General Fund Budget

School board reviews proposed 2015-2016 general fund budget

Executive Director of Business Services Ted Cohan provided a review of the proposed $70.2 million 2015-2016 General Fund budget during the August 4 public work session. The 2015-2016 General Fund budget represents the first budget in several years that doesn’t dip into reserves.

“This is a balanced budget,” Cohan said to school board members Tuesday afternoon. “Last year we used $572,529 from reserves to balance the budget and this year our revenues are keeping pace with expenditures.”

The 2015-2016 General Fund budget is based on student enrollment of 5710 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students. Last year the district set its enrollment budget target at 5975 FTEs. This year’s enrollment target was scaled back due to the ongoing College Place High School transition, closure of the Homelink program and an overall trend of declining enrollment over the past few years.

“This a conservative enrollment target,” said Cohan. “We could see our enrollment numbers coming in 20 to 30 students above this enrollment target, but we want to build in a cushion in light of last year’s missed estimate.”

Each FTE student generates nearly $6,000 in state revenue. The proposed budget is based on $2.8 million in new basic education revenue due to legislative action. The new revenue includes a three percent Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all staff members who are funded by state apportionment. This is the first state approved COLA since 2008. District staff funded locally through levy dollars did not get a three percent COLA from the state. However, the proposed 2015-2016 budget includes a COLA for these staff.

“We think it is only fair that all staff receive a COLA, so the district is funding this expenditure with levy funds,” Cohan said. “This is an important sticking point of the McCleary decision as districts across the state are forced to rely on levy funds to provide basic education services.”

The 2015-2016 General Fund budget includes an additional $300,000 for curriculum adoptions, $100,000 for staff professional development, funds for a new kindergarten readiness program at all elementary schools and $100,000 to maintain the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Program. The proposed budget maintains a $5.4 million, or approximately 7.8 percent, reserve. School board members will be asked to approve the 2015-2016 General Fund budget during the August 18 school board meeting.

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