finance-final part 2

7/31/2019 Finance-Final Part 2

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Wednesday, December 14, 2011


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R.S.U. #64Proposed Budget

OverviewThe 2011-2012 School

Budget totaled:$10,241,607.00

The total amount of expenditures is figured through subtotals including: regularinstruction, special education, career & technical education, other instruction(Summer/Extra Curr.), student and staff support, system administration, school administration,

transportation, facilities maintenance, food and adult education.

The 2012-13 Proposed School Budget totals:

$10,320,018.00



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2012-2013 Proposed Budget

Changes Made:Instructional MaterialsTeacher Salaries

Additional Kindergarten Teachingposition

Purchased Services

Purchased Professional/TechnicalService

Library Staff and Supply

Stipends for Governance

Office Supply budgets

Custodial Salaries

Electricity Budget

Heating Budget

Driver Salaries

Ed. Tech Salaries

Reading Recovery Specialist

Guidance Department

Part-Time Secretary Budgeting



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$4,521,347.00

R.S.U. #64 Proposed Budget

Regular Instruction

2011-2012School Budget:

2012-2013Proposed Budget:

$4,592,778.00



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Regular Instruction

2012-2013Proposed Budget:$4,592,778.00

With the changes made to line items like individual school spending limits for suppliesand books there was a savings of $25,669.00 alone. These changes actually rose

spending limits at some schools and lowered amounts for other schools who did not usethe amount already budgeted for them the year before. Along with other adjustmentson line items included in the regular instruction budget through taking a look at fundsactually being used over the last few school years, there was only a rise of $71,431.00

in the overall regular instruction budget from 2011-2012. This is a considerably smallerrise than normal when you take into account annual gainings in teacher salaries and anadditional Kindergarten teaching position within the district due to a predicted higher

Kindergarten registration.



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Regular InstructionAnalysis

As stated, with the savings made in the adjustments I made on instructional materials,many schools would up with actually more money to spend on resources and it would

allow for the district to add an additional Kindergarten teacher at KenduskeagElementary School to account for a projected rise in incoming students. The actual

budget being created varies greatly from what I proposed. Instructional material findsfor each school stayed the same and there is not an additional Kindergarten teacherbeing added at KES or anywhere in the district. Beyond the savings, I would strongly

argue my version of the budget on the basis of adequacy when dealing with student toteacher ratio. At the kindergarten level at the moment the ration is 17:1. Not a greatratio but projected numbers will have next years Kindergarten classes at 19 or 20:1.Much too large of a ration, especially at such an important grade of a students life.



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Purchased ServicesAnalysis

The actual amount used by the district for purchased services was far less thanbudgeted for the last few fiscal years. Noticing this trend, I cut some of the budgetedamount out while still allowing for a safe amount to afford services when needed. Theoverall savings, although not much, accounted for the additional amount needed at thehigh school level for purchased services without having to budget for anymore money

to be spent. This again was much different than the actual budget being created.Resources allocated have not being adjusted to account for any unforeseen needs at

the elementary and middle school levels. They did make an adjustment for additionalfunds needed at the high school level but had to raise the budget to do so. Adjustingall of the schools as I proposed would eliminate the need for additional funding and

save almost $7,000.00 total dollars.



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R.S.U. #64 Proposed BudgetLibrary

Staff and SuppliesAnalysis

The budgeted amount for the new Library and Media specialist position was higher

than what the contract was settled at. I adjusted the budgeted amount down toreflect the actual salary for a savings of $3,061.00. With this additional savings I wasable to allow for more money to be put toward library resources and still have money

leftover to use somewhere else within the budget. The actual budget process hasmirrored what I proposed by lowering the budgeted amount for the specialist but

funding available for library resources remained the same. My argument for the rise

in money for supplies is using the actual amount spent on resources last year. I find itvital to have budgeted out the right amount of money needed for resources but be

VERY strict with money spend and not allow to go over budget.



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Office SuppliesAnalysis

Much as I did with the instructional resources, I looked at past school budgets and

compared them to the actual amounts used. I adjusted each school to where Ithought would be the most efficient. The most drastic change I made was the cut inspending at the high school. The high school has not spent the total amount budgetedfor the office while other schools re over spending. After the cut of the CHS budget,there was a $1,849.00 savings that I then applied to the remaining schools, putting

each school at $1,000 dollars. As I said earlier, with these rises in budget I would like

to enforce a very strict policy in not going over budget, especially on office supplies.The actual budget being prepared, once again played it safe and kept the amounts thesame even though there was over spending for the second year in a number of schools

within the district.



10/19

R.S.U. #64 Proposed BudgetElectricity and

Heating CostsAnalysis

Spending on electricity and heating costs went well over in some schools within thedistrict. While developing the budget I wanted to make sure that there wasnt

spending over the budgeted amount. With rising prices of utilities and heating fuelthese budgets must rise to account for them. I adjusted each school within the

district, with the exception of the high school, to the current amount actually beingused. There was an overall rise of $49,706.00 just for heating fuel to match the

actual spending for each school. The budgeted amount for electricity and heating fuelin the actual budget being developed also have risen to account for higher heating

costs.



