Week 3 Budgetting

Reviewing this information allowed us to realize what a daunting task school finance is for districts across the state.  It is critical that the Superintendent be aware of how revenues are generated for school districts and how to justify expenses based on need.  Using the snapshot and summary of finance data we were able to determine the data required for this task.  Although district 1 has a smaller ADA they have a larger WADA.  This is because the WADA is calculated using additional funding percentages for special populations of students, providing districts with additional funds to meet the needs of those students.  Therefore, since District 1 had a much higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students they end up with more funding.


There seemed to be an agreement of confusion on how to calculate the total target revenue for the M&O fund using the information provided.  We worked tirelessly to research how this calculation is figured, but to this time have been unable to do so.  We were however, able to gather the revenue per WADA @ Compressed rate.  Finally, we were able to determine the number of teachers, nurses, librarians, and counselors for each district using the documents provided.  All members did a good job analyzing the data and determining what we could about M&O calculations and how those calculations can be effected by student attendance and their individual needs. 

In Venus ISD our M&O fund is $2,806,658 at the compressed rate.  We are located  south of the DFW area within region 11.  Our student population was comprised of 54% Caucasian, 40% Hispanic, 4% African American, and 2% other.  In addition, we are comprised of 68% economically disadvantaged, 15% LEP, and 48% at risk.  All these figures tie in to the money we are receiving from the state.  Currently our tax rate is 1.040 with an I&S fund rate of .20 with a Weighted ADA of 2582.045.  Since we are considered a medium sized district with over 1600 students we receive an adjustment for that as well.  Due to our large at risk and free and reduced lunch population and other special populations we receive a substantial amount of money from the state which in combination with the WADA funds the M&O budget.

After reviewing the data I was able to schedule a meeting with the CFO and determine that nearly 82% of our M&O funding is used to pay personnel and related expenses.  To this date we have done a good job of utilizing this money in the areas of greatest need within our special populations.  We have been able to hire personnel to keep class size low as well as offer support services and interventions to students in need.  One of the biggest things we have done to better use our money to meet the needs of our students in the past two years was to get out of a special education cooperative and have a standalone program as well as a standalone ESL program.  Through evaluation of the budget and open discussion it was determined that we could better utilize our money by ourselves.  This has led to an improvement in those programs and the services our students receive.  Moving forward I know they continue to evaluate our expenses in that manner and we continue to look for ways to be more financially responsible while meeting the needs of our students.