Projecting the Budget into the Future

Looking into the future, and projecting exactly what our school budget will look like is a difficult task.  Assumptions must be made about such things as, i) our student enrollment- will it increase or decrease, ii) state funding- will it increase above inflation levels or remain flat, iii) costs- of labor contracts [currently about 75% of our budget] and more.  Presently, our expenditures exceed our revenues by approximately $2M annually and the reductions that are being proposed help to off-set that deficit.  However, because of the recent history of 'flat funding' from the state, we will continue to show deficits into the future unless we make adjustments to the budget as the costs associated with operating schools continue to rise.  As you might imagine, schools across the state are facing these very same issues and are addressing the gap in similar ways.