MEDORA
The budgeting process was different for Indiana public school corporations in planning for 2019.
For Medora Community School Corp., that didn’t result in any significant changes in the proposed overall budget total.
After all of the numbers were crunched, Superintendent Roger Bane submitted a budget of $2,509,488 for the board of trustees to adopt earlier this month. That passed unanimously.
All expenses are now categorized into two funds — education and operations.
The education fund is dedicated to paying for student instruction and includes expenses related to academic achievement and instructional support, such as teacher salaries, school supplies and technology. That used to be known as the general fund.
Medora’s education fund for 2019 is being submitted as $1,189,050. No local property tax dollars go to the education fund, as it is funded by the state based on student enrollment.
The operations fund includes expenses related to the school board, superintendent and central office and other overhead. Capital projects, transportation and bus replacement now fall under that fund.
Medora’s operations fund for next year is proposed at $705,815. The fund receives both state and local tax support.
The other budget funds are debt service ($449,671), school pension debt ($34,952) and rainy day ($130,000).
The board also unanimously adopted seven resolutions.
Two were for the corporation’s capital projects and bus replacement plans, which were advertised on the school’s website for the public to view. The state still requires corporations to do capital projects and bus replacement plans, but they are now only for three and five years, respectively. In the past, those were done for 10 and 12 years, respectively.
Four resolutions were to establish education and operations funds and to establish initial funding for each.
On Dec. 31, the general fund balance will be transferred to the education fund for 2019, while the capital projects, transportation and bus replacement balances will go into the operations fund.
Trustees also approved a transfer resolution. That authorizes the corporation treasurer to transfer amounts not to exceed a total of $236,000 from the education fund to the operations fund to reimburse the operations fund for expenses that are not allocated to student instruction and learning under Indiana Code.
For 2019, transfer resolutions for specific amounts will be adopted on a quarterly basis, Bane said.
“We’ve set a limit,” he said. “Each quarter, we will take a look at how much money we need to transfer from the education fund to the operations fund, so each quarter, we will have a resolution to specify an exact amount. For the year 2019, we will not go over the $236,000.”
The final resolution was to adopt specific funds to deposit local income tax revenue.
“We deposit 100 percent of the allowable amount into pension debt,” Bane said. “That way, we don’t have to neutralize another fund and raise property tax dollars to pay it, so our local income tax pays our pension debt.”
Any amount that’s not allowable will go into the operations fund.
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Proposed 2019 budget for Medora Community School Corp.
Fund;Proposed amount
Operations;$705,815
Education;$1,189,050
Debt service;$449,671
School pension debt;$34,952
Rainy day;$130,000
Total;$2,509,488
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