EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – Superintendent Travis Hux foresees “a happy ending” to what “feels like a horror movie”: Excelsior Springs School District’s deficit spending.

An amended budget approved April 11 by the Board of Education at the Support Services Center might be a step toward that happy ending. Deficit spending is expected to drop by roughly half for the rest of the fiscal year, based on data Hux provided during a slideshow financial report and question-andanswer session.

Sharing expense and revenue figures for fiscal year 2022, Hux reported deficit spending for the general and special revenue funds. Based on the budget submitted in June 2021 by his predecessor, Dan Hoehn, general fund expenses are $14.8 million. Special revenue fund expenses round up to $18.2 million.

But general fund revenue is at $13.8 million. Special revenue is at $15.6 million. Hux said the two funds are a combined $3.5 million in the red.

“That would be 10% of the (total) budget,” he said. “Or if you’re thinking about the 20% reserves, that’d be half of those reserves.”

Using a graph covering expenses and revenue over the past four years, Hux said the district trended in the black the first two years, with the downturn beginning during the 2020-2021 school year.

Weighted average daily attendance, or WADA, decreases were one reason for deficit spending, Hux said. As he mentioned to the board in January, WADA influences the funding the district receives.

Hux attributed the district’s attendance drop largely to the loss of 300-plus Job Corps students caused by the facility’s closing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state includes Job Corps students in district attendance figures, he said.

“This needs to open back up and we need those kids back,” he said. “Or we have to supplement the difference.”

Other reasons cited for the deficit included costs involved in opening Cornerstone Elementary in August and lost summer school income. “We had to pay back $632,000 in sum

“We had to pay back $632,000 in summer school funding because we didn’t, indeed, have a large summer school,” Hux said. Board member Troy Snelling praised

Board member Troy Snelling praised “previous superintendents” for maintaining a high percentage of reserve funds. Because of those funds, the district is “probably weathering this better than a lot of districts,” Snelling said.

Hux agreed.

“Having … nearly 30% is helpful in times like this,” he said.

Hux projected the fiscal year 2023 budget would allow the district to operate at $1.8 million in the black. But he warned “some onetime revenue” of $2.4 million has created the potential surplus.

Onetime revenue includes $1.2 million the district would receive by using 2019-2020 attendance information, as allowed by the state because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hux said.

“If we drop to our next-highest weighted ADA, we … (will) lose about $900,000 in our guaranteed payment and another $300,000 due to our lower free and reduced(-price) lunch numbers,” he said.

The $2.4 million also includes a $1.2-million transfer of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III money, provided via the American Rescue Plan Act Congress approved in 2021, data showed.

Hux recommended the district focus on improving attendance figures. Other strategies discussed included encouraging families to apply for free and reduced-price lunches.

The drive to increase lunch applications “has been an issue because we had universal free lunch,” Hux said. With universal free lunches, families “don’t necessarily feel the need to fill out the application because it’s free, whether they do or not,” he said.

“That’s going away at the end of this school year, so if somebody’s eligible and needs a free or reduced lunch, they will have to fill out the application next year,” Hux said. “So we’ll probably see that number work its way back up.”

Hux expects the fiscal year 2023 budget to remain in the black when he presents the board the final proposed budget in two months, he said.

We had to pay back $632,000 in summer school funding because we didn’t, indeed, have a large summer school. ‘

TRAVIS HUX

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT