Aberdeen Superintendent Alicia Henderson is forming a budget advisory committee to assist with restructuring school operations in order to save money.

With low overall student enrollment and a new state funding model going into effect in January, Henderson said the district must achieve significant reductions over the next two years. She has already announced an immediate freeze on non-essential expenditures and travel.

According to a press release from Henderson, the new budget advisory committee will be tasked with helping to identify cost savings of at least $1 million this year and more than $3 million in 2019-20.

Information about the new committee is posted on the district’s website, including an online application for community members. According to the district website, desired expertise for the committee includes experience with budgeting, operations, bonds, and health and safety. Preference is for Aberdeen residents or business owners.

One challenge facing the district is that the state’s new education funding model restricts how they can use the state’s money, Henderson said.

“The money that comes, you can’t just do whatever you want with it, it’s very targeted,” she said. “The way the state funds us is really going to provide the major direction in where we need to make some shifts.”

In January, the new state levy funding model will go into effect and that will reduce local levy funding and the district’s teachers just received an 18-percent raise and those two things will add to the financial struggle for the district, Henderson said.

The committee will meet five times before presenting findings to the board on Jan. 15. Those meetings are scheduled for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, Nov. 7 and 28, Dec. 5, and Jan. 9.