By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Board of Education got an update on the state of the district’s finances at its first regular meeting of the new year Monday night, and the picture was far from rosy. However, the board was assured that by no means is the picture all "gloom and doom."

School districts are required by the state to provide mid-year budget updates each year. The district finds itself in a different position than it has for the past several years, after ending the 2019-20 fiscal year with $7.4 million fund balance, which itself was down from an over $9 million balance before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Michael Engelter told the board that Brighton is not at the break-even point in the 2020-21 fiscal year, with its overall budget of about $80 million. He said that for the current year the district is $362,000 in the red. “It changes daily," Engelter said. "Everything in this budget is in a state of flux this year,” he said, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, newly-installed Board President Roger Myers told WHMI after the meeting that the revenue picture is a lot better than it would appear at first glance because the district and state are expecting additional revenues from the economic stimulus package plus other funding enhancements that are still in the planning stage.

Engelter said revenues are down because of some additional expenses due to Covid and revenue declines that would have been unheard of before the coronavirus hit. For instance, the district has lost huge sums in the community education and food service (hot lunch) programs due to hundreds of students switching to the online program offered through the Brighton Virtual Academy, as well as the occasional “pauses” in face-to-face learning ordered by the state.

Although he didn't have the exact figures at his disposal and admitted he was reciting from memory, Engelter said it cost the district about $4 million to establish the Brighton Virtual Academy last fall, due to the necessity of hiring teachers and other start-up expenses. His earlier figures were updated today and in reality, the budget for the BVA in its first year of operation is approximately $2.5 million. In addition, it is expected to generate a profit for the school district. Engelter said the cost of the Virtual Academy will decline in ensuing years since the one-time costs have been paid and it is now an established program.

Despite all the upheavals caused by the pandemic, Myers said he still is optimistic that Brighton will have a healthy fund balance exceeding $7 million at the end of the current fiscal year, the fund equity having been built up in the last several years before the pandemic hit. “This year is a unique situation,” Myers said, adding, "(The district’s financial picture) is more of a moving target.”