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Schoolwide Budget

Anna Underhill

Department of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD-510: Education Finance

Dr. Scot Beckerman

November 24, 2021

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Schoolwide Budget

When determining the budget for the next school year, there were a lot of components

that needed to really be analyzed due to the district having so many renovations and projects that

were getting wrapped up the last two budgeted years. Most line items were given the typical

adjustments that are expected. Some of the line items that were given a typical adjustment

included salaries, benefits, IMRF/Social Security, and the Tort fund. These items were given a

typical 2-5% adjustment because there would be no additional hires added that would offset the

total of any of those budgeted areas. In the 2021-2022 school year, transportation salary grew

along with O & M salaries because additional positions were hired out. Since all positions are

now filled and there is no more needed positions, there isn’t a need to continue to add to those

budgeted lists other than the typical raise.

One particular line item in the Educational Fund that grew over the last two years is the

Capital Outlay. In the 2020-2021 school year, there was only $86,000 utilized in that section

whereas in the 2021-2022 school year there was $377,390 budgeted to accommodate for new

Chromebooks for students, computers, SmartBoards, and new computers for the office. Although

this is not a typical expense you see every year, I went ahead and put this line at $200,000

because the teachers are in desperate need of updated laptops. From that $200,000 the

technology department will have to decide how many new laptops can be purchased and come

up with a plan on how do the first round of pushing them out to departments. To not overload the

budget with everyone receiving a new laptop in the building, it will have to be dispersed

throughout a couple of years to keep costs lower.

In the O & M category, the only thing there was a major adjustment to is the Capital

Outlay line due to the fact that projects have been completed from the renovation in the previous
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budget. There was still money left in there to accommodate for any smaller projects that needed

to be completed. In the Transportation category, there wasn’t much adjusted other than the

typical expected adjustment to account for raises. One in particular that I felt needed to be

adjusted for the next year in this category was the Supplies and Materials for the simple fact that

gas prices have substantially grew and that’s the category that gas is purchased from.

The last category that saw a major adjustment is the Capital Projects section. In the

school year 2020-2021, there was a $2,303,800.00 budget for this category due to renovations. In

the 2021-2022 school year it declined to $224,403.00 to finish the projects. For the upcoming

year, I adjusted it to $75,000.00 so that there is money in there to manage any upkeeps but not an

overabundance that’s not needed since projects are done.

The budget for the 2020-2021 school year was at $15,358,571.50. In the 2021-2022

school year it was projected at $14,636,963.00. This proposed budget for the next school year is

calculated at $12,706,806.24. Each year shows less money being budgeted for because of the

projects that were being completed within the district. While this next school year shows about

an average budget, there’s always the possibility that the budgets in the future may grow

substantially as there’s more projects being completed around the district. Right now, there are a

few more classrooms that need updated but it’s not an emergency to complete at this time. It

makes sense to take a break from the massive projects to give the accounts a chance to grow to

compensate for the additional funding that it will take to update those rooms in the future.