2 days Ago By Masaki Ova
JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown Public School Board unanimously approved on Monday, Sept. 16, revisions to the school district’s budget for the 2024-25 school year. The Jamestown Public School District’s general fund budget for the 2024-25 school year includes almost $34 million in total projected revenue.
That budget also includes more than $35.1 million in total projected appropriations. The total deficit is over $1.
16 million. Superintendent Rob Lech said the school district will most likely not fill some positions and that will save over $1.16 million, which is the total deficit.
He said that plan will work but it won’t be a sustainable plan in the long term. ADVERTISEMENT The fund balance of the general fund as of July 1 was over $6.4 million.
As of Aug. 31, the total general fund revenue was about $4.88 million and the total general fund expenditures were about $2.
34 million. The ending fund balance for the general fund was over $8.97 million as of Aug.
31. Employee salaries make up about 53.9% of the total expenditures for the school district at more than $18.
9 million. Employee benefits make up about 18.4% of the total expenditures at more than $6.
4 million. The building fund budget is projected to bring in over $1.1 million in total projected revenue.
That includes 10 mills or about $900,000 from the capital projects levy for the building fund and 3 mills or about $270,000 from the capital projects levy for special assessments. The total projected expenditures from the building fund budget is over $1.6 million.
The building fund’s revenue less expenses for 2024-25 is about minus $474,200. The ending fund balance for the building fund was over $1.1 million as of June 30, and the projected ending fund balance is about $670,000 for June 30, 2025.
The proposed 2024-25 school district budget includes a total levy of 102 mills, which is the same as the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. The estimated tax impact for a home valued at $100,000 is $459. The estimated tax impact for commercial property valued at $100,000 is $510.
The tax impact on agricultural cropland is $6.16 per acre, an increase of $1 per acre from the current $5.16 per acre.
ADVERTISEMENT Lech said the per-pupil amount is $11,072 and that includes $2,228 for a local contribution and $111 from other local revenue. He said after the local contribution and other local revenue are subtracted from the $11,072 per-pupil amount, the actual state per-pupil payment is $8,733. In a memo about the budget hearing on Monday, Lech wrote that the state’s contribution decreases more when the Common Schools Trust Fund (CTSF) is considered.
He wrote that the CTSF is a constitutional fund established to support public K-12 education as a part of the Enabling Act when North Dakota gained statehood. “The CSTF provides distributions which are used by the legislature to offset the cost of providing the per pupil guarantee,” he wrote. “The projected impact towards the per pupil guarantee is $2,160.
If considering this constitutional requirement as separate from the state’s contribution on the per pupil amount, the state’s per pupil guarantee provided through the legislature decreases to $6,573 for Jamestown, or about 59% of what is required to provide an adequate education.”.
