February financial report: ad valorem on target; interest earnings exceed budget in Bossier Parish

Nisha Bamberg, chief financial officer for the Bossier Parish School District, presented a detailed February 2025 financial report during the finance committee meeting and described several revenue trends the district is monitoring.

Bamberg said ad valorem tax revenues are coming in on target and are up from the prior year. She told the committee that sales tax collections reversed a recent decline and for the month were about $23,000 higher than the same month in the prior year. "For this particular month, we were about $23,000 up from where we were for the same month in the prior year," she said.

Interest earnings on investments have exceeded expectations, Bamberg said, reporting $2,600,000 collected to date compared with a $1.7 million budget for the year. The district has diversified investments and already collected more interest than originally budgeted for the fiscal year.

Medicaid reimbursements also showed a large increase for the period; Bamberg said reimbursements that had fallen behind were paid in the current fiscal year, which produced the increase without reflecting higher yearly claims. The district also received a modest midyear adjustment to its MFP funding, she said; federal revenues and transfers were generally "on track."

On expenses, Bamberg noted the general fund showed revenues exceeding expenses for February, but cautioned that ad valorem taxes are primarily collected in January and February, producing a "large dump" in those months that must be managed over the year.

The committee also examined the Child Nutrition fund. Bamberg said the program showed a slight loss for the year after earlier profits but that the summer feeding program launched last year is typically profitable and is expected to help reverse the trend.

During committee questions, Mr. Bullard asked whether federal-level changes could affect student meals or special education funding. Bamberg said the district was "not seeing current changes in the funding" but was monitoring federal and state guidance. Superintendent Roland warned about a pending House bill related to student mental health assessments and expressed concern that reductions in federal mental health funding could create an unfunded mandate on schools.

Committee members asked about competitive grants that aided the district in previous years; Bamberg said some grants won last year were not available this year and staff are working to adjust.

No formal decisions were taken on the financial report; the item was recorded as discussion only.