ALPENA — Rogers City Area Schools follows a trend similar to other schools in Northeast Michigan by projecting a decrease in both revenue and expenses this school year as federal funds meant to help school districts deal with the coronavirus pandemic dry up.

Rogers City’s 2024-25 budget expects revenue of $6.5 million, down from $6.8 million in the 2023-24 school year.

The district’s new budget expects $6.5 million in expenditures, about $2,300 less than last school year.

If those numbers hold true, that would leave the district with $1.4 million in cash savings at the end of the upcoming school year, nearly $12,000 more than last school year.

Rogers City schools officials could not be reached for comment on this story.

The seven Northeast Michigan public school districts expect to bring in a combined $93.1 million in revenue and spend $94.3 million. They expect to end the upcoming school year with a combined $20.9 million in the bank.

Last school year, those seven districts brought in a combined $100.9 million and spent a combined $100 million, according to the schools’ latest updates to their 2023-24 spending plans.

That means the schools cut a combined roughly $5.7 million in spending between the last fiscal year and the current one.

Alpena Public Schools accounted for most of those cuts, trimming $3.5 million in spending between last year and this year, mostly because the district did not have to spend this year on one-time projects it covered with federal COVID-19 funds last school year.

Schools this year had to approve their budgets before the state finalized its budget, meaning school leaders did not know how much money the state would pay school districts per student.

That means schools likely will have to update their budgets later in the year as enrollment and state revenue becomes clear.

The Legislature kept per-pupil payments flat compared to last school year.