Each building will have a basic level of discretionary funds to use throughout the school year. That amount is based on estimated student FTE and may be increased or decreased during the budget review process depending on available resources.
Budget Forms
Following is an approximate timeline for the current and future year building budget cycle:
Each Month beginning in October: Accounting sends each building a spreadsheet that gives a summary budget status from the end of the previous month. Summary and Detail reports may be run off the WESPaC system. Call Shannon in Accounting for instructions.
The summary report also goes to the principal’s supervisor.
If an account code needs budget capacity transferred, please use a Budget Transfer Request form. Send these to Shannon in Accounting.
If after looking at the transactions you notice an expenditure error, please fill out a Journal Voucher Request form. Also direct these to Shannon.
October: The business office evaluates the need to increase or decrease building budgets based on September and October enrollment figures. We also determine the amount of carryover from the previous year (both negative and positive). Positive carryover is generally limited to 10 percent.
Principal allocates any increase or decrease as a result of the above to various budget line items and sends to Shannon in Accounting.
January: The business office again evaluates the need to increase or decrease building budgets based on enrollment figures year-to-date.
Spring: Remember that positive carryover is limited to 10 percent of your original allocation (not including field trips, abatements, etc.), so if buildings have a lot of budget left at this point, now is the time to start spending that money so you don’t lose it at the end of the school year. More than 10 percent may be requested if the principal sends a brief description of what they are “saving” for to their supervisor, Al Swanson and Ruth Floyd. This request can be in e-mail form.
Spring: The business office will monitor budgets closely throughout the spring. If a budget reaches the 95 percent spent and encumbered mark, we will discuss it with the principal to make sure the budget won’t go over. We may need to freeze spending. Any negative carryover may reduce next year’s building budget allocation by that amount.
May: Current year budgets are closed off. Very few items should be purchased during the late spring and early summer. Consumable items received during this time period will be charged to the following year if they will be used the following year.
September: Close out current year budget (or, more appropriately, prior year budget).
July or August: Accounting sends a report that lists each account code in your budget with a total at the bottom of the report that represents your preliminary building budget allocation based on estimated average enrollment (FTE) for the next school year. Send changes to Ruth Floyd in Accounting.
August: School Board approves budget.
Accounting will load back into your building budgets school fine collections for the previous school year using account 0180.22.5620.LLL.9000.0000 (library) or 0180.27.5000.LLL.9000.0000.
Field trip donations are identified with account 0181. Revenues are 0181.25.0000.LLL.9000.0000 and expenditures are 0181.27.xxxx.LLL.9000.0000. (Vocational abatements are different; please contact the Voc. Ed. administrator.) The school is responsible for keeping track of curricular field trip revenues and expenditures, and being as accurate as possible when setting the suggested donation amount. Because they are donations and we cannot require each student to pay, the field trips may “dip in” to regular building funds. Please take this into consideration during budget planning. Conversely, buildings may receive more money from parents than the suggested donation; this is perfectly fine, even welcomed.
Abatements – Program 0182
Abatements are identified with account code 0182. Revenues are 0182.22.0000.LLL.9000.0000 and expenditures are 0182.27.xxxx.LLL.9000.0000. (Vocational abatements are different; please contact the Voc. Ed. administrator.) Try to spend all abatement money in the year collected (before the May cut-off). If you need to carry forward abatement dollars, it should NOT be a material amount. Normally supplies are purchased in the same year in which the revenue comes in so that students who paid the fee benefit from the supplies; however, you may need to reserve a small amount at the end of the year for starting up the next school year.
If a large amount of revenue remains at the end of the year in your abatement account, please lower the fees you charge students.
Donation funds (other than field trips) are identified with account code 0183. When you receive a donation, transmit using revenue account code 0183.25.0000.LLL.9000.0000 and include a note with the expenditure account you would like it credited to. For example, if you receive a check from your PTO to pay for a teacher’s computer, request accounting put the budget capacity in account 0183.27.XXXX.LLL.9000.0000.
Book Fair funds are identified with account code 0184. Revenues are 0184.22.0000.LLL.9000.0000 and expenditures are 0184.22.5620.LLL.9000.0000 (if buying library books). At the end of the book fair, revenues should approximately equal expenditures.
Departments also receive the following year’s preliminary allocation in July or August. Starting in October, and each month after that, departments receive budget status reports from accounting. The business office monitors the budgets and contacts the program supervisor if there appears to be a problem. Department budgets are not normally carried forward; however, if there is a special circumstance, please make a request to Cabinet.
In addition to budget status reports, Grant Administrators receive spreadsheets from Shannon Smythe in Accounting describing the most up-to-date grant allocation and expenditure information. She may also include questions or requests regarding grant revisions, journal voucher needs, or concerns about how the grant is tracking for the year – i.e., it looks like grant will be over budget or is way under budget. Please look at these comments and respond to any questions by calling or e-mailing Shannon as soon as possible.
Corrections to both revenue and expenditure transactions are made through the Journal Voucher (JV) process.
Requests for correcting entries are submitted in writing with the signature of the appropriate budget administrator. A Journal Voucher Request form (see link above) is submitted to the Accounting Department (Shannon for General Fund, Linda for ASB). A copy of the transaction Recap or Expenditure Detail with the item highlighted should be attached, if possible. Every effort will be made to complete the correction in the month requested.
In the event an error is made by the Accounting Department, the form is not necessary, but a call or note to make us aware of the error would be appreciated. As much as Accounting tries to be very accurate in our data entry, we are not perfect, so the budget administrator and/or their secretary should spot-check transactions to verify errors were not made.