Glasgow School District receives direct state aid payment equivalent to about 44% of our general funds. According to the Montana OPI document "Understanding Montana School Finance and School District Budgets," the general fund is defined as the fund used to account for the financing of a district's operation and maintenance costs not accounted for in another fund. Some examples of the general fund expenditures include salaries and benefits, supplies associated with pupil instruction, administration, support services to students, loans paid to the Board of Investments, and extracurricular activities not paid by the student activities fund. The general fund is the primary budgeting fund of a district.

Last year marked the fourth consecutive year that our community failed to pass the general fund levy.    That is a GRAND TOTAL of over $450,000, that our district has lost in funding over the past four years.  A year ago the general fund levy failed by 46 votes, 704 against, 658 for.  See Glasgow School District 7 year levy history HERE.

Over the past few years, the district has worked hard to cut down on expenses, to make the reduction in revenue more bearable. With a healthier infrastructure and cutbacks on expenses, we are spending less money now in spite of an increase in salaries, benefits and inflationary costs (fuel, supplies, etc).

Our school board and administration have worked diligently to navigate through these budget shortfalls, however, eventually the fiscal realities of our decisions will have consequences.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE LEVY FAILS?

These are not proposed cuts, however, these are cuts that other school districts have been forced to make during times of budgetary shortfalls.   Our choices as taxpayers are not exempt from future cuts of programs, services and personnel that we take for granted.  In short, there are trade-offs for our decision to vote down levies:

• Possible elimination or reduction in number of classified staff (classroom aids, lunch room help, recess supervision, etc.)
• Elimination of teaching positions through reductions and reorganization of programs, affecting music, physical education, media centers/library, and gifted services.
• Elimination of instructional coaches (teaching positions), resulting in further reductions in teacher development and supports.
• Additional increases in pay-to-participate fees for student activities.
• Further reductions in department and building budgets, which teachers use to provide students with the necessary day-to-day materials.
• Elimination of teaching positions, resulting in a higher teacher/student ratio.  This is very problematic at the Elementary level where smaller class sizes are imperative in student achievement.
• Further reduction or elimination of extracurricular and sports budgets.  A LARGE portion of student extracurricular activities is funded through the general fund.
• Continue to lose quality educators to surrounding communities, as a result of our inability to provide competitive wages.

As an important component of our transparent budgeting process, the Glasgow Public Schools Board of Trustees is authorized by law to impose levies to support its budget. The Glasgow Public School Board of Trustees estimates the following increases/decreases in revenues and mills for the funds noted below for the next school fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020 using certified taxable valuations from the current school fiscal year as provided to the district: Resolution of Intent to Impose an Increase/Decrease in Levies