The Trenton R-9 School District will likely go on the state’s “financially distressed” school district list in November.
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The Trenton R-9 School District will likely go on the state’s “financially distressed” school district list in November.
Superintendent Craig Noah said that the district is expected to receive official notification in November from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that it has not met the 3 percent minimum reserve requirement and will be included on the “distressed” list for the 2003-2004 school year. The information is part of the Secretary of the Board Report submitted each year to DESE and is based on information compiled from the 2002-2003 school budget.
DESE will monitor the school’s financial situation and will reassess its designation when information from the 2003-2004 school year is received next year.
According to Noah, the district’s reserve fund is at 2.77 percent. The reserve percentage is based on the amount of money it has available in its operating fund and teacher’s fund as compared to the budget total for the year. The R-9 District in June approved a budget of $7,681,202.05, including an $880,870.98 anticipated fund balance for next year. That figure, however, includes the balance for all funds, while designation as a distressed district takes into account only the operating fund balance and teacher’s fund balance. The operating fund is around $225,000 while the teacher’s fund is zeroed out, which is done each month when monies are transferred into that fund.
The budget approved in June will need to amended by the board based on cuts it made last week. At that time, the board eliminated 11 positions as well as the alternative school and gifted program , which resulted in a savings of about $279,000 in the 2003-2204 budget. The career ladder incentive program for teachers was also eliminated for the 2004-2005 school year.
The cuts, according to Noah, did balance the budget for the school year but do not take into account any additional withholdings of funding the state might make down the road. Last year’s state withholdings of $113,000 resulted in the district having to use reserves to finish out the 2002-2003 school year as well as making cuts in March that included both personnel and programs. Those cuts were done by the board in anticipation of less money for the 2003-2004 year.
Noah anticipates the budget amendments to be taken up by the board at a special meeting it will have later this month to set the 2003-2004 levy.
Last year, eight schools were placed on the DESE “financially distressed” school district list, including the Chillicothe R-2 District. They have since been removed from the list. With the uncertainty of what state funding might actually be for the new year, DESE anticipates the list for this year to grow to as many as 80 school districts out of 524.