EDLD 5342 Week 3 Part 4

Sheldon I.S.D. receives approximately seventy-five million dollars in total revenues. This revenue is received from local property taxes (67%), state funds (24%) and federal funds (9%). The revenue is allocated into different categories with the majority of funding allocated to personnel. Approximately $31,000,000 of this $75,000,000 is allocated to Function 11 instruction. The district has made a concerted effort to ensure that a large share of funds goes to directly impact instruction. In fact, this is a question that the school board asks every year when the budget is presented.  District Operation (Function 51) also receives a large share of the pie with an allocation of approximately 7.8 million or a little over ten percent of the budget. 12.1 million dollars is allocated to debt service out of the overall district budget.  Instructional Support (function 21) is an area that our district has seen an increase in funding over the past few years. Sheldon wanted to ensure that support systems were in place for staff and allocated funds to meet this need.  A curriculum department was added to ensure alignment and to assist campuses with the implementation of the district curriculum and its monitoring.

The summary of finances shows Special Education funding in the amount of a little over 2 million dollars and Career and Technology funding at 1.28 million dollars. The summary of finances demonstrates the level of at risk students in the district by the amount of funding provided for State Compensatory Education. This amount is over 6 million dollars, slightly below ten percent of the overall M&O budget but a significant amount none the less.  A preliminary recapture amount of 1.69 million dollars is also listed. This is the district’s Chapter 41 payment to the state. This school year Sheldon I.S.D. witnessed a decrease in property values. It has not yet been determined if this decrease is significant enough to move the district out of Chapter 41 but preliminary calculations show it will be close.

  Operating costs within the district are at a level twice that of the amount of funding actually allocated for instruction.  This is because nearly 57 million dollars is allocated for operating costs.  Although this seems high to an outsider, it is consistent with the previously discussed course materials that indicate the lion’s share of costs go to personnel to cover salaries and benefits.  The district’s voters just passed a TRE to deal with the current reduction in state funding. This new money will allow the district to better handle the current fiscal situation.