- April 15, 2025
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Facing a $25.8 million dollar budget deficit, Volusia County Schools presented two options going forward: Continue encouraging students back into the public school system, or reduce staffing ratios.
What about consolidating schools?
During a budget update provided at the Volusia County School Board workshop on Tuesday, April 8, district staff outlined that, though the number of students in the district continues to grow, those enrolled in traditional brick-and-mortar schools are declining — resulting in less state funds.
"Legislature drives about 99% of all the funds you receive for your general operating fund," VCS Chief Financial Officer Todd Seis said. "They're the ones that dictate how much money that you'll have to operate next year."
The school district has an operating budget of $588.1 million, but its revenues total $562.30. Without an increase in funding, or a decrease in its operating cost, the district will have to dip into its fund balance — its available reserves — of which it has $28M currently unassigned. School districts are mandated by the state to keep 5% of its budget in reserves.
But these reserves would only cover a little over half-a-month's worth of reoccurring expenses, Seis said. And if the district depletes its reserves below that number, the state would takeover the school district's operation.
School Board Jamie Haynes said that people often look at the school district's budget — $1.4 billion for the 2024-2025 year — and fail to realize that those dollars don't all go toward the public school system. The district receives the funds, but portions are then sliced for private schools charters, home schooling and scholarship programs.
"A lot of it is categorized and we can't move it from one category to another category, but we are supposed to be supportive of the superintendent, our chief financial officer and support them and make the decisions needed to run a financially, fiscally responsible school district where our children receive the best education that they can receive, and that means we're going to have to take the stand to make some very tough decisions," Haynes said.
Though the state is reporting an increased number of total students in Volusia County, based on data from the full-time equivalent student calculations, the number of students enrolled in traditional brick-and-mortar schools is declining, per the Capital Outlay Full-Time Equivalent report, which calculates space needs.
"I'm going to call it for what it is — it's an attack on the traditional education system," Seis said.
Some School Board members expressed concern, but voiced that sometimes, the budget projections are worse than the reality down the road.
"Year after year after year, this is typically, when we start the conversation, what it sounds like: Doomsday," School Board member Ruben Colon said. "... It takes a little while to realize this is part of the process, and so in the end, I don't think in the time that I've been here, we've had one year that we finished in the red."
The reason the deficit this year is $25.8, and not the $44 million projected last year, is because the board "made some tough decisions," Colon said. That's where they are at once again.
But Seis reiterated that the district is projected to operate "in the red."
"And the reason for it is, in the past, we had the ESSER funds that got us through those years, and those tight years," Seis said. "This year, we're just living off our fund balance reserve, which is a two-year spend down of it. We will be eating into our reserves this year for sure."
Over the past four years, VCS used a portion of its Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, known as ESSER, for reoccurring costs. In 2022, the district projected this would result in a $50 million budget deficit by fiscal year 2026.
To begin to address this, the district cut positions last year.
One option the board could consider is consolidating schools, Board Member Krista Goodrich said. She used St. Johns County as an example — that district has a comparable enrollment about 50,000 to Volusia's 57,100. However, St. Johns has less schools.
"Here in Volusia, we want the best teacher salaries, we want to have small schools, we want the lowest taxes," Goodrich. "We don't want to make any hard decisions, right? And that's what continues to lead us into this financial situation."
Bringing the financial outlook before the board is the first step of addressing the issue, Superintendent Carmen Balgobin said. As a board as the district's leadership, Balgobin said it's important "they seek an understanding" of issues or areas they may be unaware of.
"Some folks out there, they like to speak like they're authority on certain subject matters, when the reality is that they're not," Balgobin said. "So I will welcome, any day, experts that understand this field, to come and share with us their ideas, thoughts, solutions or areas for improvement. I would listen to those individuals day in and day out, but if you're not an authority in this field, but you like to speak like you are, that could be a detriment to the success of our students."
What the district is facing isn't new, Haynes said. During the 2008 recessions, the district closed schools and let teachers go. The district cannot continue to fund small schools when enrollment is down, she said — not if they want to stay above a 3% fund balance requirement and avoid a state takeover.
"Communities don't like it when you fall apart financially, and we're not there yet, and we need to stay strong, but in order to do that, we have to support the decisions that Dr. Balgobin and the leadership team are making, and we have to take the hit," Haynes said. "I'm prepared to take the hit. I hope the rest of you are prepared to take the hit. ... I won't take hits that directly impact student learning programs."
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