Please note: all years are fiscal years (July of the previous year to June of that year). FY03, therefore, is what we might call the 2002-2003 school year. That's why we're now discussing fiscal year 2009. 

Note that saying we "run a deficit" is a bit deceiving, especially if you're used to how the federal government uses the phrase. The Worcester School Department can't and doesn't borrow money as the federal government does. It cuts its budget. So the following is the amount of cuts to the school budget. 

In 2003, the school deficit was $11,345,968
In 2004, the school deficit was $8,645,532
In 2005, the school deficit was $5,804,057
In 2006, the school deficit was $5,262,715
In 2007, the school deficit was $6,268,768
In 2008, the school deficit was $2,658,420


A grand total of $39,985,460

PLUS, over the same period, federal and state grants were reduced by $18,162,831

And all together, we therefore are $58,148,291 behind where we were. 

And where did the money go?

$8.8 million was lost in state aid
$8.9 million was lost in state grants
$9.3 million was lost in federal grants
$9.9 million was lost due to enrollment changes

At the same time the following increased at a rate greater than inflation:
Health insurance by $16.1 million
Retirement by $2 million
Special ed tuition by $2.1 million
Building utilities by $1 million

Add these together and you'll find that $58.1 million again

(These and many others of the numbers on these pages are from the 2009 Preliminary Budget Projections.This is available as a Power Point presentation on the Worcester Public Schools website.