March 26 Summit BOE Budget Preview: Lower Overall Spending, Decent Priorities

Summit is another District holding a budget meeting this week with a final number coming in at  $90,511,845. This number is built on $10,638,482 in anticipated revenues and a local tax levy of $79,873,363. The resolution also authorizes an $850,000 capital reserve withdrawal, a $50,000 maintenance reserve withdrawal, and a $2,227,161 adjustment for increased health benefit costs. The travel expenditure is set to a max of $200,000 for 2026-27 Travel Expenditures.

The top-line numbers aren’t new, but with Summit not showing its hand as to the detail (like most Districts) big questions remain as to what the priorities are going to look like this year.

Residents can use our ACFR profile on Summit as a basis for questions and feedback however – and in many ways the ACFR is a much better source at this stage of the game as it captures last year’s real spending along with trends.

Summit isn’t one of the highest-spending districts in our seven-district comparison overall- ranking 6th of 7 in total cost per pupil, 5th in total instruction, and 6th in total administration.

Some lower-ranked categories are actually bright spots and refreshing to see. It’s clear that the District hasn’t fully bought into the security theater spending spree we’ve seen devour budgets in other Districts, and some of their overhead categories are well in check. Some of the higher ranked areas reflect reasonable priorities. 1st out of 7 in textbooks, 2nd in improvement of instruction, 1st in educational media and bilingual education.

This prioritization appears supported by how they fare in proficiency, ranked in the top 1/3 of the seven comparable Districts in Math and ELA and right down the middle in Science.

Let’s hope Summit continues this course with the new Budget.

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