By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer

El Reno School District has $500,000 less in its general fund coffers than last June, and next fiscal year isn’t looking any rosier.

Several factors are expected to weigh down El Reno’s chances at a larger piece of the state funding pie, said Assistant Superintendent Dwight Miller.

“We are very concerned about what the state aid formula will yield El Reno this next year,” he said.

El Reno carried forward just over $1.8 million in its general fund into fiscal year 2006-2007, or about 11 percent. The fund is just shy of $18 million, Miller said, and is used to pay faculty and staff wages as well as equipment and the district’s general daily operations.

El Reno is expected to finish the fiscal year next week with $1.3 million, or about 7 percent of its general fund.

“If you use $500,000 in your carry-forward, you can’t continue to do that,” Miller said. “You have to stop.”

A $3,000 teacher salary increase, which was underfunded by the state Legislature, took a large chunk out of El Reno’s bottom line, and it could continue to burden the district. When it was approved by legislators last summer, it was only partially funded even with a supplemental appropriation approved in April. Part of the funding was tied to the state lottery revenue, which came in $17 million below projections.

Lawmakers never covered any cost of providing the salary boost to teachers funded through federal programs, which in El Reno makes up about 15 percent of the district’s faculty of 200 teachers.

Now lawmakers have moved the funding to continue teacher salaries at the higher amount inside the state aid formula, which Miller said could harm El Reno’s coffers. The state aid formula judges school districts based on student population, which has decreased in El Reno the past several years. Once teacher funding is no longer connected to the number of instructors in a district, but instead to the number of students, Miller said El Reno could be left struggling to make ends meet.

“We could become a loser in terms of revenue,” he said.

State tax dollars make up about 60 percent of El Reno School District’s revenue, with 17 percent coming through federal funding and 23 percent through local and county sources.

Miller said he won’t know how much El Reno will be affected until state aid allocations are announced in mid-July.

There is a positive sign, said Lisa Horn, student services director. An audit conducted Thursday by state officials of El Reno’s student count showed an increase of about four students from an audit conducted June 2006. El Reno had about 2,480 students on average in attendance for the 2006-2007 year, she said.

The state aid formula assigns weights for those students’ needs, depending on grade level and special services the children need. This way, more funding is granted to the district to help cover that child’s additional services.

For example, on Oct. 1, 2006, El Reno had 2,552 students in attendance, but when their additional services are considered, the enrollment considered by state aid was closer to 3,910. For this reason, Horn said it’s too early to tell if El Reno’s state aid will hold steady or decline.

“We are hoping that we don’t see a downward spiral — we want to maintain and grow,” she said.

While there are too many unknowns to make projections, Miller said El Reno school officials are trying to prepare the district for the worst case scenario.

“We are really looking at our budget, trying to reduce staff through attrition and trying to see where we can make cuts,” he said.

El Reno officials have already decreased its teaching staff by eight, including two retirements and by not renewing six temporary contracts.

Lawmakers also made increases to the state minimum salary schedule for teachers, but Miller said he isn’t certain if that will play a factor as El Reno already pays above the minimum amount. The district and El Reno Education Association will begin negotiations at the end of July, Miller said, once the district receives its state aid amount.

“We are waiting for the pieces of the financial puzzle to be known,” he said.