Ferguson-Florissant Schools Look at $4 Million Deficit This Year

While parents and teachers focused on the Ferguson-Florissant 2013-2014 budget situation last week, the current fiscal year budget also came up for an update with not much better news.

Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Joyce informed the board last week that more changes need to be made with a growing deficit for this school year. , but the district actually faces a $4.1 million shortfall for this year, according to district documents.

The shortfall comes as a part of the decrease in tax revenues from Boeing, a reduction in state aid as well as a reduction in assessed utility tax.

So far this year, the district has already dipped into reserves to deal with the budget situation and anticipates reserves to be at 15.98 percent at the end of the school year, according to district spokeswoman Jana Shortt.

Superintendent Art McCoy said that for this year, the district already has made close to $1 million in cuts, including in textbooks, reorganizing summer school and the Saturday School program, payroll adjustments and transportation reorganization.

Last month, it was announced that the Ferguson-Florissant District could face a shortage of as much as $10 million for next school year. The board received a preliminary budget with $7 million in cuts last week.

The board will get a revised budget in June and will take a vote to amend the budget then, Joyce said.