* BRV HOSTS EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK SEMINAR

* CONGRATS MRS. CHERNOWSKY

* BLUE RIVER VALLEY SCHOOLS IN THE CROSSHAIRS -- INDIANA SCHOOL ECONOMICS, FUNDING, AND FINANCE ----- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

On Friday, Feb. 23, Blue River Valley Schools hosted an Employee Handbook seminar. Approximately 24 school officials (superintendents, principals, and HR directors) from 7 different school districts listened to Amy Matthews (Attorney with Church, Church, Hittle & Antrim) who provided information and counsel on modifying and/or building employee handbooks for school districts. Refreshments were provided by Chartwells. The seminar lasted an hour and a half and was held in BRV's high school media center.

With the 2024 Indiana legislative session coming to a close, it is fitting to address the topics of public school economics, funding, and finance. I will not try to completely unravel this topic in this newsletter, but I would like to share a recent article from Brown County, Indiana that was extremely well-written. Unfortunately, Indiana public schools have been put under heavy financial constraints in recent years for a variety of reasons -- some obvious and some not so obvious to the public.

Last week's article from the Brown County newspaper (with data from Ball State University) gives a very accurate account on this topic. You could easily take out, Brown County Schools, and insert, Blue River Valley Schools, into this article and the surrounding dynamics and impact would remain the same. This scenario is impacting droves of public schools across our state.

----- 72% of Indiana's public school districts (209/290) have seen a

declining enrollment over the past 5 years -----

I would encourage anyone to read this accurate and powerful article. It puts the predicament of declining public school enrollment resulting in the loss of valuable revenue in very understandable terms.

Link to article below.

Sincerely,

Mr. McCormick

Superintendent

Blue River Valley Schools

* I have heard that the school district has the ability to transfer funds from the Education Fund to the school district’s Operations Fund. How does this work?

1. This is a common practice that is used by about every school district across the state as they carry out their district’s monthly and annual business.

2. In 2019, legislation was passed that changed the fund accounting system for schools. As a part of this, the General Fund was removed and the Operations and Education Funds were created. A second layer of this legislation stated that some of the expenses that were being paid from the General Fund (funded through State Support) had to be moved to the Operations Fund (funded through Property Tax). Therefore, schools were also permitted to transfer dollars between the two funds to ensure the expenses that had to be moved were also funded. There is an administrative rule from the State that says a school district cannot transfer more than 15% of its annual Education Fund revenue to the Operations Fund.

3. The General Fund used to pay all school staff salary and benefits, administration office salary and benefits, legal fees, advertising, professional development, material and supplies. In addition, utilities and insurance in excess of $155,275 (this was the maximum that could be paid out of capital projects) had to be paid from the General Fund.

4. Amounts transferred from Education to Operations are items that had previously been paid from the General Fund.

5. These include:

· Salaries and benefits for the administration office and custodians

· Legal fees and advertising

· Utilities and property insurance in excess of $155,275

· Office supplies, postage, etc

6. Transfers do not include any expenses previously paid from capital projects, transportation or bus replacement funds.

7. BRV Basic Grant (Education Fund) 2022 = $4,548,758 x 15% = $682,313.70

· Actual BRV 2022 Education to Operations Transferred $599,229.66 or 13.17%

8. BRV Basic Grant (Education Fund) 2023 = $4,721,543 x 15% = $708,231.45

· Actual 2023 Education to Operations Transferred $481,964.50 or 10.21%

9. IN SUMMARY, THE TRANSFER OF MONEY FROM THE EDUCATION FUND TO THE OPERATIONS FUND IS A NECESSARY AND LEGAL FINANCIAL MECHANISM THAT IS A CARRYOVER FROM PREVIOUS YEARS WHEN SCHOOLS OPERATED OUT OF THE GENERAL FUND. SCHOOL OFFICIALS, THE IDOE, LEGISLATORS, AND LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS ARE COMPLETELY AWARE OF THIS PROVISION, AND SUCH TRANSACTIONS ARE APPROVED AT MONTHLY PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS ALONG WITH THE MANY OTHER FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS CARRIED OUT OVER THE YEAR WITHIN A SCHOOL DISTRICT.

10. Lastly, by law a school cannot transfer funds from an Operational Referendum Fund to the Education or Operations Fund.

* How can the other MID-EASTERN CONFERENCE school districts pay their teachers more than BRV… and they have a lower tax rate than BRV does?

While there are many factors to consider when evaluating this question, the one factor impacting BRV schools more than any other school in the conference is the loss of revenue due to property tax caps (the Circuit Breaker).

Superintendent

Email: Trent.McCormick@brv.k12.in.us
Website: www.brv.k12.in.us
Phone: 765-836-4816