Budget

General Fund Revenues, 2008-09

68% of the District's revenue is generated from the District's Revenue Limit


Most of the District's General Fund revenue is generated from the District's Revenue Limit, which yields funds based on a state-determined dollar amount multiplied by the average number of students who are in attendance throughout the school year. Public education—unlike any other public agency—receives most of its revenue based on the population it serves.


For the District's revenue limit, the Governor's New State Budget proposes that it be increased by the 5.66% statutory COLA in 2008-09, but then reduced by a deficit factor of 7.844%.

The second biggest source of revenue is state categorical income, which must be spent for selected state-determined programs. The largest categorical program is Special Education services.

Federal income is a small portion of the entire District income picture, but its importance is growing as new federal commitments are added. Again, most of the federal income is restricted since it must be expended for purposes that are determined by the grantor—not the local Board of Education.

General Fund Expenditures, 2008-09

It takes people to teach students and 83% of the District's total expenditures is committed to the employees of the District

 Certificated Non-Management Salaries
  $21.5
 Classified Non-Management Salaries
 7.4
 Management and Supervisor Salaries
 3.0
 Employee Benefits
 8.7
 Books and Supplies
 3.0
 Operating 4.9
 Capital / Other
 0.2
 Total Expenditures
 48.7
 Ending Balance
 2.2

 Total General Fund

50.9


Reflects information as of JANUARY 2009


Most of the expenditures of the District are committed to salaries and benefits for employees of the District. It takes people to teach students, and in SULPHUR SPRINGS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT, 83% of the District's budgeted expenditures is for the services of District employees.

Employee salaries are divided into three separate line items—certificated, management, and classified employees. Certificated employees include teachers, counselors, nurses, psychologists, and others who provide services that require credentials from the state of California. Management employees include principals, assistant principals, instructional leaders, classified management personnel, and district superintendents.

Classified employees include all of the support personnel in the District, including

secretaries, accountants, bus drivers, mechanics, maintenance, and custodial personnel.

The health and welfare benefits of the District represent an additional 21% of payroll for expenses in areas such as medical, dental and life insurance plans, retirement, and workers' compensation expenses.

Restricted and Unrestricted District Revenues and Expenses, 2008-09

74% of the District's income can be expended as determined by the local agency

A significant portion of California school district income is restricted income and, as such, can only be expended for selected purposes as determined by the granting agency—usually higher levels of government. The balance of the District income is called unrestricted since it can be expended as determined by the local agency for general educational priorities. On average, in 2008-09, California school districts will receive about two-thirds of their income as unrestricted.

The biggest restricted programs in California are Special Education, K-3 Class-Size Reduction, and Home-to-School Transportation. Local agencies are obligated, for each of these programs, to expend the income for selected program purposes, and, in some cases, for very micro-managed expenditures as determined by California or federal law.

For Special Education, SULPHUR SPRINGS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT expends $8,761,500 to meet program obligations and state and federal law. State and federal Special Education income is significantly less than the obligations of the program. Therefore, the District must use unrestricted or general-purpose income to address the full obligations of Special Education. The difference between the restricted income and the expenditures in Special Education is described as "encroachment," indicating that the expenditures "encroach" on general purpose revenues.

Home-to-School Transportation is another program encroaching on the District's general purpose revenues in the amount of $563,375, or about 49.04% of the entire District transportation expense.

Assumptions for the 2008-09 Budget Development

During the months of May and June each year, the District finalizes its budget for the coming year. In order to project the budget, a series of assumptions about the conditions of the District must be determined. These assumptions are then inserted into state and District formulas in order to determine the final budget for the next year.

The accuracy of the District's budget projection for the next year is only as good as the assumptions that are used in developing the budget. If the assumptions are wrong, so too will be the budget. As a consequence, the assumptions—at least the primary ones—have to be carefully considered in evaluating the accuracy of next year's income and expense. Often, the assumptions for budget development are revised several times during a fiscal year.

