L-K CISD trustees OK $7.7M budget

By Bobby Horn Jr.
news@casscountynow.com

LINDEN—The Linden-Kildare CISD Board of Trustees, on Aug. 29, adopted the tax rate and budget for the 2016-2017 school year.
Trustees maintained the same property tax rate as last year, with a $1.17 per $100 valuation. 
The school district says that expenditures for 2016-2017 has been budgeted for $7,737, 382. This is $9,883 less than the 2015-2016 budget. The district anticipates revenue to come in at $7,585,953. This would create a $151,429 deficit.
The district says that it will balance the budget by moving the $151,429 from its fund balance into its maintenance and operations budget.
The fund balance serves as a type of “rainy day” fund, which is made up of “assigned” and “unassigned” funds.
According to the district, “unassigned fund balances may be used to fund any expenditure related to the maintenance and operations of a school district.” Among the ways these funds can be spent are “Catastrophic and Uninsured Losses, Investment Income, Credit and Bond Rating, Cash Flows for Normal School Operations, Shortfalls in one or more Revenue Sources,” wrote the district in its budget presentation.
Under the passed budget, the district has assigned $300,000 of the fund balance to “major maintenance expenditures,” $100,000 to “future capital replacement expenditures” and $30,000 to “track.”
Superintendent Trevor Rogers said that it is important for the district to maintain a strong fund balance so not only will  the district be able to address emergencies but that it is a factor in determining the district’s credit and bond rating.
The lion’s share of the district’s expenditures will go toward instruction. The district has budgeted $4,243,398 of its expenditures to this area. This averages out to $5,918 per student.
The district was able to pick up savings by cutting expenses in instructional support and in their general administration expenses. The cuts were offset by increases in curriculum development and staff development and co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
The district also raised its expenditures in security and monitoring from $3,400 last school year to $55,711 this school year. Student transportation cost also increased by approximately $145,000.
The largest part of the district’s funding comes from the state, which accounts for $4.9 million. 
Local tax revenue will bring in an estimated $2.5 million, with an additional $103,000 generated from federal and other local sources.