Business office: Central Unified reports unaudited 2024-25 actuals; attendance tied to revenue growth

Assistant Superintendent Nick Ball presented Central Unified's unaudited actuals for fiscal year 2024'25 at the board's Sept. 9 meeting, explaining revenue and expenditure variances and answering trustees' questions.

Ball told trustees that local revenue showed a difference caused in part by timing on reimbursement-based grants: "We did get a bus grant and a cashier grant. Bus grant was about 3,000,000. The cashier was about 1.1. We haven't got the money. We have given the reimbursement." He said the salary-and-benefits line showed a roughly $5 million underspend largely attributable to vacancies.

Ball also laid out that salary and benefits make up the largest share of expenditures (77% total; roughly 85% on the unrestricted side) and said the district gets about 71% of its revenue from average daily attendance (ADA). "Last year, fiscal year 24-25, the district attendance were 91%. That means if we increase the attendance by 1%, that's about a million dollar," Ball said.

Trustees asked follow-up questions about carryover, reserves and whether frozen federal funding could affect the next budget cycle. Ball said those uncertainties would be addressed in the first interim update in December and that staff would provide a breakdown of how much of the district's revenue is federal and could be at risk if future allocations change.

Ending: The board approved the unaudited actuals to carry into the district's budget process; staff will present a first interim update in December with updated reserve and federal-exposure figures.