Since it is impossible to accurately predict all of the assumptions that are needed in budget development, SULPHUR SPRINGS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT updates its budget—and the assumptions—three times after the original budget is adopted. The assumptions are updated with a revision that occurs within 45 days after the adoption of the State Budget and with two interim reports that are delivered to the Board of Education in January and March of each fiscal year.


Financial Assumptions for 2008-09 Budget Development

   %  Total
ADA percentage change over prior year, and estimated P-2 ADA for 2008-09
  0.80 
$5,647 
Revenue Limit COLA adjustment for state categorical programs
  5.66 
$1,778,805 
COLA adjustment for state categorical programs
    -15.40 
 
Reduction in state revenue limit deficit
 7.84 

 ($2,590,674) 

District's estimated Unrestricted Beginning Balance 5.95 
$2,841,675 
Certificated payroll increases due to the step and column movement
  2.69 
$627,351 

Reflects information as of JANUARY 2009

The District's budget projection is only as good as the assumptions that are used in developing the District's revenues and expenses


Budget

Sulphur Springs School District
2008-2009
Adopted Budget
 

2008-2009
First Interim

 

2008-2009
Second Interim

 
ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION
      
Beginning Balance $2,843,580 $4,392,846 $4,376,008
       
Revenue Limit Sources $31,207,266 $31,335,268 $30,612,205
Federal Revenues $1,729,630 $2,022,685 $1,989,318
Other State Revenues $9,780,524 $9,999,955 $10,366,373
Other Local Revenues $3,027,899 $3,052,727 $2,702,629
Interfund Transfers In $591,804
 $590,532 $591,904
Other Financing Sources      
TOTAL REVENUES $46,337,123 $47,001,167
 $46,261329
 

   
Certificated Salaries $23,795,113 $23,841,485 $24,067,879
Classified Salaries $7,573,239
 $7,752,495 $8,021,998
Employee Benefits $8,641,270 $8,663,990 $8,683,281
Books and Supplies $1,675,199 $2,611,577 $2,930,462
Services, Other Operating Exps $4,622,021 $5,431,375 $4,964,504
Capital Outlay $20,000 $24,765
 $24,765
Other Outgo $207,000 $207,000 $207,000
Direct Support/Indirect Costs
$0
 $0 $0
Interfund Transfers Out $0
 $245,462 $87,133
Other Financing Uses
$0
 $0 $0
TOTAL EXPENDITURES $46,533,842 $46,482,691 $48,987,022
 

   
Estimated Ending Fund Balance $2,646,861 $2,918,214 $1,650,315

         Attendance History and Projections for 2008-09       

The most significant characteristic for determining District income is the calculation of the average number of students who are in school and in attendance on a daily basis. This average daily attendance, or ADA, is multiplied by the District's revenue limit per ADA to determine the total Revenue Limit income for the District. SULPHUR SPRINGS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT has projected that the ADA for 2008-09 is 5,647, which is multiplied by the District's Revenue Limit of $5,389.88 to generate the District's total Revenue Limit income in the new fiscal year.

Since ADA is such an important part of the District's income base, the projection of ADA for this next fiscal year is an important part of projecting the District's income. Even small fluctuations in the District's ADA can mean a gain or loss of tens of thousands of dollars in income. District attendance records are monitored monthly and ADA is updated throughout the year to ensure that the projected revenue limit income matches the District's budgeted or revised projections.

Public schools are the only agencies that receive income based on the population they serve. Cities or counties, as an example, do not have either increases or decreases in their revenue based on the number of citizens in their community.

Public schools, however, receive most of their income based on attendance, and if, a student misses even one day in SULPHUR SPRINGS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT, the District loses approximately $43. The state does not pay the District for enrollment—just attendance—so all of the costs of setting up the instructional program will be a loss unless the student attends every day.

Reflects information as of JANUARY 2009

District revenues are generated based on actual attendance and not just the enrollment of students