Due to an unexpected jump in student enrollment this year, the district will generate approximately $660,870 in additional revenue, which in turn will bring more job opportunities back to the schools and save students money.
Superintendent Dr. William Skilling said this year’s enrollment is up somewhere between 91 and 96 students.
That means additional support staff will have to be hired, including:
nKindergarten teacher
nSpecial Education teacher
n3.75 additional paraprofessionals
nTechnology Support paraprofessional (recall from lay-off)
nIncrease in school psychology support
Other areas that will benefit from the increase in revenue:
nIncrease the instructional supply and fine arts budget
nInstalling a back-up generator to support the district’s voice, data and video networks
nPurchase three new copy machines
nEliminate athlete’s pay-to-play fees and return funds to parents
Skilling said more revenue was also accrued after their auditor found a four percent savings from the 2006-07 fiscal year, garnering them a state aid payment of $276,000, which was much larger than they expected.
Because of this, the district’s fund balance will increase by $1.5 million, bringing their balance up to a $3,595,976, or 9.7 percent.
It’s important to note that this is a post audit draft projection that may change slightly within the next month.
‘It’s staying in the fund balance,? Skilling said. ‘We’re not gonna touch it and we’re gonna let it grow. We’re only spending the revenue increase we received through student enrollment, and even all that we won’t spend.?
Skilling said the administration’s goal is to have their fund balance sit at a safe 15 percent, which would mean they wouldn’t have to borrow the usual $3 million each year to help with cash flow, make payroll and pay monthly expenses the first couple months of the school year.
‘So, it eliminates borrowing money, paying that interest, and again, it helps to protect against a bad year with declining enrollment or health care costs going up,? he said.
This was the first year since 2001 the district actually could put money into their fund balance instead of withdrawing from it.
But Skilling said we shouldn’t expect to see these kinds of savings each year.
‘We just happened to have a good year here,? he said.
The most important thing, according to Skilling, is that the district doesn’t have to cut any programs that would affect a student’s academic success.
‘The last thing we’re going to do is cut something that will impact the education of our young people or the opportunity that young people have,? he said.