The Boulder Valley school board and Boulder City Council met Wednesday to talk about mutual interests, including declining enrollment, transportation and budgets.

Both Boulder Valley and city officials described budget challenges, with Boulder Valley Superintendent Rob Anderson pointing to a recent school funding adequacy study that found Boulder Valley is underfunded by about $40 million a year.

With the district expecting only an additional $5 million in funding from the state for next school year, he said, he has “serious doubts” that the salary schedule that gives teachers raises based on additional education and experience is sustainable. The district is currently in negotiations with its teachers’ union, the Boulder Valley Education Association.

“It’s not getting cheaper to live, and there’s a lot of tension,” he said.

Boulder Valley Assistant Superintendent of Operations Rob Price shared more about the challenges of buying electric buses as federal grant money dries up. He also asked if a Boulder Valley representative could have a seat on the city’s Transportation Advisory Board, as well as urged the city to partner with the school district to create a crossing guard program similar to a partnership between Fort Collins and the Poudre School District.

“There’s a lot going on at these intersections, and we’re asking our young students to navigate them,” Price said.

While enrollment is expected to continue to decline at the elementary level, Boulder Valley officials offered assurances that school closures aren’t imminent. Still, Price said, Boulder schools have about 7,100 seats and only about 4,600 students, putting them at 65% of capacity. In five years, those schools are expected to drop to about 60% capacity.

“We have a lot of open seats in the city of Boulder,” he said.

Lower birth rates, residents aging in place — reducing housing turnover — and affordability are the main factors, he said. The district also is concerned about the enrollment impacts of President Trump’s immigration policies and funding cuts to federal labs, both of which could push families to leave the district.