Financial consultant: School budget in good shape
Brown County Schools ended 2018 with a balance among all of its funds that was $3.5 million higher than the year before.
Financial consultant Bob Harris presented a report to the Brown County Schools Board of Trustees on Feb. 7.
At the end of 2017, the balance of all of the district’s funds, such as the general fund, the bus replacement fund and the rainy day fund, was $6,571,655.
At the end of 2018, that number was $10,074,983.
One of the reasons the balance was higher in 2018 is because the district took out $3 million in bond money in 2018 to pay for safety improvements, building maintenance and technology upgrades. That bond will be paid off over three years and eight months by property taxes. It was taken out as a way to keep tax rates neutral when a $6 million bond was paid off last year. At the end of 2018, the $2,663,937 remained of that $3 million bond.
Superintendent Laura Hammack said the district was going to be more intentional in giving financial updates on a quarterly cycle due to the change in school funding this year.
In 2018, the district had seven funds it pulled from for different reasons, like the general fund and the bus replacement fund. In 2019, those seven funds were condensed to five. Two “buckets” were created: for education expenses and operations expenses. The state did this to better monitor how schools spend money on educating students and keeping the district running.
The district’s capital projects, transportation and bus replacement funds were replaced by the operations fund, used to pay non-academic related expenses like transportation and bus expenses or utilities and insurance expenses.
The general fund will now be called the education fund, which can only be used for expenses related directly to classroom instruction.
“Because we’re making this massive change in the way in which our funds are structured, it will be very difficult until we have a full year under our belt to analyze our funds as related to the prior year,” Hammack said.
Harris said the results in the financial report were “very good especially in a time where our revenues are really declining due to student enrollment.”
On last year’s student count day, Brown County Schools was down 86 students compared to 2017, which translated into the district getting $500,000 less than it was planning to get for its general fund. That’s the fund used to pay teachers and staff.
Despite that decline in revenue, the general fund’s ending balance for 2018 was $3,514,387, compared to $3,441,896 at the end of 2017.
Brown County Schools recently cut nearly $1.5 million from that budget due to declining enrollment.
“She (Hammack) was able to increase the cash balance of the general fund at a time where we probably lost, over the last two years, $1.7 million in revenue. In order to keep up with that, you have to really be on the ball. Obviously, 2019, our revenues are even less. It will be a challenge again, but that general fund is just super,” Harris said.
The district’s debt service balance also increased in 2018, from $461,972 to $791,107. The capital projects fund decreased by about $40,000, but Harris said it was “nothing to be worried about” and that the budget held its own.
The transportation fund increased by more than $100,000, which Harris attributed to the district’s transportation director, Roger Cline.
The rainy day fund was reduced to $5,826 from $51,491 due to extra expenditures, Harris said.
The district’s self-insurance fund increased from $522,645 at the end of 2017 to $1,271,117 at the end of 2018. “A year-and-a-half ago, Dr. Hammack’s balance (on the insurance fund) was minus $700,000. That’s an amazing turnaround,” Harris said. Part of that improvement was attributed to R.E. Sutton & Associates, the district’s health insurance benefit adviser, which came on board after Hammack took over as superintendent to help change the district’s self-insurance plan.
The district’s grants were also included in the ending balance for 2018 and 2017.
“When you look at the increase in self-insurance, the general fund and debt service, that also added to it. All in all, it was a super year in a time where we lost a lot of students and revenues went down, so, very good,” Harris said.
School board approves staff changes, field trip, leave requests
The Brown County Schools Board of Trustees approved the following Feb. 7:
- An out-of-state and overnight field trip for the Brown County High School band and choirs to attend the Music in the Parks program at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, from May 31 to June 2.
- An out-of-state professional leave request for Jason Kirchhofer to attend the ISNA Legislative Action Conference Feb. 24 to 27. This is fully funded by ISNA.
- An out-of-state professional leave request for Alecia Adams to attend Conversations with the Federal Reserve Chairman on Feb. 6. There is no charge for this request.
- A maternity leave for Ashley Hendee beginning approximately March 25 to May 20.
- A recommendation to temporarily modify paraprofessional responsibilities for Dawn Seidle-Barnett from four days per week at Helmsburg Elementary School to three days per week at HES and two days per week at Sprunica Elementary School, effective Jan. 31. The anticipated date to return to her original responsibilities is March 25.
- Separating Brown County Schools assistant track coach Richard Gist, effective Feb. 7. This was a termination.
- Appointing BCHS girls assistant varsity track coach Johnathan Stevens, $1,535 stipend, effective Feb. 11. He is a replacement for Elaine Tillotson.
- Appointing SES temporary first-grade teacher Angeline Shirley, full-time with benefits, $15,338.88, master’s level 0, 72 days, effective Feb. 11. She is a temporary replacement for Connie Darling.
- Transferring Van Buren Elementary School paraprofessional Erin Schultz to VBE preschool teacher, $15.50 per hour, full-time with benefits. She is a replacement for Monica Feikema.
