Schools set public hearing for budget

Morgan County Schools will hold a public hearing on their 2012-2013 proposed total $27,964,950 budget at the May 1 school board meeting at Widmyer Elementary at 6 p.m.

The board is scheduled to vote on the budget that evening at their regular May 1 meeting that will immediately follow the budget presentation and public hearing at 6:30 p.m. The Widmyer Elementary local school improvement council (LSIC) presentation will be that night.

At the April 17 school board meeting, School Treasurer Nancy White requested authorization to publicize the proposed budget for public inspection. The board approved the proposed budget for publication.

Revenue
The proposed budget for the school’s general expense fund is $23,841,066.

It is funded through the regular school levy (current expense levy),
the special levy (excess levy), state and federal sources and Medicaid
reimbursements.

Nearly $4.82 million from the regular school levy, almost $5.46 million from the special levy and some $670,000 in prior year taxes were expected as
revenue. The general expense fund revenue also includes around $11.5
million in state aid, $450,000 in federal funding and $794,515 in carryover monies.

Approximately 35.94% of the revenue will come from basic state aid, 20.22% from the regular school levy and about 22.9% from the special levy.

Special revenue fund
The total school budget includes $3,798,884 for the special revenue fund. The special revenue fund includes Title 1 and Title 2 funding and monies for special education, vocational instruction, staff development, school nurses, alternative education, bus replacement and child nutrition.

The proposed budget also contains a projected $325,000 for the capital projects fund.

Projected expenses
The largest expenses for the school’s general expense fund are over $10 million for regular professional personnel salaries, almost $2.67 million for regular service personnel salaries, over $1.56 million for health and life insurance premiums and more than $1 million for social security matching.

Other top projected expenditures are retirement payments, electricity, substitute teacher and substitute service personnel salaries, supplemental salaries, professional contracted services, general supplies, other professional services, repair and maintenance service, vehicle fuel, data communication services, textbooks and insurance.

Current Qualified Zone Allocation Bond (QZAB) no-interest loan payments are $114,182 annually.

Budget percentages
According to budget charts White prepared, salaries comprise the highest percentage of the budget at 58.14% and some $13.86 million of costs. Employee benefits are second at 20.03% and will cost over $4.77 million.

Other projected expenditures by object code include contracted services (4.78%-nearly $1.14 million), utilities (3.83%-$912,260), instructional materials (3.21%-$764,980) and administrative expense (1.71%-$407,302).

Expenditures by program categories include instruction, school administration, central administration, instructional staff support, facilities operation and maintenance, business services, community services, student transportation and student support services.

Some 51.47% ($12.27 million) of the 2013 budget goes for instruction, 12.92% ($3.08 million) is for operations and maintenance and 9.13% (nearly $2.18 million) funds student transportation.

Published in newspaper
The budget was being published in the newspaper. White would also have additional copies of the budget available for the public.

If anyone has questions regarding the school budget, White can be reached at the school board office at 304-258-2430.