School Board Approves Amended Budget

At the January 14th meeting of the Portland Public Schools Board of Education, the board approved an amended budget for the 2018-2019 school year.

The original budget for this period was approved in June of 2018, without accurate enrollment numbers to work with at the time, which is a regular occurrence. Amended budgets are a common occurrence in Michigan public education with the timing of student counts and budget deadlines.

$17,311,496, about 88% of the districts total budget of $19,507,221, is student count driven. The June budget was based on the Spring 2018 student count of 2,051, while the Fall 2018 count was 2,085.

The amended budget passed last week for the fiscal year July 1-June 20 will lower the district’s fund equity to $3,312,239, which is 16.89% fund equity as a percentage of total expenses.

All personnel contacts have been agreed upon since the original budget was approved in June, and these new contracts and affiliated expenses are reflected in the amended budget.

Superintendent William Heath said, “Our goal is to have a balanced budget. While this amendment shows we are spending into fund equity, it isn’t a large amount and we will continue to try to find savings to balance the budget.”

Heath added, “The overall financial health of the district is good. At 17% fund equity it allows us to continue to make payroll without borrowing money, and maintains our financial rating for borrowing money for the bond. Both of these save the tax payers dollars.”

The detailed amended budget can be found on the district’s website HERE.