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The San Ramon Valley Unified School District is proceeding with analyses of the past year’s budget early in the new school year, with its unaudited actuals set for review by the Board of Education this week pointing to a greater ending balance than anticipated amid ongoing challenges such as a steeper drop in enrollment than anticipated in the current year.
The district’s unrestricted general fund ended the previous fiscal year at $5.95 million, according to the report on this week’s agenda, $5 million-plus more than the $702,825 anticipated in its estimated actuals. The restricted general fund ended the year at more than $29 million, up by nearly $13.8 million compared with the ending balance anticipated in estimated actuals.
“This report provides a complete financial picture of the District for the fiscal year and reflects the District’s final year-end closing from the previous June,” wrote Evan Miller, executive director of business services, in a staff report prepared for Tuesday’s board meeting.
“The data has not yet been formally audited,” he continued. “The Unaudited Actuals serve as the foundational report for the District’s auditors to conduct their review. The audited financial statements are brought to the Board for approval at a future meeting.”
While revenue was a mixed bag, with restricted federal and local revenue coming out to lower than anticipated, that shortfall was offset by some increases in state funding in particular, and primarily by reduced expenditures in the current report compared with the previous estimate.
The unrestricted general fund’s gains in the unaudited actuals were more modest, and “very closely matched” the previous estimated actuals according to a presentation prepared for the upcoming board meeting, with revenues and contributions up by 1.06% and expenses down by 0.71%.
The restricted fund saw a higher variance, with revenues and contributions down by 2.65% and expenses down by 9.51%.
While expenditures on classified salaries increased by nearly $500,000 overall across both unrestricted and restricted funds, a $772,126 increase in spending on certificated salaries in the unrestricted fund was offset somewhat by a $46,546 decrease in certificated salary expenses in the restricted fund in the unaudited actuals compared with previous estimates.
Employee benefit expenses from the restricted fund were nearly $2.9 million more than previously estimated, and $765,999 less than anticipated from the unrestricted fund.
Otherwise, expenses decreased almost entirely across the board in both the unrestricted and restricted funds.
Costs for books and supplies were down by more than $8.5 million and costs for services were down by nearly $8.2 million, and capital outlay costs were down by nearly $5.3 million for the restricted fund in the unaudited figures compared with the estimate, with other/indirect costs increasing by $192,684.
In the unrestricted fund, expenses for books and supplies were down by $388,180
expenses for services were down by $751,351, capital outlay expenses were down by $290,492, and other/indirect expenses were down by $769,667.
While those reductions led to a slightly more optimistic picture than previously expected for the district’s finances, it continues to face some headwinds. Overall, the unrestricted fund ended the year at nearly $4.5 million more than the previous year, with the unrestricted fund ending at more than $2.2 million less than the previous year, for an overall gain of nearly $2.3 million across both funds according to the unaudited actuals.
Following the upcoming discussion and the board’s vote on whether to approve the report, the district’s business department is set to return to the board at future meetings for a review of the audited actuals, as well as the first interim budget for the current year due in December.
The SRVUSD Board of Education is set to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 15). The agenda is available here.
In other business
* The board is set to vote on negotiated agreements with the district’s CSEA and SEIU units.
* The board is set to issue resolutions marking October as Filipino American History Month, Safe Schools Month and National Bullying Prevention Month, Oct. 11-17 as Week of the School Administrator and Oct. 23 to 31 as Red Ribbon Week.
