The Weld RE-1 School District continues to address budget challenges under a new superintendent who looks to find solutions through staffing adjustments, “pausing” operations at a middle school and more.
Superintendent Kim Bloemen announced to families on Jan. 16 that a trifecta — declining enrollment in schools, pending changes in education funding and the district’s dependency on a balance with low funds — have caused ongoing financial struggles in the rural school district that serves students in LaSalle, Gilcrest and Platteville.
Per-pupil funding hinges on five-year enrollment averages, meaning districts declining in enrollment see reductions in funding. Bloemen reported Weld RE-1 has lost 42 students from last year to this year, bringing enrollment down to 1,639 students.
“Our enrollment is the lowest in Weld RE-1 history,” Bloemen said. “We really need our community to get involved and be here with us to try to make sure that the future generations have access to our schools here in Weld RE-1.”
In addition to enrollment-based funding affecting the district’s finances, Gov. Jared Polis announced a $1 billion shortfall in state funding. Polis has also proposed removing the five-year averaging of enrollment, which calculates funding by averaging school district student counts over five years.
This would result in an estimated $669,000 shortfall for Weld RE-1 for the 2025-26 school year. Bloemen, who submitted a letter in opposition to the removal, said the aftermath could look catastrophic from rural school districts in the state.
The financial barriers aren’t a new development for Weld RE-1. Under former superintendent Johan van Nieuwenhuizen’s leadership, the district struggled to tackle a $4.2 million deficit during the 2023-24 school year. Bloemen took over when van Nieuwenhuizen retired on May 15.
The Weld RE-1 School District has operated with 10% less staff for the 2024-25 school year as a result of the $4.2 million deficit. Adjustments with staffing course corrected about $2.9 million of the debt, leaving the district with $1.4 million, Bloemen told the Tribune in July.
Many Weld RE-1 families believed all financial issues were resolved when van Nieuwenhuizen retired, but there’s still work to do. Bloemen has communicated about the ongoing battle at board meetings, with newly formed committees and through monthly newsletters.
Weld RE-1 has used $1.4 million from the fund balance for the current year to balance the budget, and now with the combined trifecta factors, the district needs to account for a projected $2.1 million shortfall in the upcoming budget, according to Bloemen.
The end goal — to get through budget challenges and eliminate the dependency on the district’s funds to balance the budget — varies depending on different scenarios, like if the proposal to remove averaging goes into effect. As a result, the district’s board of education requested that Bloemen gather information on the different “scenarios” to help balance the budget before planning begins for school staffing and open enrollment in March and April.
The board then wants Bloemen to prepare information regarding reductions going into effect for the 2025-26 school year.
“You’ve got to have scenarios, or what I like to call looking at different interventions,” she said.
During this process, Bloemen has worked closely with the board, committees and school and department leaders to find solutions to better align with the budget. She believes developing a comprehensive master plan will best address the current budget challenges and ensure these same challenges don’t arise next year.
“These decisions are not easy, but they are necessary to ensure a stable and sustainable future for our schools,” Bloeman said.
The plan focuses on strategic reductions, identifying deeper reductions to prevent “superficial or temporary” cuts yearly, according to Bloeman. This resulted in the idea of relinquishing two director positions and reorganizing the Educational Center to “streamline administrative functions and ensure more efficient use of resources.”
Weld RE-1 will eliminate the positions of director of enrollment, assessment and safety, director of teaching and learning, director of student services and director of IT and innovation. Weld RE-1 will then create reorganized positions: director of operations and director of learning, assessment and special populations.
These positions were posted on Jan. 16. If anyone wants to participate in the interview committee, contact Bloemen at bloemenk@wcsdre1.org.
The district has already approved several changes for the 2025-26 Educational Center Organizational Chart draft. Two upcoming changes include getting rid of one preschool classroom to “better align our early childhood services with current enrollment patterns” and eliminating the dean position at the high school, given the declining enrollment.
Other solutions still remain under review. Although these involve making sacrifices, Bloemen believes there are “areas of opportunity.”
The district will look into making staffing adjustments to align with current enrollment, ensuring resources are allocated where most needed to support student success.
Weld RE-1 will review certain benefits for employees and potentially conduct re-bidding of the district’s insurance programs.
Bloemen said the district’s budget work involved looking at Weld RE-1’s footprint of three towns and six buildings, one of which only has 139 students inside. She said reaching the historic low in enrollment presented the concept of a five-school district. This also sparked a need for a long-range facility plan as the last plan was made 13 years ago.
As a result, the district will review staffing scenarios and student programming if the district placed a “pause” on operations at South Valley Middle School. This would launch a Long-Range Community Planning Team to evaluate the use and footprint of the district’s buildings to ensure all buildings operate efficiently amid the declining enrollment.
The pause will allow leaders to develop long-term plans and lower the number of districtwide teaching reductions. The short-term transition would keep sixth grade students at the elementary school while seventh and eighth graders attend North Valley Middle School.
Long-term plans include introducing a 7-12 secondary campus to centralize secondary education, improving “staffing, program offerings, bussing and athletic programs.” Primary and intermediate school buildings would also become a more efficient use of space under the plans.
Down the road, the district plans to partner with local businesses or municipalities to expand community use in school buildings. Bloemen meets monthly with town leaders to increase communication because “we need them, they need us.”
“The goal isn’t that this is long term. We just have to put a plan in place so we’re maximizing and using our buildings the best way we can,” Bloemen said.
The district will also look at the operational budget for efficiencies with school and district budgets. Leaders will review the potential of a mill levy override or bond for either 2025 or 2026 to reduce staff turnover by making salaries more competitive with neighboring districts and tackle deferred maintenance needs in aging facilities.
Voters rejected the district’s last attempt at a bond issue in 2012.
The board will make final decisions on these plans under review at the Feb. 19 board meeting. The community can also attend the Feb. 5 work session where the board will continue its budget discussions. Bloemen encourages anyone with questions to contact her at bloemenk@wcsdre1.org.
“We understand these changes will have an impact on our community, and we want to assure you that we remain committed to transparency, collaboration and the continued success of our students,” Bloemen said.
In addition to the long-range facility planning, additional positive actions in the district include the completion of the new, five-year strategic plan, which will receive final approval next month. Weld RE-1 also plans to launch a marketing campaign soon.
“We can get there,” Bloemen said about tackling the budget deficit. “We can get there very easily, but it does mean making some sacrifices. This is the time that we need our community more than ever.”
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