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Budget

While the St. Michael-Albertville School District is financially stable, the state's economy and budget have a direct impact on our residents, businesses, and communities, and create uncertainty in funding for school districts.

The district has built a fund balance in accordance with state law and school board policy. The fund balance is a savings account used to preserve the quality of education that the St. Michael-Albertville School District provides its students.

Financial planning is key due to the uncertainty of school funding. The district needs to balance available resources against our needs. This includes identifying budget adjustments that will enable us to continue to provide an excellent education for our students while prioritizing expenditures to efficiently allocate resources to programs and instruction essential to improving student achievement.

FY 2023-24 Preliminary Budget

District Revenues and Expenditures Budget

The district’s budget accounts for revenues and expenditures relating to the general operation of the school district and includes individual funds: General Fund, Food Service, Community Service, Building Construction, Debt Service, and Trust Fund.

The General Fund accounts for K-12 regular education and special education instructional programs, utilities, insurance, building maintenance, and supplies and materials, in other words, the day-to-day operation of the school district. The budget is built on the premises of stable enrollment, safety, health and security, strategic plan implementation, and continued excellence in educational programming. The fund balance is an accumulated savings to cover unforeseen and critical expenses, to lessen the impact of uncertainty and shortfalls in state funding, and to eliminate the need for short-term borrowing. The district's fund balance is sufficient to cover cash flow needs.

Food Service and Community Service budgets account for special services provided by the district outside the K-12 educational program. Building Construction accounts for the revenue received from the sale of bonds to pay for new schools, remodeling, and major maintenance projects. Debt Service receives revenue from state aid and levies to pay off the borrowing for the building construction projects. The Trust Fund holds funds in a trust, typically donations, for specific expenditures such as scholarships.

Minnesota Department of Education hosts a data center to provide parents, educators, school districts, and citizens with easy access to revenue and expenditure data.

Budgeting

The District embarked on a long-range financial planning process to project revenues and expenditures for future years in order to ensure financial stability given the reality of being one of the lowest funded school districts in the state. Expenditures are reviewed annually to efficiently operate the school district and allocate resources to programs and instructional programs to improve student achievement.

Periodically, the school board reviews budget projections for future years. Budget projections are based upon assumptions in three areas – how much money will the legislature approve for schools annually, how much will expenditures increase, and how many students will be enrolled. These assumptions are based upon uncertainties but are made based on past trends and statistical analysis. Projections are used not for the actual dollar amounts but to determine trends. Any numbers different than those used in the assumptions will change the projections, thus it is important to review projections frequently.

Spending ESSER III Funds Information

To view district revenues and expenses, please click on the link below: