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District financial officer walks board through fund accounting, reports large cash and investment balances
Summary
Springfield SD 186 presented its September 2025 business report, including fund balances, cash and investment totals, and an explained overview of the district's nine fund structure and recent payroll and reporting items.
Mr. Miller, a business-office staff member who presented the report, told the Board of Education that September FY2026 education fund revenues were $46,000,000 and expenditures were $15,300,000, leaving revenues exceeding expenditures by $30,700,000. He said the district's operating funds (education, operations and maintenance, transportation and working cash) held $64,200,000 as of Sept. 30, 2025, and total cash and investments across all funds were $195,300,000.
Why it matters: Miller framed the numbers as context for upcoming budget and levy work, and said the board will vote on levy approval in December. He also previewed a series of brief finance presentations he plans to give across the year.
Miller gave a plain-language explanation of the district's nine statutory funds, explaining limits on how funds can be spent: "If I'm gonna pay a custodian, I can only pay them from the O and M fund," he said. He described Fund 10 as the Education Fund (instruction, teacher pay, textbooks), Fund 20 as the O&M fund (building upkeep and custodial costs), Fund 30 as debt service, Fund 40 as transportation, Fund 50 for retirement obligations (IMRF and Social Security), Fund 60 for capital projects, Fund 70 as working cash, Fund 80 as the tort fund (insurance and legal judgments), and Fund 90 as health/life/safety for certain building projects.
On retirement and insurance, Miller explained a statutory distinction: the district may levy property tax for IMRF and Social Security (fund 50), but teacher pension obligations (TRS) must be paid from the Education Fund (fund 10) in accordance with state school code. He also described Fund 74 as a subfund used for health insurance bookkeeping inside working cash.
Board members asked about report length and payroll issues. Miller said the detailed packet includes expenditure ledgers and that a shorter treasurer's report is also available for board members. On payroll, he said outstanding issues have been largely rectified and that upcoming payrolls will include retroactive pay increases for Local 15 and other represented groups.
The report previewed the next topic: property-tax levy information the board will consider this winter. Miller said that levy approval is scheduled for a December vote.
