Brandon Twp.-School officials are bracing for a possible shortage of more than $1 million in the upcoming months’the results of an existing district budget shortfall and anticipated loss of per-pupil funding.
School officials say the current $29 million district budget is about $500,000 short due to declining enrollment by about 38 students in September, a $90,000 cut in career development, drops in the Choices program enrollment, and staff wage increases.
The district budget shortage is coupled with an anticipated $150 per-pupil reduction for 3,668 Brandon students as Lansing contends with a sagging $850 million state budget.
The cut would cost Brandon schools about $550,200; its budget this year is about $29 million.
‘It’s too late in the year for staff layoffs,? said Miller. ‘So the shortage is going to come from our fund equity account. That’s why we put that money away.?
The district keeps about 13 percent or about $4 million in a fund equity account to cover any shortfalls that may occur during the school year.
‘There will be some serious belt-tightening; line-by-line. There will be districts in the state that will simply not have enough money to operate,? said Miller.