Thanks to federal special education funds distributed early in the school year by Oakland Schools and the addition of 40 students, the Oxford Schools Board of Education was able to pass a balanced amended budget at the Jan. 27 meeting.
According to Assistant Superintendent Ron Franey, the additional $135,000 in special education funds and $223,000 in per student foundation grant monies, counteracted the almost $300,000 lost through the $74 per student state cutbacks.
“We were able to break even because when we set the budget last year, I didn’t figure in a student increase,” Franey explained. “So the 40 new students helped.”
Overall, the amended budget featured mostly increases in both revenues and expenditures. In the Community Service Fund, the account for the district’s child care programs such as Headstart and PPI, the revenues increased by $134,970.
The increase was a combination of additional funding from the local, state and federal levels, as well as a correction to the fund balance after the district’s audit was completed.
The service fund also saw an increase in expenditures. Salaries increased by $33,067 to $655,551; benefits increased by $6,408 to $130,481; purchased services increased by $11,417; and supplies increased by $24,993. In all, the expenditures for the account increased from $827,500 to $906,825, well under the available $974,818 in revenues.
The budget for the athletic department remained balanced with no increases in revenues. The increases in salaries and compensation (totaling $5,810) were offset by a decrease in employee benefits of the same amount.
The Cafeteria Fund increased in revenues from $848,200 to $869,758. After the district’s audit, the account’s fund balanced increased by $70,212 to $131,959; increasing the total amount available for use from $909,947 to $1,001,717. Increases in expenditures were minimal with the salaries raising from $325,000 to $336,558 and an equipment purchase of $10,000 being added.
Most of the budget amendments for this year occurred in the district’s general fund.
No change occurred in local revenues; state revenues reduced from $24,667,323 to $24,662,218; federal revenues increased from $1,060,373 to $1,421,622; and additional revenues, such as grants, increased from $209,037. Also, the account’s fund balance increased by $382,557 from $3,478,640 to $3,861,197.
“After the year-end audit was completed we were able to confirm exactly how much was actually available for the fund balance,” explained Franey. “In June, we used last year’s fund balance number.”
The largest increase in the district’s expenditures was for instructional services. An additional $524,558 was needed to increase the account’s expenditures from $18,284,037 to $18,807,595.
Other increases in the fund included general administration from $336,886 to $345,621; school administration from 1,936,316 to 1,951,018; business items from $5,680,929 to $5,785,895; and central office from $1,063,794 to 1,072,938.
The only decreases in the fund came from pupil expenditures, from $1,675,511 to $1,615,559, and instructional staff, from $1,426,171 to 1,403,749.
There was also a slight decrease in the community service portion of the account from $5,100 to $3,530.
In the end, with the $3,861,197 fund balance removed for emergency needs, the district’s general fund balanced at zero.