Business

Bio

William J. (Bill) Heinen is the Chief Financial Officer and Clerk of the Board for USD 207, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Bill is a native of Lubbock Texas and a graduate of Texas Tech University. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1975. He completed pilot training at Reese AFB Texas and subsequently flew over 2,200 hours as a pilot and instructor pilot in F-4s, F-15s, and T-37s. He retired from the USAF in 2005 and served as an assistant professor at the Command and General Staff College for two years. He assumed his duties as the Chief Financial Officer and Clerk of the Board in May 2007. He and his wife, Suzie, have four children.

Budget

The Fort Leavenworth School District's spending authority is controlled by Kansas statutes. The spending level (referred to as Budget Authority) is established by the state legislature based on the district student enrollment as of September 20 each year.

The legislature also authorized, beginning in SY 92/93, the establishment of a Local Option Budget (called Supplemental General Fund) subject to taxpayer approval. The Local Option Budget is limited to a maximum of 20% of the General Fund Budget. The Fort Leavenworth District has adopted, for an indefinite period, a SGF at the maximum level of 30%. Each year the board then determines, based on budget projections, at what level of SGF they will authorize. For SY 08/09, they approved a 30% level of funding.

There are three primary sources of funding available to this district: Title VIII or HR6 (Federal assistance for federally impacted school districts); Kansas Department of Education state aid; and local taxes (ad Valorem and Motor Vehicle). Impact aid funding is legislated at the national level and distributed by the Federal Department of Education based on average daily attendance and the state or national average per pupil cost. Currently the data used for these calculations is based on enrollment numbers from the preceding school year. The funds are normally distributed in late November or early December in a incremented lump sum payment.

The state of Kansas, however, makes monthly disbursements based on need. In our district, the majority of state aid is received from July through November. Under current law, the state must provide all necessary funding for the General Fund and Supplemental General Fund that is not generated by local sources. Sufficient funds must be furnished to cover the shortage of revenues after receiving Impact Aid money and local tax revenues. The SGF is funded by the State Department of Education, based on a factor determined by the district's assessed valuation. Funds for the SGF are received in October, February and June.

In addition to the two funds (GF and SGF), each district may set up separate funds with limits of spending established by the local district's ability to raise money to deposit in those funds; all budgets for such funds must be published and adopted by the Board. Examples are as follows: Capital Outlay; Technology; Food Service; Textbook; Transportation; Special Education; In-Service; Bilingual Education; Driver Training; and Summer School Fund. Once published, the spending cannot exceed the published budget amount. Many of these funds have no legal source of revenue except transfers of money from the general fund and/or supplemental general fund. Such funds as Transportation, ESL/Bilingual can only receive revenue through this process. Other funds such as Special Education, Technology and In-Service can receive revenue directly, however must rely on transfers to fully fund their budget. Because these transfers originate from the general fund and supplemental general fund, they constitute an expenditure and are counted in the per pupil expenditures. Some fund transfers are currently limited in transfer amounts by statute (i.e. Capital Outlay).

The Capital Outlay Fund warrants special mention, due to the fact that state law precludes the Fort Leavenworth Schools from issuing bonds for construction or capital expenditures. However, the law does allow a yearly transfer of 2% of the approved budget authority that may be made after 1 June of that fiscal year from the general fund. The other method to generate revenue under state statute is through interest earned on investments of idle cash. A special provision for heavily impacted military school districts, Section 8003 (b)(2), is found under Title VIII or HR6, Impact Aid. Section (f) revenues may be deposited to either the general or capital outlay fund at the discretion of the board. If deposited into the General Fund, the spending authority would not be increased; yet the state aid would be reduced, dollar for dollar. Because this district cannot issue bonds for construction or capital expenditures, the Board of Education has determined the Section 8003 (b)(2) revenues are to be earmarked for capital outlay in support of ongoing renovation efforts.

There are other sources of district funding that are grouped together as "unanticipated revenue." This funding includes items such as surplus sale proceeds, stock dividends, and grants. Since this type and amount of revenue is unpredictable, the law provides that districts may expend this money outside the existing framework of the published budget and the budget authority established by the state.

In summary, law limits district spending and the revenues must be received before they can be obligated and/or expended in accordance with Kansas cash basis law.

History

At the turn of the century the Fort Leavenworth Schools were designated Common School District #81. It is the only Kansas school district wholly within the boundaries of a military reserve, although funding for the Fort schools is the same as all other public schools in the State of Kansas.

The school district was reorganized again in 1965 and became known as Unified School District #207. The district remained financed like all other Kansas public schools. With the passage of the equalization formula for public schools in 1973, USD #207 was removed from the formula because we would have received an abnormally high amount of state aid. In being placed outside the equalization act, we were given a Per Pupil Rate of $291.00. That amount equated to approximately 40% of the average State Aid given to all other public schools with the federal government providing 60% under PL 81-874 (Impact Aid).

The State of Kansas set a budget limit for our district like all other state school districts and the state and federal governments provided adequate funding for this district. The first crisis with this formula occurred in 1978 when it was obvious that the State Per Pupil Funding and the Federal Per Pupil Funding Local Contribution Rate (LCR) would not equal the State Budget Authority. USD #207 could not fund its budget without additional funding from the State or Federal Governments. After reviewing Federal regulations, Fort Leavenworth made application under the provisions of 3d2b (budget balancing formula for highly federal impacted schools). This method has been successful in providing additional funding for the district since 1978.

Projected enrollment figures are very critical in determining potential budget authority. Providing an accurate projection in USD #207 is extremely difficult. The number of houses in our district remains constant. With no new housing developments and no major additions or expansion of the current homes possible, one would think our population should remain constant plus or minus 3%. This is not the case. There continues to be serious consideration given by the military to privatize and/or demolish specific quarters due to budget reductions and the military's inability to properly maintain the homes. If privatized or destroyed, they will not be replaced. If this happens, our student population would decrease dramatically, thus our budget authority reduced. TOP