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Welcome to our first of three Community Programs on understanding School Funding. Tim Bronk Superintendent February 4, 2014 Slide 2 Who is Laurel School District ? Slide 3 Elementary School District South School- Kindergarten West School- Grades 1 & 2 Graff School- Grades 3 & 4 Middle School- Grades 5, 6, 7, 8 High School District High School- Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 Slide 4 Elementary Enrollment #s K-147 1-160 2-170 3-173 4-136 5-153 6-152 7-171 8-132 Total 1,394 Slide 5 High School Enrollment #s 9-180 10-161 11-155 12-150 Total646 Combined Total Enrollment 2,040 students Slide 6 Staffing Administration- 13 Certified-134 Classified-115 Coaches/Subs & Students-136 Total-398 (As of 4 th Quarter of 2013) Slide 7 Transportation Route Buses- 11 Activity Buses- 3 Spare Buses- 6 Route miles/day-672 Slide 8 Facilities South School- 15,880 sq. ft. West School- 41,041 sq. ft. Graff School- 32,565 sq. ft. Middle School- 97,000 sq. ft. High School-159,777 sq. ft. Stadium- 18,000 sq. ft. Administration- 65,688 sq. ft. Total - 429,951 sq. ft. Real Estate-45+ Acres Slide 9 Geographic Size of District Approximately 165 Square miles Slide 10 Revenue Sources and Explanation of Fund Accounts Donnie McVee Business Manager February 4, 2014 Slide 11 Budgeted and Non-budgeted Budgeted funds require a budget to expend and are limited to the amount of the budget adopted by the Board of Trustees. Non-budgeted funds do not require a budget to expend and are limited to the cash balance of the fund. Slide 12 Budgeted: General Transportation Bus Depreciation Tuition Retirement Adult Education Technology Flexibility Building Reserve Debt Service Slide 13 General Fund PURPOSEThis fund is used for the instructional programs and general operations of the school district. Budget Limits are established per MCA 20-9- 308. VOTING REQUIREMENTSVoter approval is necessary for a district to increase Over-BASE taxes from the prior year (MCA 20-9-308 and 20-9-353). Slide 14 Transportation Fund PURPOSEThe transportation fund can be used to support the costs of transporting students between home and school. Costs of field trips, travel costs related to extracurricular activities and athletics, and staff travel costs are NOT ALLOWABLE costs of the fund. VOTING REQUIREMENTSThe transportation fund tax levy is permissive. Consequently, it is not subject to voter approval. Slide 15 Bus Depreciation Fund PURPOSE The purpose of the bus depreciation fund is to finance the replacement of buses owned by a school district. Funds may be used to replace route buses or activity buses and to purchase additional yellow buses for routes but NOT additional activity buses. The revenues come from a permissive levy limited annually to 20% of the cost of each bus. Slide 16 Tuition Fund PURPOSE The purpose of the tuition fund is to finance tuition costs for elementary and high school district pupils attending schools or detention centers outside their district. The revenues come from a permissive tax levy. Slide 17 Retirement Fund PURPOSE - The Retirement Fund is used to pay the school districts share of specific employer contributions, including social security and Medicare taxes, Teachers Retirement System (TRS) and Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) contributions, and unemployment insurance. It is funded by countywide permissive retirement levy. Slide 18 Adult Education Fund PURPOSEA district that operates an adult education program must use this fund. Taxes levied for support of the adult education program and student fees for adult education are deposited in this fund pursuant to MCA 20-7-705. VOTING REQUIREMENTSTax levies are permissive. No voter approval is required for this fund. Slide 19 Technology Fund PURPOSE - The Technology Fund is used for the purchase, rental, repair and maintenance of technology equipment and computer network access. It is funded by state technology grant, school block grant and a district tax levy. Slide 20 Flexibility Fund PURPOSEThis fund was created by legislative action in 2001. Its intent was to provide schools one-time only source of funding which could be used for its own unique circumstances. This fund is used for technology, facility expansion, student assessment and evaluation, curriculum development and other types of expenditures as described in MCA 20-9-543. Slide 21 Building Reserve Fund PURPOSEThis fund accumulates funding for the future construction, and equipping or enlarging of school buildings, or for the purpose of purchasing land needed for school purposes, on authority of a voted levy. MCA 20- 9-502 LEVY LIMITS AND VOTING REQUIREMENTSTax levies are limited by the building reserve election to the total authorized by the vote, divided by the numbers of years authorized. A building reserve tax authorization may not exceed 20 years for most purposes. Slide 22 Debt Service Fund PURPOSEThis fund is used to pay debt service payments for principal and interest on bonds or Special Improvement Districts (SIDs/RIDs). The expenditure budget of the fund should include both principal and interest payments due on bonds for each fiscal year of the bond term. Middle School Building Bond20 year bond High School and Stadium Bond20 year bond High School Roof Bond10 year bond Slide 23 Non-budgeted School Food Service Miscellaneous Programs Traffic Education Lease/Rental Compensated Absences Building Fund Student Activities Slide 24 State Components of General Fund Revenues: Direct State Aid Basic Entitlements Per ANB allocations Quality Educator At Risk Student Indian Education For All American Indian Achievement Gap Data for Achievement Special Education Allowable Costs Guaranteed Tax Base Slide 25 Base Budget 80% Maximum Budget 100% Adopted Budget Over base budget revenue comes from local taxes previously approved and newly voted. Slide 26 Slide 27 Understanding Montana School Finance and School District Budgets 2013 Slide 28 Questions Slide 29 Please contact us with questions Tim Bronk, Superintendent 406-628-3356 Donnie McVee, Business Manager 406-628-3354