Welcome to our first of three Community Programs on understanding School Funding. Tim Bronk Superintendent February 4, 2014

Who is Laurel School District ?

 Elementary School District South School- Kindergarten West School- Grades 1 & 2 Graff School- Grades 3 & 4 Middle School- Grades 5, 6, 7, 8  High School District High School- Grades 9, 10, 11, 12

Elementary Enrollment #’s K Total 1,394

High School Enrollment #’s Total646 Combined Total Enrollment 2,040 students

Staffing Administration- 13 Certified-134 Classified-115 Coaches/Subs & Students-136 Total-398 (As of 4 th Quarter of 2013)

Transportation Route Buses- 11 Activity Buses- 3 Spare Buses- 6 Route miles/day-672

Facilities South School- 15,880 sq. ft. West School- 41,041 sq. ft. Graff School- 32,565 sq. ft. Middle School- 97,000 sq. ft. High School-159,777 sq. ft. Stadium- 18,000 sq. ft. Administration- 65,688 sq. ft. Total - 429,951 sq. ft. Real Estate-45+ Acres

Geographic Size of District Approximately 165 Square miles

Revenue Sources and Explanation of Fund Accounts Donnie McVee Business Manager February 4, 2014

 Budgeted and Non-budgeted Budgeted funds require a budget to expend and are limited to the amount of the budget adopted by the Board of Trustees. Non-budgeted funds do not require a budget to expend and are limited to the cash balance of the fund.

 Budgeted:  General  Transportation  Bus Depreciation  Tuition  Retirement  Adult Education  Technology  Flexibility  Building Reserve  Debt Service

 General Fund PURPOSE—This fund is used for the instructional programs and general operations of the school district. Budget Limits are established per MCA VOTING REQUIREMENTS—Voter approval is necessary for a district to increase Over-BASE taxes from the prior year (MCA and ).

 Transportation Fund PURPOSE—The transportation fund can be used to support the costs of transporting students between home and school. Costs of field trips, travel costs related to extracurricular activities and athletics, and staff travel costs are NOT ALLOWABLE costs of the fund. VOTING REQUIREMENTS—The transportation fund tax levy is permissive. Consequently, it is not subject to voter approval.

 Bus Depreciation Fund PURPOSE – The purpose of the bus depreciation fund is to finance the replacement of buses owned by a school district. Funds may be used to replace route buses or activity buses and to purchase additional yellow buses for routes but NOT additional activity buses. The revenues come from a permissive levy limited annually to 20% of the cost of each bus.

 Tuition Fund PURPOSE – The purpose of the tuition fund is to finance tuition costs for elementary and high school district pupils attending schools or detention centers outside their district. The revenues come from a permissive tax levy.

 Retirement Fund PURPOSE - The Retirement Fund is used to pay the school district’s share of specific employer contributions, including social security and Medicare taxes, Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS) and Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) contributions, and unemployment insurance. It is funded by countywide permissive retirement levy.

 Adult Education Fund PURPOSE—A district that operates an adult education program must use this fund. Taxes levied for support of the adult education program and student fees for adult education are deposited in this fund pursuant to MCA VOTING REQUIREMENTS—Tax levies are permissive. No voter approval is required for this fund.

 Technology Fund PURPOSE - The Technology Fund is used for the purchase, rental, repair and maintenance of technology equipment and computer network access. It is funded by state technology grant, school block grant and a district tax levy.

 Flexibility Fund PURPOSE—This fund was created by legislative action in Its intent was to provide schools one-time only source of funding which could be used for its own unique circumstances. This fund is used for technology, facility expansion, student assessment and evaluation, curriculum development and other types of expenditures as described in MCA

 Building Reserve Fund PURPOSE—This fund accumulates funding for the future construction, and equipping or enlarging of school buildings, or for the purpose of purchasing land needed for school purposes, on authority of a voted levy. MCA LEVY LIMITS AND VOTING REQUIREMENTS—Tax levies are limited by the building reserve election to the total authorized by the vote, divided by the numbers of years authorized. A building reserve tax authorization may not exceed 20 years for most purposes.

 Debt Service Fund PURPOSE—This fund is used to pay debt service payments for principal and interest on bonds or Special Improvement Districts (SIDs/RIDs). The expenditure budget of the fund should include both principal and interest payments due on bonds for each fiscal year of the bond term. Middle School Building Bond20 year bond High School and Stadium Bond20 year bond High School Roof Bond10 year bond

 Non-budgeted School Food Service Miscellaneous Programs Traffic Education Lease/Rental Compensated Absences Building Fund Student Activities

 State Components of General Fund Revenues: Direct State Aid  Basic Entitlements  Per ANB allocations Quality Educator At Risk Student Indian Education For All American Indian Achievement Gap Data for Achievement Special Education Allowable Costs Guaranteed Tax Base

 Base Budget – 80%  Maximum Budget – 100%  Adopted Budget  Over base budget revenue comes from local taxes previously approved and newly voted.

 Understanding Montana School Finance and School District Budgets 2013

Questions

Please contact us with questions Tim Bronk, Superintendent Donnie McVee, Business Manager