Hello McAuliffe Families,
I hope everyone is enjoying the change in weather and hopefully finding meaningful time to connect with your children outside of school. Spring is right around the corner, and we have a busy season ahead. Spring Break is the week of March 24th and the week after that we will begin CMAS testing. In our next newsletter I will send out separate communication regarding the CMAS schedule as well as expectations for participation this school year. We will also send out specific communication for end of year events and expectations regarding participation in all of those activities in the near future.
I wanted to update everyone on our budget status for the 2025-26 school year. We are facing unprecedented pressures on our budget as a result of:
an enrollment drop
a reduction in discretionary funds based on the dissolution of the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone
These factors resulted in a two-year budget reduction of close to two million dollars. While some of this money will be restored through right-sizing our enrollment to 1350 over the next year, we are still navigating difficult financial realities.
Most cuts to our budget this year focused on support staff positions. We made the difficult decision to cut our French program, which has seen declining enrollment, while maintaining access to Spanish and Mandarin (We will still offer a fluent French enrichment class). We also cut the band program for next year due to significant declines in enrollment.
Our hope is to mitigate the impacts of these significant cuts next year through fund-raising. We would like to raise money to:
bolster our arts programming & support staff
refurbish furniture in community areas (library, teacher lounges and planning spaces)
Through our work with the Smiley Foundation we are reinvigorating our fundraising efforts and one way the whole community can rally to support McAuliffe is through our upcoming auction on Friday, April 11th. See below for details. Your support is greatly appreciated!
~ Brian Duwe, Principal
