Agency of Education details Budget Adjustment Act requests, carryovers and reversions

The Appropriations Committee heard a presentation from Agency of Education officials on proposed adjustments for the state's Budget Adjustment Act, including requests for additional general-fund support, carryovers of obligated funds and reversions of unneeded balances.

The Agency of Education's interim chief financial officer, Sean Kuzma, said the presentation covers the agency's set of budget adjustment requests and related carryovers and reversions. "We're going to go over the current 25 budget adjustments. We have three of them," Kuzma said.

Kuzma told the committee the agency is seeking general-fund backfill for a peer-review program after a temporary moratorium on fees. He said the moratorium increased the number of adults entering the program and the agency is asking for additional general funds to cover the higher-than-expected participation.

Kuzma also described a request for additional funding for adult basic education and literacy, saying the agency seeks $506,000 in total for those appropriations. According to Kuzma, that amount is split roughly 60% from the general fund and 40% from the dedicated fund for adult literacy.

On K-12 payments, Kuzma said the agency is proposing a cleanup that would reduce an appropriated line by $11 million because a separate EL categorical aid appropriation was created after the original budget, and a further $8 million reduction tied to school district budgets that came in lower than the agency's first estimates. Kuzma said the agency's updated estimate for the universal meals appropriation is lower than originally budgeted and that the current-year appropriation should be reduced by $2.9 million; he also said the agency plans to revert about $6.2 million in FY24 balances previously held for that program.

Kuzma described several carryovers of obligated funds the agency requests to spend in future months. Those include roughly $892,000 in the finance and administration operating appropriation—mostly for previously obligated subgrants and contracts—and carryover authority for flexible pathways obligations to cover spring-semester costs. Kuzma said some obligated balances are being carried forward to pay spring-semester invoices that are billed after the new calendar year.

Gary Ford, who identified himself during the discussion, summarized that the flexible-pathways carryforward is an accounting result of how spring-semester tuition is paid. "We're using this carry forward to cover the cost that were incurred for the spring semester last year," Ford said.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about program scope and history. Senator Perchlik asked whether the small-school grant was intended to support district mergers; Kuzma replied that the small-school grant historically supported individual small schools and that the program was replaced last year with a merger-support grant.

Kuzma and other agency staff said several of the larger carryover amounts—such as funds for state-placed students and programs with multi-year obligations—are already contractually obligated and therefore are being carried forward rather than reverted.

The agency said additional briefing materials and a report on early-college and dual-enrollment enrollment trends will be provided to the committee. Kuzma closed by saying staff will follow up with the next round of documents and that some questions will be addressed in subsequent briefings.

No formal committee votes or final actions were recorded in the transcript excerpt provided; the session consisted of staff presentation and committee questions.