Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Budget committee forwards amendment to full board after insurance receipts boost FY revenue
Summary
The Saint Louis Public Schools budget committee voted to forward a proposed first budget amendment to the full board for Dec. 9 after CFO Kimberly Johnson reported an unplanned local revenue increase largely tied to insurance proceeds from storm damage, shifting the districts FY revenue estimate upward while expenditures remain unchanged.
The Saint Louis Public Schools Budget Committee on a routine meeting voted to forward a proposed first budget amendment to the full school board for its Dec. 9 meeting after officials reported newly recognized local revenue tied to storm insurance.
CFO Kimberly Johnson presented October financials and said the districts general operating revenue estimate would rise from $339,000,000 to $341,000,000 if the amendment is approved. "A big portion came from the Ashley storm recovery insurance proceeds of $1,500,000," Johnson said, adding a smaller insurance reimbursement of about $220,000.
The change, as described by Johnson, is not a shift in expenditures: "Our expenditures remain unchanged," she told the committee, noting the amendment would reallocate funds between object codes to increase line items that support salaries, benefits and purchase services and decrease supplies and materials.
Johnson reviewed the districts broader fiscal outlook: she said FY25 estimated revenue of $347,000,000 versus estimated expenditures of $366,000,000, and reported a preliminary fund-balance spending projection of roughly $18,600,000 (she cautioned the number could change after the annual audit). For the FY budget approved in June she reiterated revenue at $339,000,000 and estimated expenditures at $371,000,000; after accounting for the amendment she projected the fund-balance draw would be closer to $30,200,000 rather than an earlier $32,000,000 estimate.
The committee also reviewed contingency and emergency spending. Johnson said the district set a contingency of $8,400,000 and recommended that incoming FEMA, CEMA and insurance proceeds be used first to replenish contingency funds used for tornado remediation. "We're requesting that any funds we receive from FEMA, CEMA or insurance go back to support what was taken from the contingency funds," she said, noting immediate remediation spending of about $1,300,000 of the $1,400,000 budgeted for those emergency costs and an additional estimated-cost figure shown in the presenters slides (the slide figure includes formatting ambiguity in the transcript).
During discussion, board member Ray Cummings raised a personnel-related question about hiring safety officers at elementary schools; staff responded that the hiring issue "was not related to the budgetary" concern described in the question and offered to follow up offline with specific details.
After questions and clarifications about slide calculation errors (staff said the website hosts the corrected figures and a corrected screenshot will be circulated), Chair Alyssa AJ Foster moved to forward the committees budget amendment recommendations to the full board. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote with no opposition.
The committee will present the proposed amendment and supporting materials to the full board on Dec. 9, 2026. The committee also signaled that further budget amendments 2 and 3 are expected in February and April as the district continues quarterly reviews and the FY audit is finalized.
