Last spring the Board of Education included a survey in
the District Objectives material. This survey indicated that a
significant percentage of staff members were "not knowledgeable" when
it came to the district's finances. So, the Board Finance Committee
thought it might help if some information was shared with the staff
and community during the course of this year.
We hope it is beneficial. As we get farther into the topics, we'll try to make it fun. We'd also like to encourage you to send us any questions or comments you have about these topics to EdFinance@d23.org . We'll get back to you individually or include the question in the next scheduled email. Thank you.
School District's Budget
Illinois law requires school districts to prepare an annual budget by designated dates and to include in it specified information on anticipated revenues and expenditures for the coming fiscal year that starts July 1 and ends June 30. The budget is the district's financial plan for the year. Each item of revenue and expenditure must be assigned in the budget to one or more funds.
A fund is a division of the budget for specific activities and objectives. Each fund is subject to laws and regulations to assure that money in that fund is used for the purposes allowed by law and the school district's budget.
The district has the following funds:
· Education- the largest fund, for instruction related items
· Operations, Building and Maintenance- For the upkeep of the buildings and grounds
· Bond and Interest- Used for payments on debt
· Transportation- for costs associated with busing of students
· Illinois Municipal Retirement/Social Security- For the district's share of required payments for these retirement programs and Medicare
· Working Cash-For funds dedicated to provide a cash cushion or reserve
· Fire Prevention and Safety- for eligible code-required building projects
(Currently at a zero balance because we don't have any building projects.)
At the end of the fiscal year monies that are not spent create what are referred to as fund balances that can be used in future budgets.