By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich-By a 7-0 vote on Monday night the school board of trustees accepted an audit from Lewis & Knopf for the 2016-17 fiscal year ending June 30. The audit was presented by Antia Abrol, principal.
The district ended the 2016-17 fiscal year with a fund balance of 11.35 percent or $2,114,542 up from $1,845,088, at the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year. The district added to the fund balance by $269,454 the third consecutive year of increases to the schools coffers. The district fund balance has rallied from a low of $1,336,529 in the 2013-14 school year.
“The fund balance has recovered quite nicely,” said Abrol.
The 2016-17 general fund revenues for the district were $18,907,046 up from $18,470,222 in the 2015-16 an increase of $499,824. The general fund expenditures increased from $18,637,592 in 2016-17 up from $18,433,880 in 2015-16. According to the audit, 65 percent of all expenditures are spent on instruction.
David Cramer, school board treasurer said of the 2,125 students 81 of those students came from shared time and another 100 came from Schools of Choice.
“Those are two items that can vary every year,” said Cramer. “They could be gone tomorrow that’s a big hole that would have to be potentially filled in the budget. We have to be prepared every year and budget on a low student count. If we don’t that $2 million fund balance is gone.”
The hike in fund balance is critical for school districts like Goodrich following the adoption of Public Act 109 signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 as part of the state’s early warning legislation. The act amends the Revised School Code to require any district without a positive general fund balance of at least 5 percent for the two most recent school fiscal years to report annually by July 7 of each year the budgetary assumptions used when adopting its annual budget to the Center for Educational Performance and Information. Based on the report, the state treasurer may determine if the potential for fiscal stress exists within the district.
“The board did a great job,” added Abrol. “Student count for the district has remained pretty steady. This is an important number to stay around the 2,100 (enrollment) mark.”
Student count dipped slightly in 2016-17 to 2,125 down from 2,137 pupils in 2015-2016. The board of trustees had revenues budgeted of $19.02 million and actual was $18.91 million a variance of $112,000 under budget. Similarly, the board budgeted expenditures for $19.02 million and actual was $18.64 million a variance of $381,000 under budget.
Revenues were based on a $7,511 state funding per student.