used three models: MDE, Porter-Sheehan, and SMS. These models gave the district consistency in what numbers it should use in analyzing future enrollment projections. Student enrollment impacts revenue in a very real way. For FY25, every student walks around with a dollar amount - $7,281. This amount goes up every year after. Slide eight expresses the dynamic in enrollment numbers and dollar amounts for the General Fund Basic Formula. In essence, St. Charles projects over a $12 million in total revenue for the General Fund. This formula amounts to $6.8 million of that total.
• 91% of local residential students attend St. Charles Public Schools - this is a very high percentage.
• Slides four and five point enrollment projections from FY24 and beyond. For the next two years, St. Charles will graduate around ninety students per year. We are projecting about sixty kindergarten students per year will enter the district to offset the graduating classes. This means that the sum of the graduating classes versus kindergarten students entering is a minus sixty in total enrollment over two school years.
• Slides 6 and 7 express that though the formula increases by two percent every year, the loss of enrollment counter acts that gain resulting in a decrease in overall revenue.
• Revenue FY25 = $12.3 million
• Projected FY30 = $11.6 million
• Slide eight maps out enrollment x basic formula = revenue in dollars.
• It is worth noting that if the basic formula kept up with inflation, the revenue to the district would have increased by $1.2 million.
• Slide nine points out that Expenditure Assumptions assumed a 3% increase each financial year.
• Slides ten and eleven point out several Expenditure Challenges. Unfunded and underfunded mandates by the state when there was a surplus will continue to impact the school district negatively. Instead of mandating changes to schools, had the state simply increased the general aid formula as noted in slide eight, it is likely school districts would be in much better shape.
• Just like in our own finances, if we moved to a job that pays 25% more but we buy a new car and new boat, those financial gains are lost. This is what the state did to public schools.
• Now, the state is anticipating a $5 billion dollar budget shortfall by FY27 per Governor Waltz's proposed budget. Districts should expect cuts to education near $34.5 million.
• Slides twelve and thirteen are graphs depicting Expenditures by year without any budget adjustments. For FY25 expenditures are around $11.8 million. The projection without budget adjustments increase to $13.8 million.
• Slides fourteen and fifteen analyze the Unassigned fund balance (this fund gives the district the most flexibility in how it supports teaching and learning). It also is a key factor in determining Statutory Operating Debt (SOD).
• In FY23, the SOD = -3.83% putting the district in SOD status with MDE
• FY25 projection looks to be around 7.5% in the black. This is a massive improvement and should be celebrated.
• The concern is that due to declining enrollment and other expenditure challenges, St. Charles will find itself approaching SOD status of -2.5% in future budget years.
• Slide sixteen is the five year projected budget summary.

Hope the explanations help in analyzing the projected budget summary.