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 2017-18 fiscal year ending June 30. The audit was presented by Christie Bueche, senior staff accountant.
The district ended the 2017-18 fiscal year with a fund balance of 11.7 percent or $2,295,498 up from 11.35 percent or $2,114,542, at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year. The district added to the fund balance by $180,956 the fourth 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 board forecasted a $4,000 increase to fund balance,” said Bueche. “It was about $181,000. So that was better than expected. You have shown a little bit of an increase each year and are trending upward.”
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 2017-18 general fund revenues for the district were $19,802,755 up from the 2016-17 general fund revenues for the district of $18,907,046 an increase of $833,668.

The general fund expenditures increased to $19,621,799 in 2017-18 up from $18,637,592 in 2016-17. According to the audit, 72 percent of all expenditures are spent on instruction.
The per pupil funding for 2018-19 is $7,871. In the 2017-18 school year the funding was $7,511. State funding represents 89 percent of the districts funding, according to the audit.
Studenat count jumped slightly in 2017-18 to 2,144 up from 2,125 in 2016-2017. The board of trustees had revenues budgeted of $19.86 million and actual was $19.80 million a variance of $61,000 under budget. Similarly, the board budgeted expenditures of $19.86 million and actual was $19.62 million a variance of $238,000 under budget.
Bueche provided an analyses of the six year trend in enrollment for the district.
“It looks like a recovery (in enrollment) for 2018,” she said. “It looks like we are on the upward trend.”