Newsletters 2014-15 Focus newsletter, [1] fall | Page 8

ACCOUNTABILITY

PAGE 8

2014-15 budget comes with good news
There is good news for families, students
and taxpayers in the budget the School Board
approved June 30 to fund the coming school
year.
Students and families will appreciate the fact
that neither class sizes nor lunch prices will
increase and there will be space and revenue
to provide all-day-every-day kindergarten for
all kindergartners.
Taxpayers will appreciate the fact that the
district was able to add new space at a number of schools and make necessary building
improvements without having to raise taxes to
do so.
And, as the result of careful planning, the
district will be able to continue the program of
strategic investments begun in 2012 to close
the achievement gap and increase student
learning.
A summary of the revenues and expenditures
for each of the district’s budget categories is at
the right.

Budget highlights for 2014-15 budget
Budget is balanced, meets goal

More state money for students’ meals
The district will receive additional state
reimbursement for students who qualify for
reduced price lunch so students will not have
to pay the reduced price. The district will also
receive an additional six cents per meal federal
reimbursement because school menus have
met stringent nutrition standards.

General Fund pays for the direct
costs of educating and transporting
approximately 38,000 students. It
covers such things as teachers, textbooks, administrators, counselors,
student transportation, building
maintenance, heat and lights.

The legislature provided $6 million in funding for all-day-every-day kindergarten, making
it possible to provide the program for all
kindergarten students. Through various
funding sources the district had been able to
provide all-day-every-day kindergarten at 16
of 24 elementary schools last year. Beginning
this fall, all kindergartners at every elementary
school will receive the benefits of more time
in kindergarten.

More funds to maintain buildings
The capital projects fund includes revenue to
upgrade the ventilation systems at two elementary schools, upgrade windows at several
schools, provide a new roof for the Educational
Service Center, and other critical projects.
The state requires districts to keep a 10-year
plan of building maintenance needs and allows
districts to levy to pay for those projects. AnokaHennepin’s plan outlines $150 million in projects. In order to keep from increasing property
taxes over the last few years, the district minimized the levy for this fund. Now, because the
legislature provided property tax relief, the district is able to increase expenditures in this fund
by $7.5 million without increasing taxes.

Michelle Vargas, chief financial officer, said
the general fund budget is essentially balanced though it shows expenditures exceeding revenues by $864,807. This results from
the FV6