I have attached the 2017-18 Budget Vs Actual and Comparisons to 16-17 for September through January (page 1 & 2). Also attached are the January Budget Status Reports for all funds (pages 3-7). I have been working on projections. It takes a lot of time to get the detail spreadsheets all setup and project accurately and compare to budget the first time. I was waiting on the transportation allocation and finally received it yesterday (it’s $200,000 more than budgeted)! I had hoped to finish up the projections before the auditors arrived last Monday, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I have been busy with them and also with February payroll taking precedence (it’s a short month). I will have Nicole post the projections as soon as I have them completed. The February Enrollment Spreadsheets are attached as well (8-10).
Budget vs Actual Comparisons for January
Revenues
Revenues in January were $39,000 more than expected (page 1). I would have expected this number to be a bit higher since January apportionment is updated with actual enrollment and we are about 50 kids over budget. This equates to approximately $275,000 for the year, but we would only get 5 months worth in January ($115,000) with the remainder paid out over the next 7 months. Our actual special ed count is approximately 12 students less than budgeted, so we are getting approximately $90,000 less than budgeted. The claim was also late for the National School Lunch Program, so we did won’t receive the funds for December until February.
Payroll
January payroll was about $89,000 greater than expected. I am working on the reasons for the big difference. I compared budgeted versus actual number of FTE for certificated and classified staff. We are currently paying 1.12 more certificated FTE than what was budgeted (due to having one KG teacher that is on administrative leave). With salary and benefits, this accounts for about $5,500 per month. I compared budgeted classified staff to actual staff and the number of staff FTE is in line with budget. I also compared budgeted average teacher salary (based on the LEAP schedule) with actual average teacher salary. The actual average is a bit higher than what was budgeted, resulting in approximately $5,000 greater certificated salaries per month. I am still trying to determine just why our payroll costs are so much greater than expected each month. I have looked at the summaries for all objects (base salaries, additional cert/class salaries, all benefits) and compared to January 2017 expenditures and encumbered amounts for January 2017 and January 2018 to ensure all salaries and benefits were properly budgeted. The only thing I noticed was that I did not build nearly as much capacity for certificated base salaries and I underbudgeted certificated extra days/stipends by $48,000 (almost $20,000 of this is for the two additional Math classes we are offering at WHS to lower class sizes). I will keep digging as I complete the detailed expenditure projections.
Accounts Payable
January accounts payable was approximately $11,000 less than expected (page 1). As usual, I reviewed all expenditures and the amounts paid do not look unusual.
Enrollment
The enrollment spreadsheets are also attached (pages 8-10), with summaries by headcount for September through February and a comparison of budgeted FTE to actual average FTE. Headcount enrollment decreased by 12 students and decreased by 12.5 FTE. One reason for the big decrease was that count day was on 2/1 and the new semester didn’t start until 2/5. There were many students (especially at the high school level) that did not want to start until the new semester started and we cannot count them until they actually attend school (regardless of when they enroll). Since February 1st, the FTE has increased by about 6.0 so we’ve gotten back about half of what we lost with the February count. The average FTE is still 51.12 students greater budget. I will continue to keep you apprised each month and will let you know how this affects the district projections.
Please let me know if you have any questions.