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Madison Public Schools finance committee reports new savings, proposes line transfers to cut special-education shortfall
Summary
District finance staff reported updated projections and proposed several line-item transfers (including $80,000 toward special education and $40,000 from athletics for transportation) after identifying savings across HR, workers’ comp, tuition and other accounts; the transfers will be considered at tonight's board meeting.
Madison Public Schools finance staff on Thursday presented updated budget projections and proposed a set of line-item transfers aimed at narrowing a year-end shortfall, particularly in special education and transportation.
Finance staff told the committee they are maintaining a "soft freeze" on larger school purchases while allowing necessary low-cost spending, and that ongoing reviews of HR and other accounts have freed funds to redeploy. "We have continued to have in place basically a soft freeze with the schools," the chair said, describing the tighter purchase review process.
Staff reported roughly $70,000 identified in HR savings and said they will transfer $80,000 from that account into the special-education budget. Additional savings included about $40,000 from workers' compensation bills that came in lower than budgeted and about $30,000 in preschool tuition revenues above the $70,000 budgeted figure so far. Staff also said an identified school-choice funding source currently shows about $40,000 available and that library-book encumbrances of roughly $40,000 were held pending the soft freeze and might be released.
"We're looking at approximately $75,000 between all the many accounts in all of the buildings," a finance staffer said, citing updated facilities estimates; staff framed that as an increase from an earlier $40,000 estimate for building needs. Taken together, staff estimated about $450,000 in potential available funds before formal transfers.
To address transportation pressures caused by lower enrollment but the same number of bus routes, staff proposed transferring $40,000 from athletics to transportation to cover higher-than-expected costs. After accounting for the proposed transfers and savings, the district said the projected special-education deficit was reduced to about $178,000, though staff warned that placements and payrolls could change that figure.
Staff also raised a facilities issue at Polson School: an older septic system serving part of the building needs replacement and work is planned for the summer, to be funded from maintenance or incentive funds as available. Payroll-tax projections were not yet incorporated in the packet; staff said updated payroll-tax estimates will be reported at the next meeting and could further improve the balance.
All proposed line transfers and adjustments were described as items that would appear on the board agenda for formal approval at tonight's meeting. The committee adjourned at about 5:50 p.m.
