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Districts’ wiggle room
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County school officials say the unreserved funds in their budgets provide financial leeway in times of crises.
The Government Finance Officers Association recommends “at a minimum, that general-purpose governments, regardless of size, maintain unrestricted budgetary fund balance in their general fund of no less than two months of regular general fund operating revenues or regular general fund operating expenditures.”
Poland schools Treasurer Janet Muntean said her goal is to keep three months’ worth of expenditures in the cash balance.
A review of budgets by The Vindicator shows districts have the following number of months’ worth of expenditures in unreserved funds:
Boardman, Poland, South Range, Springfield, West Branch and Youngstown have two.
Austintown has three.
Campbell, Lowellville and Western Reserve have four.
Jackson-Milton and Struthers have five.
Canfield and Sebring have at least six.
“The adequacy of unrestricted fund balance in the general fund should take into account each government’s own unique circumstances,” according to GFOA. “For example, governments that may be vulnerable to natural disasters, more dependent on a volatile revenue source, or potentially subject to cuts in state aid and/or federal grants may need to maintain a higher level in the unrestricted fund balance.”
Muntean agreed many variables go into a school budget — more than just the numbers — so a comparison is complicated.
“It’s not like comparing apples to apples,” she said.
The needs of one district differ from those of another.
Muntean said sometimes the age of buildings are a factor.
“If you ask a school district like South Range how many times they have to fix leaks in the roof, it’s probably nothing, but if you ask me how many times we have to fix ours it’s a different story,” she said.
Public school spending – and taxing – is a big concern to taxpayers, especially during election season when voters see levies on the ballot. In total, Mahoning County schools spent $360,476,438 on education in the 2017-18 school year.
Of schools in Mahoning County, Canfield schools had the most unreserved funds as a percentage of the total budget, except for Sebring. The Canfield budget has total expenditures for the 2017-18 school year of $26,888,150; its unreserved funds balance is $14,229,132, about 53 percent of its budget.
Canfield Superintendent Alex Geordan said in a statement: “The Canfield Local School District is fiscally stable with carryover cash balances to protect cash flow for future expenditures, account for unexpected capital costs and to have the ability to withstand reductions in state funding and/or local tax revenues. We pride ourselves on being good stewards of our tax dollars.”
Geordan said he is proud to have met the financial goal set by a strategic planning committee.
“We are spending less than we are bringing in,” he said. “The ultimate goal of any entity should be to spend less than you bring in. This is our philosophy in Canfield.”
Sebring has a smaller budget of $6,509,267 and an unreserved fund balance of $3,611,275, which is 55 percent of the budget.
Canfield also paid the most in starting teacher salaries at $36,098 in the 2017-18 school year. It also spends $8,713 per pupil during this school year compared with $8,863 in 2017-18.
“Of that amount 70.5 percent is spent on classroom instruction and we can see the return on this investment in our state performance index ranking of 104.3, which is the highest in the tri-county area,” Geordan said.
Poland schools came in at the lower end of the unreserved fund balance. In its $21,122,154 budget, the unreserved fund balance was $3,743,716 in 2017-18, nearly 18 percent of the budget. Poland teachers’ starting salaries in 2017-18 were the second highest at $34,949. The district’s per pupil spending was $9,114.
Only one district – South Range – came in lower than Poland in unreserved funds at about 17 percent of its budget.
South Range schools’ total budget was $13,034,824 with an unreserved fund balance of $2,204,817.
South Range also spent among the least on its superintendent at $79,900 for an annual salary in the 2016-17 school year. The district spent $8,800 per pupil in 2017-18.
Austintown spent the least per pupil at $8,033 in 2017-18.
Youngstown schools spend the most per pupil at $12,804 in 2017-18. The district also spent the most on its superintendent, Joe Meranto, at $115,000 that year. Its unreserved fund balance of $23,115,597 was 19 percent of the total budget of $118,578,976 in 2017-18.
Sebring’s starting teacher salaries are the lowest in the county at $30,800 in 2017-18.
The following schools have renewal levies on the ballot this November: Boardman with a 2.4-mill, 10-year renewal levy for emergency requirements; Poland with a 2.65-mill, five-year renewal levy for emergency requirements; and South Range with an 8.8-mill, 10-year renewal levy for 10 years to avoid an operating deficit.
West Branch schools have a 0.5-percent, five-year additional earned income-tax issue on the ballot.