Cd'A Schools adopts $131 million budget

COEUR d'ALENE — A $131 million budget has been adopted by the Coeur d'Alene School District for the 2023-2024 school year.

The school board unanimously approved the budget Monday during a meeting and workshop. The budget includes $98 million for the general fund and $33 million for all other funds.

Along with the budget adoption, the district released a 2023-24 Annual Budget Report in a new format to provide ease of access for the public and promote transparency around the district's finances.

“The huge focus of this past budget adoption was budget transparency and bringing awareness to our budget,” district Director of Finance Shannon Johnston said Thursday. “We want people to know our budget and understand our budget."

The staff-prepared report was created to simplify the presentation for those seeking budget information as well as make it clearer where money comes from and how it is spent. A budget slide presentation can also be found in the finance section of the district's website, cdaschools.org.

The report is a first step in helping to clarify district finances for the public, Johnston said.

“We’re going to continue to gather input from community stakeholders and the budget sub-committee,” she said. “We’re hoping that it helps demystify our budget. We don’t want it to be a mysterious document.”

According to a Wednesday news release, the budget outlook for the coming school year is stable.

Highlights:

• Every single district staff member received a raise

• Right-sized staff resulting in $1.88 million in salary savings used for teacher and staff raises

• $25 million supplemental levy passed with strong support, helping fund staff raises

• $2.8 million in property tax payer relief to reduce bond levies

Although the budget includes an $828,729 surplus, Johnston said most of those funds will go into the capital projects fund that will help pay for the district's most critical deferred maintenance needs. In 2021 and 2022, COVID-19 funds were used for teacher salaries, freeing up $5 million the board approved to also go into the capital projects fund. This fund is necessary as a school plant facilities levy that could have funded deferred maintenance needs — such as heating, air conditioning, building repairs and more — failed twice when voted down at the polls.

Remaining surplus funds will help the district maintain a balanced budget amid rising inflation and a possible economic recession.

Johnston said one other highlight that has not received as much attention as the teacher pay raises is the property tax relief bill the Idaho Legislature passed last session that provides funds to school districts to apply toward bond principal balances. This means the district won’t have to levy as much money for bond payments next year.

"That’s going to provide a pretty good property tax savings for our taxpayers,” she said, adding that those who own mid-priced homes will save around $45 per year as the legislation will reduce the tax rate by 11 cents per $1,000 of taxable assessed value.

“It’s pretty huge,” Johnston said. “For our bond levies next year we’d have to levy about $4 million, but we’re going to get $2.8 million from the state, so we only have to levy for about $1.2 million. It’s definitely a nice break for taxpayers."

The Coeur d’Alene School District’s funding comes from five sources: 60% from the state of Idaho, annually appropriated by the Idaho State Legislature; 25% from the local community via levies; 9% from the federal government; 4% from other funds; and 2% from the prior year's carryover.