Scales not quite balanced on last year’s school budget

SHORELINE — The Shoreline School District spent 100.83 percent of the budget for the 2003-04 fiscal year, leaving $1,066,933 in the fund balance, according to district comptroller Paul Flemming, who presented the year end financial report at the Shoreline School Board meeting Nov. 15.

The 0.83 percent over budget equals approximately $628,000, which was mostly spent on utilities and fuel and higher-than-expected retiree sick leave and vacation buyouts, he said.

Flemming said the retiree sick leave and vacation buyouts projected in the budget was based off of an average of previous years, but this year proved to be different than projections.

He said that although more people were not retiring, the amount of sick leave and vacation was greater than expected.

As for the utilities, this is something the district can work to reduce. John Scudder, who is in charge of finances and operations, has been and will continue to look into ways to save energy and reduce costs to the district, he said.

“What we really do need as an organization is to roll up our sleeves and reduce (utility costs),” Superintendent Jim Welsh said.

Other issues that presented additional expenditures include the vandalism that took place at schools during the summer and the continuing decline in enrollment.

“Enrollment is what drives a good portion of our budget,” Flemming said.

In the past six years, the district has lost 534.21 full-time equivalent students, which is the basis for state funding.

The FTE number takes into account students who attend only partial days, including kindergartners and running-start students, and mathematically combines these part-time students into full time, giving the district the number of full-time equivalents.

For each full-time equivalent student, the district receives about $4,000, so the loss of more than 500 full-time equivalent students over six years translates to a loss of around $2.1 million to the budget over six years.

The district has, however, been more aggressive than in previous years in collecting revenue. The Shoreline Children’s Center has increased revenue, Flemming said, and catering and conferences during the summer has also added revenue.