KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo Public Schools is facing a looming deadline. They have until the end of the month to present a proposed budget for the next school year to the state of Michigan, but don’t have a lot of hard numbers to base it on.
Finance Director Laura Kayser says they face “tremendous uncertainty” because the governor and lawmakers have yet to approve school funding for the new fiscal year which begins for the district in three weeks, including per-pupil grants.
There is also the budget for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, which is in flux.
Kayser says higher prices due to tariffs or an economic downturn will make it worse.
She says a projected decline of 140 to 150 students based on birthrates and other estimates may require staff cuts.
They won’t know those precise numbers until this fall.
The school board will be asked to approve the budget proposal, as is, a week from Monday.
This isn’t all that unusual for school budgets in Michigan, due to the school’s fiscal year and the state’s fiscal year being out of alignment, but this year is particularly challenging because of everything else that is going on.
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