I have attached the 2016-17 Budget Vs Actual and Comparisons to 15-16 for November and December (pages 1-2), along with some classified staffing comparisons (pages 3-4). Also attached are the November Budget Status Reports for all funds (pages 5-9) and December Budget Status Reports for all funds (pages 10-14). In addition to the monthly reports, I have included Projected Revenues/Expenditures and Ending Fund Balance (page 15-16) and the January Enrollment Spreadsheets.
Budget vs Actual Comparisons for November and December
November/December Revenues
Revenues in November were $167,000 greater than expected (page 1). Property tax collections were approximately $40,000 more than expected in comparison with other years and we received almost $64,000 in State Forest revenues, compared to an average of $2,500 over the past 3 years. Timing differences in the federal grants and when they were approved and claimed in the past versus this month accounted for approximately $35,000 of the difference. Revenues in December were $42,000 less than expected (page 2). Last year we received a check from Sodexo for $27,000 for the 14-15 guarantee, which inflated the expected revenues. We also received 2 months of National School Lunch program revenues in each of the prior 3 years, but this year we received only one month (claims were not made timely in the prior years).
Monthly Payroll
If you look at the monthly budget to actual comparison, you can see that payroll is running approximately $66,000 to $84,000 (pages 1 and 2) per month more than expected (with the exception of November, which will be explained further). When the budget is prepared, staffing positions are budgeted based on what we know at the time and the expectations and requirements. Additional dollars are budgeted to increase capacity in the medical benefits, subs, vacation and sick leave buy-back and various other line items. The additional items would not normally have recurring monthly amounts that would affect payroll.
I have attached a spreadsheet comparing budgeted classified FTE with actual classified FTE (page 3). We budgeted 151.02 classified FTE and actual classified FTE is 154.04. We have hired approximately 3.0 full-time classified staff that were not budgeted. The calculation of full-time classified staff is based on an 8 hour year round employee. This 3.0 FTE actually represents approximately 10 additional staff members, including additional behavior support at WIS and WPS, 3 one on one paraprofessionals in Special Education, district registrar, district Family Coordinator, 3 regular route bus drivers. As shown on the comparison of budgeted hours per day vs actual hours per day (page 4), this accounts for almost 80 hours per day of unbudgeted classified time. In addition to the salaries, benefits also must be paid for the additional staff members. This accounts for the monthly differences in expected vs actual payroll for September through December (how this may affect the bottom line is discussed below).
In November, we paid out over $90,000 in certificated district directed and teacher optional time. Previous year average was approximately $50,000. This accounts for the much larger difference for November.
November/December Accounts Payable
November accounts payable was approximately $77,000 greater than expected (page 1). Running Start is running approximately $25,000 per month more than budgeted (apportionment increases consistent with expenditures to cover this (as you can see on the Sources and Uses spreadsheet on page 15). We also made a payment of almost $43,000 for the WMS roof work that was completed this fall.
December accounts payable were approximately $24,000 less than expected (page 2). Last December we paid $8,000 to Battle Ground School District for professional development and also $10,000 for food service equipment. As usual, I reviewed all expenditures and the amounts paid do not look unusual.
Projected Sources, Uses, and Ending Fund Balance
The spreadsheet includes projections for all 16-17 funding categories and all 16-17 expenditure categories (pages 15-16). This spreadsheet also identifies where we are spending our levy and miscellaneous revenues. I will touch on the highlighted areas (or have already). Per the spreadsheet, the district is projected to decrease fund balance by approximately $127,000.
Enrollment and Running Start enrollment are greater than budget, resulting in increased apportionment. Special Education enrollment is greater than budget and we have some very high need children which we will be applying for Safety Net for, increasing Special Education revenues. However, this also increases Special Ed expenditures, resulting in approximately $625,000 needed from the levy. There are some other areas that need adjustments based on budgeted expenditures to actual expenditures. This includes WMS CTE (budgeted 10.0 FTE and are actually only reporting 2.5 FTE) but payroll adjustments have not yet been made.
Many of the revenues in the spreadsheet are estimates, based on my best knowledge. Apportionment will be updated to actual dollars in January (coming out next week) which could affect these estimates. I will be keeping a close watch on revenues, expenditures and departmental budgets in the coming months, to ensure the unbudgeted staff salary and benefits can be covered through budget capacity, adhering to departmental budgets and increased revenues. I will update the board on this again next month and future months as necessary.
Enrollment
The enrollment spreadsheets are also attached (pages 17-19), with summaries by headcount for September through January and a comparison of budgeted FTE to actual average FTE. Enrollment decreased by 6 students, but due to some corrections in reporting, the FTE decreased by less than 2.0 FTE, making the January count almost 60 students above budget. The average FTE is still 53 students greater budget. I will continue to keep you apprised each month and will let you know how this affects the district projections starting with December financial data in January.
Please let me know if you have any questions.