Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District says $2.6 million in new federal Title funds remains embargoed; plan to use reserves if needed
Summary
Salt Lake City School District finance staff told the board on July 15 that about $2.6 million in newly appropriated federal Title grants remains embargoed by the U.S. Department of Education and that the district would temporarily use fund balance to operate affected programs if necessary.
District finance staff told the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education on July 15 that newly appropriated federal Title grants totaling about $2.6 million remain “embargoed” while the U.S. Department of Education reviews the awards.
Alan Kearsley (presenting the funding update) said the affected grants include Title I, Part C (migrant education), Title II, Part A (supporting effective instruction), Title III, Part A (English language acquisition), Title IV, Part A (student support and academic enrichment), Title IV, Part B (21st Century Community Learning Centers) and the Federal Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. He said previously appropriated funds were not affected — the embargo applies to new allocations that would have been released July 1.
“We don’t want people to panic,” Kearsley told the board. “My heart of hearts tell me the money will at some point be released. I can’t guarantee that, but I hope that will be the case. If it’s not, we would use fund balance to keep those programs operational for this year.”
Kearsley said the district plans to present a program-by-program list to the board finance committee in August that will show program budgets, positions funded and priorities. He said if the federal money is ultimately rescinded, the district would need to discuss how to reprioritize or reduce programs for future years.
Board members asked how a one-time use of fund balance would be handled: Kearsley said any request to replace lost revenue with fund balance would be presented to the full board as a budget adjustment and would be discussed publicly. He estimated the district’s fund balance is still “in the tens of millions of dollars” and said covering the roughly $2.6 million in embargoed funds for one year would leave the fund balance at a level he described as still healthy, though not sustainable to cover recurring costs on a one-time basis.
Kearsley and other staff also noted there are ongoing legal challenges in other states related to similar funding decisions and that the timing of any federal action was uncertain.
Ending: District leaders said they will bring a prioritized program list and possible budget actions to the finance committee in August and will communicate with program participants and staff as additional information becomes available.
