As end-of-year celebrations begin their crescendo, leaders across the district are dedicating time and energy to planning for next school year. 

As the community is aware, the Roaring Fork Schools has had a challenging year in finance. In January, the Board of Education approved a revised budget for the 2024/25 school year that addressed a $7.78 million shortfall, which resulted from a combination of issues including additional expenses from the district’s previous self-insurance health plan, overestimations of student enrollment, and issues with the budget development that created significant financial gaps. Through the dedicated leadership of new Chief Financial Officer Christy Chicoine, savings identified by district leaders, careful use of general reserves, and savings from the Meadowood Staff Housing project, we successfully balanced the budget for this school year.

Because many of our fiscal challenges are recurring, we have had to solve for gaps when developing the 25/26 school year budget. For example, we’ve had to account for health insurance costs that have increased more than 40% over the last two years as we shifted away from a risky self-insurance plan back to managed care in a region with increasing costs. Addressing deficits while prioritizing high quality educational experiences for students and support for staff has been the focus of our budget development work this spring. 

School leaders and department heads have been working diligently to reduce expenses and streamline services without impacting the student experience. Areas where we have made reductions include utilizing natural attrition (resignation, retirement, non-renewals) to eliminate district office and district-wide positions. We have adjusted work calendars of some central office positions to reduce costs. We have streamlined operational budgets in transportation, facilities, and maintenance. In partnership with CLEER (Clean Energy Economy for the Region) we have made critical facilities upgrades to reduce utility expenses. And, due to declining enrollment, we have adjusted school staffing through attrition without altering teacher:student ratios. We continue to prioritize high quality learning environments for students. 

We continue to refine our 25/26 budget estimates and will present drafts to the Board and community in May. We are making headway. 

Looking ahead, one of the most significant challenges we will face is declining student enrollment. Last  fall, we worked with a demographer who projected a slow, steady decline in enrollment for the next 6-10 years. This is due to declining birth rates and rising cost of living. Despite regional housing projects, most developments will not attract or house families in ways that significantly increase student enrollment. 

One of the strengths of the Roaring Fork Schools are our small, community-based schools. But small schools struggle to provide robust and comprehensive programming. The Roaring Fork Schools have sustained diverse programs because of partnerships with local organizations like CMC, the Buddy Program, ACES, JazzAspen, and many others. Students have benefited from programs, clubs, and athletic teams that serve multiple schools — reducing the cost of running individual programs at every school. In the future, we will need to continue to explore creative solutions like partnerships and shared programs to provide comprehensive programming across our small schools. 

Additionally, increased cost of living will continue to challenge the recruitment and retention of dedicated, high quality staff. Although we lead comparable districts in teacher salaries, the salaries we provide are insufficient to afford stable housing in our region. And, as we’ve been grappling with all year, the rising cost of health insurance will continue to impact our bottom line. 

At the state level, school finance projections show the Roaring Fork Schools receiving a slight increase in per pupil funding. This certainly helps, but does not keep up with inflation or other rising costs. 

And yet, we’re optimistic. As we’ve launched a new 5-year strategic plan this year, it is clear our priorities (Students First, Rigorous Learning for All, Operational Excellence, Student-Centered Partnerships, and Thriving Team) elevate the right work. 

This year we’re narrowing our focus to improve student attendance, sense of belonging, representation and engagement because we know that students who are in school, included, and engaged learn better. We’ve refined our focus on high quality curriculum, classroom rigor, and teacher development to ensure that the learning environment facilitates academic growth and achievement for all students. We’re formalizing how we partner with and listen to families – the first and most important educators of students. We’ll wrap the year with a staff housing master plan to strengthen recruitment and retention efforts. And, we’re rebuilding operational teams to restore trust, transparency, and efficiency in our district systems that support classroom teaching and learning. 

There are difficult realities to face on the road ahead, but we firmly believe that our roadmap is accurate and we are on the right track. We continue to be grateful to serve, collaborate, and grow with this community. Learn more about our strategic plan, data metrics, and 25/26 budgets on our district website: http://www.rfsd.k12.co.us.

Dr. Anna Cole is superintendent of the Roaring Fork District Schools in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and Basalt.