It’s been four years since COVID-19 changed everything across the country. Now, organizations are learning to contend with less resources as federal money begins to run out.
COVID-era cash infusions are over, and that means adjustments for everyone. That includes the Sioux Falls School District, which announced it must dip into reserves for the upcoming year.
The matter was addressed by district business manager Todd Vik in the school board’s most recent round of budget discussions.
“The fiscal year that just ended was basically the end of our run of COVID funds," Vik said. "You get a little bit of a spending period three months out beyond that – but basically the COVID dollars are gone now. So, obviously it’s been greatly affected by the loss of those revenues.”
While this comes with an increase to the statewide school district aid formula, that isn’t enough to cover the gap.
“The five-year plan does increase the fund balance by $7.1 million in the first year due to that loss of COVID funding," Vik said. "We’ve got a plan to ease out of that over a four-year period. The projected fund balance in FY29, after a low in 2028, the number will be back to 6%.
However, the money did offer a window into what’s possible when prioritizing education, according to board president Carly Reiter.
“We kind of saw what that would be like if we had a fully funded education system when they poured millions of dollars into it," Reiter said. "So, now we are left with trying to decide what we need to keep, what was really working well, and what we need to forgo until the budgets change again. Hard decisions were made, and hard decisions will continue to have to be made over the next couple of years as well.”
Final approval of the budget was approved by the board unanimously.