While the Colorado Joint Budget Committee attempts to plug the
$850 million hole in Colorado’s budget, Douglas County School
District has begun to prepare for the inevitable rescission of
state money, said Chris Stutler, district chief financial
officer.

“We are trying to be ready for a 1 percent or 2 percent
reduction,” Stutler said.

To that end, an ad hoc committee has been formed, Stutler
said.

The ad hoc committee is made up of district staff, teachers,
principals and parents.

Part of its responsibilities will be to set reductions in what
is expected revenue in next year’s budget, Stutler said.

“The slowing economy and the uncertainty of school financing at
the state level has the district facing a possible $8 million
reduction, which is approximately 3 percent of the 2003-2004
budget,” Stutler said.

The ad hoc committee also will prepare for the possible
reductions needed to balance this year’s budget if the Colorado
Legislature calls for a reduction in appropriated money for
education, Stutler said.

As part of its duties, the joint budget committee also looks at
areas in the budget where funds can be taken back to balance the
state’s budget, the Colorado Legislature Web site said.

“In order to balance the budget under the governor’s proposal,
an additional $51 million from the education fund will have to be
appropriated by the budget committee to supplant general fund
dollars,” said a legislative briefing published by Colorado
Association of School Executives. Among the items the joint budget
committee has earmarked as a possible area for reappropriations is
charter school capital construction. Charter schools could be asked
to return any unencumbered funds to the state, the association’s
publication said.

Also on the list is the school lunch program, pending a
guarantee that federal money will not be lost because of the
reduction of this item; a summer school grant program for
unsatisfactory Colorado Student Assessment Program performance; and
a possible reduction in CSAP testing programs that are not
federally required.

On the home front, Douglas County School District is gearing up
for the possible reduction in textbook allotments per student and
other per student funding from the state, Stutler said.

The state sends its funding to the school district on a monthly
basis, Stutler said.

“I hope we have more than a month’s notice of the reduction,”
she said. “We are at the state’s mercy.”