Another cause of the funding shortage is increased staffing costs. This is two-fold.

The past several years, staff pay rates increased with a significant driver being the Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) which was previously called COLA or cost of living adjustment. This number is set by the state, relating to inflation. While increased IPD is good for staff, it has an enormous impact on the budget. The budget is created on a predicted IPD, since the percentage isn’t released until late May.

The IPD for this year was higher than predicted, which affected our salary expenses.  For the 2022-23 budget year, the total salary cost increase was $23.3 million. Part of this is paid by the state and the rest must be funded by local levy dollars.

The other part of increased staffing costs is also a good/bad situation. We have great teachers in our district. There are a lot of very experienced, veteran teachers. This is great for our students, but experienced teachers cost more than new teachers. Currently, about 45% of our teachers are at the highest step level in the salary range, which impacts the budget. Since the state is underfunding these staff salaries, this must come from the general fund.