For the first time in years, the Manatee County School District is reporting some good financial news.
For the past year, district leaders have been working on a “Fiscal Recovery Plan” to turn around the financially struggling district for the past year. Their hard work is paying off.
District leaders say for the first time since 2009, they will be able to meet the state required fund balance.
They are reporting a fund balance surplus of $14.3-million as they close out the 2013-2014 budget.
“The hard work and sacrifices made by the School Board, our school district team and this community made this financial turnaround possible,” said Superintendent Rick Mills.
“As we move forward together, we need to make sure we maintain fiscal discipline, full transparency and align all of our spending decisions to our district’s strategic plan.”
Mills plans to present some of the following list of priorities to the School Board at its next meeting on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 to be integrated into the current school year budget or have already been budgeted/purchased:
- Invest an additional $5 million in school staffing.
- Invest an additional $5 million in instructional resources for K-8 classrooms.
- Invest in additional classroom technology with the more than 6,100 “ThinkPad” computer devices and additional mobile laptop computer carts.
- Invest in all our employees with salary enhancements (based on budget allowance and union contract negotiations).
- Invest $1 million in safety and security by paying for armed security staff in elementary schools.
- Repay the remaining balance of borrowed school internal funds (to cover year 2 and year 3 installments).
- Implementing the new Enterprise Resource Package (ERP) payroll/budget/finance system which will allow the district to significantly improve customer service, operational efficiency and effectiveness.