Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


Despite a projected flat enrollment picture, the Brighton Area Schools Board of Education has adopted a 2023-24 budget of about $115 million.

The amount is based on several factors, among them a blended enrollment count of 9,192, which includes the projected Brighton pre-K through 12 enrollment of abut 5,900, plus the forecast for the Shared Services program. The new fiscal year starts on July 1st, which presents a dilemma because school districts must pass their budgets three months before Michigan’s fiscal year starts on Oct. 1st - meaning some of the information coming from the state is not yet available.

While the state legislature has not yet determined what the 23-24 foundation allowance for each school district will be, there have been proposals on both sides of the aisle, ranging between 4% and 6%. In preparing the budget outgoing Brighton Area Schools Assistant Supt. for Business and Finance Mike Engelter picked a figure of 5%, which would bring Brighton’s state per-pupil aid to $9,608 That would be up nearly $500 from the current year’s figure of $9,150.

Engelter says other factors in the 23-24 spending plan, besides the projected state aid increase, include wage increases resulting from contracts with Brighton teachers and non-instructional employees, a rise in the retirement rate from 28.23% to 31.34% of salary and a 4.1% increase in the health insurance hard caps beginning next January.

Other factors for the increase on the expenditure side of the ledger include security upgrades and increased staffing to handle a predicted increase in the number of Shared Services students. Likewise, provision is being made for increased spending on new windows and HVAC - or heating, ventilation and air conditioning - upgrades at the Brighton Education and Community Center.

Also going up in the coming year will be transportation costs. Even though the school bus program is operated by the intermediate school district, Brighton owns its own buses, and four new buses are to be purchased for the new school year to replace existing high-mileage buses.

Shared Services is a program in which a district may offer instructional services in non-core curriculum areas to schools which, due to their small size, are not able to offer certain courses to their students. In Shared Services, Brighton provides certified teachers, any needed classroom supplies and materials and is, in turn, paid for the service by the recipient school.

The Brighton Area Schools, which offered Shared Services to around 80 schools in the state this past year, is the largest Shared Services provider of any school district in Michigan. After expenses such as teachers’ pay are factored in, the program annually provides from $2-3 million in revenue for Brighton as the host district.

This is Engelter’s last budget for Brighton: He has accepted a similar position of assistant superintendent for finance in the Pinckney Community Schools beginning at the end of July. However, Engelter tells WHMI that he “will be available to assist in the transition as time permits," adding, in his words, “I am right down the road and am always willing to assist a colleague.”