TPS To Use Rainy Day Fund For Upcoming School Year To Offset Funding Loss From State

Tulsa Public Schools said it plans to tap into its rainy day fund for the upcoming school year, to make up for an expected loss of $13 million from the state.

The district said the budget changes were triggered in part by a new law, which changes the enrollment numbers school districts can use to calculate how much money they would get from the state.

This change to how school districts calculate their budgets comes at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch of rising inflation.

The upcoming school year is the first time House Bill 2078 takes effect, which changes the way Tulsa Public Schools Chief Finance and Operations Officer Jorge Robles does his job.

He estimates TPS will see about $13 million less from the state than it did in this current school year.

"We are getting less state aid, but our costs are going up,” he said.

In the past, Oklahoma school districts could use the highest enrollment number from the previous two years to plan how much funding they could expect from the state in the next school year.

Looking back at the last five school years, TPS has seen a consistent decrease in enrollment, with the exception of the current school year.

As an example of how the state aid formula worked in the past, this current school year, which had about 33,000 students enrolled, had a budget operating with the 2019 school year's enrollment numbers, with more than 35,000 students.

Now, things are changing.

"We can use only the, either the end of this school year, or the October count, so the first quarter of next school year, the highest of the two would drive our enrollment,” Robles said.

Tulsa Public Schools enrollment numbers provided by TPS:

2021-2022: 33,211  

2020-2021: 32,569    

2019-2020: 35,675    

2018-2019: 36,512    

2017-2018: 37,433

Note: Prior to SY21-22, the Oklahoma State Department of Education reported numbers including Tulsa Public Schools district-authorized charters.

While the district will not know what the next school year's enrollment numbers are until October, Robles said the estimate he is working with is a loss of about 400 students.

He said since the law was passed, the district started preparing and it does have a solution.

"We have been working as a district anticipating this change and also anticipating a lot of the economic impact because of inflation, proactively saving and sort of putting funds aside in our fund balance or our rainy day fund."

The district said it plans to use about $17 million from its rainy day fund, which it said is about the same amount it was able to save this school year.

"We are prepared for next year but if the economic, as I explained to the board, if the economic conditions continue, and we don't get an adjustment from the state to cover that inflationary cost, then that becomes an issue,” Robles said.