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R.S.U. #64 Proposed BudgetTransport Driver

SalariesAnalysis

In an attempt to save money to use towards rising budgets, like teacher salariesand heating costs, I lowered the budgeted amount for drivers to match theactual amount being used. This was not a substantial savings but still added

$7,919.00 to be used somewhere more needed. The actual budget being createdkept the original budgeted amount to account for unexpected hiring of newtransport drivers for additional students who may need transportation. I do

understand that it is a good idea to allocate extra money for the hiring of newpersonnel but I truly feel that the number of students who need transportationwill not rise to the point over the course of one year to have the need to hire

another driver.



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Educational TechnicianSalaries Analysis

With the economy the way it is and the lack of funding available, I wanted to saveas much money as possible in hopes to have more money for the following year. I

adjusted all budgeted amounts for educational technicians to match the actualamount they were making the previous year. To keep as many positions I did not

have any type of annual raises for the upcoming fiscal year so they will be makingthe same amount as they did the previous year. A tough decision, but to be able tokeep as much classroom support as possible budgeted amounts were lowered andany type of raise was not given. The actual budget being created took a very

different approach. The extra money budgeted for Ed. Techs is still there andannual salaries were raised for some of the personnel. I do agree with the actualdecisions being made to give some ed.techs raises due to time worked within the

district to avoid any type of contract issues before the school year starts. On theother hand, if a meeting was held explaining there could be position cuts if annualraises are given, I feel strongly that educational technicians will allow for this on a

one year basis.



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R.S.U. #64 Proposed BudgetReading Recovery

SpecialistAnalysis

Due to upcoming budget cuts, our district is losing one of our Reading RecoverySpecialists. Knowing this, I adjusted the salary set aside for Reading Recovery to

$62,576.63. This is an overall savings of $50,562.00 which again can be puttowards other rising costs like an additional teaching position, rising teacher

salaries and heating/electricity costs. The cut has also been made in the actualbudget being made. This budget cut will aid in covering additional expendituresthroughout the budget.



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R.S.U. #64 Proposed BudgetPart-Time

Secretary SalaryAnalysis

During my process of developing a budget I looked through every line item to seewhere I could save money. I noticed there was money budgeted for a part-timesecretary to help with office needs during the school year. When comparing the

mount budgeted to the actual amount used there was a large difference. To allowfor this money to be used towards another expenditure I adjusted the budgetedamount to how much was actually used for a savings of $5,987.00. The actual

budget being prepared has kept the same amount of money set aside to assurethere will be enough money available if needed. My argument against this wouldbe if the school was able to get by without the additional part-time salary then

we should be able to get through another year the same way and apply themoney towards a more needed resource.



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My Learning

During the creation of a school budget, I learned a great deal of how much itactually takes and all that you need to take into consideration during the process.For the actual development of the budget one of the most helpful strategies I

used was to use prior years budgets to predict how much money would be neededto budget for each line item. You were able to notice trends in annual rising

amounts as well as what needed funds stayed around the same from year to year.

You were also able to get a better idea from comparing 2-3 years if what youhave budgeted for a particular line item is too much. When this occurs for a

number of years consecutively I find it important to adjust the figures and be ableto use the funds elsewhere in the budget.

Studying Trends



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I also found out a great deal of actually how many line items there can actuallybe on a budget and how long it actually takes to go through each one to analyzehow much money needs to be budgeted for each. I am certain that there are farless items on the RSU #64 s budget than a school of a larger size but it took agreat deal of time to go through everyone and consider if the amount is still justright, too little or too much. From there, you then need to account for unexpectedcosts that may arise and budget accordingly to avoid overspending on the budget.

These unexpected expenditures could be needed hiring of new staff, neededmaterials/supplies or maintenance/repair of school goods.

My Learning

Budget Size



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Rising salaries of administration, teachers and support staff every year issomething that needs to be taken into account when figuring a budget. Theserising salaries significantly enlarge the amount of resources necessary. Eventhough student numbers may stay the same, the budget will continue to rise

because of annual raises in professional salaries. This also applies to rising heatingand electricity costs. Student numbers or energy consumption may not change but

budgets will still rise to account for these extra costs.

My Learning

Ever-Growing Budget



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As we all know, there is a strong push for adequacy in schools. If you do notknow much about the creation of a school budget you would simply assume it

would be something that was easily attainable but it is far from such. There arevarious requirements to have a school become adequate. All of these require the

district to spend a great deal of money and every year to remain adequate. Alarge amount of required resources would go to the hiring of more professionalstaff to lower student to teacher rations to a more adequate level. Additional

large amounts of funding would go to the purchase of instructional materialsneeded for students to obtain the standards set for them. Especially within mydistrict, a great deal of money would also have to be put towards the purchasing

and updating of available technologies within each school.

My Learning

Struggling to Be Adequate



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REFERENCES

Odden, A., & Picus, L. (2008). School Finance: A Policy Perspective.New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Behrman, T., & Terman. D. (1997) Financing schools: analysis andrecommendations. The future of children

finance-final part 2

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