Business office reports clean audit, $736K Ready-to-Learn allocation and FY27 budget challenge

At the Jan. 20 finance committee meeting, the district's business office presented multiple fiscal updates: a clean audit for 2024'2025, the district's Ready-to-Learn tax-equity allocation and the early phases of FY27 budget planning.

The business office said the district's Ready-to-Learn allocation is approximately $736,000 and recommended allocating $453,238.26 to mitigate revenue loss from assessment appeals and $283,037.82 toward debt reduction to support the capital plan. Staff said a resolution to formalize the allocation will be presented at next week's board meeting.

Staff also reported the district's 2024'2025 financial audit and Annual Financial Report had no audit findings. The business office cautioned that correcting prior revenue-to-expenditure coding required reclassifying roughly $180,000'$200,000 but did not change the district's total fund balance.

On the FY27 outlook, Superintendent Dr. Johnson said assessed values and the Arcorn index are declining, and the administration is preparing proposals to reduce spending by up to $5,200,000. He said the district would present reorganization proposals at the February meetings and deliver a proposed FY27 budget in April.

Budget snapshot: as of Dec. 31 the district's budget was $105,352,610, year-to-date expenditures about $41,200,000 (44.30% spent) and an available balance of roughly $58,600,000; the business office flagged ESAs as the only line currently over budget.