Graduate Program

Educational Administration

Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1984

Thesis Director

Larry Janes

Abstract

Accounting, funding procurement, and budgeting are described for Georgetown Community Unit District #3. Information for this paper was gathered primarily by examination of district financial records and interviews with district, county, and state educational employees.

State and federal funds provide approximately 73% of revenues of about $3,000,000 since Georgetown has one of the lowest equalized assessed valuations per pupil in the state. Almost $1,800,000 was spent by Community Unit District #3 on capital outlay from 1977 to 1983. Somewhat more than one-fourth of the capital outlay was financed by paying almost all building and maintenance expenditures and salaries from the Education Fund so that the Operations, Building, and Maintenance Fund could be used almost exclusively for remodeling and building improvements. Most of the rest of the moneys spent on capital outlay came from the sale of $750,000 worth of building bonds to pay for the district's 30% share of a Capital Development Board project to build a new high school, the sale of $90,000 worth of Life Safety Bonds, and designations of $300,000 of general state aid to the Operations, Building and Maintenance Fund. With almost $1,000,000 in state aid and property taxes from the Operations, Building and Maintenance Fund being spent on capital outlay, and most operating and maintenance costs being paid from the Education Fund, little money was left for teacher salary increases from 1977 to 1983. In 1983-84 out of 533 Illinois school districts with enrollments between 500 and 2999, there were only six districts with lower average paid teachers' salaries than Georgetown. In addition, no buses have been purchased since the 1980-81 school year, and some need to be replaced.

Recommendations for change are that the district should issue bonds to finance any future remodeling and building rather than placing additional burdens on the Education Fund and the Operations, Building and Maintenance Fund. Major purchases for replacement such as textbooks, school buses, and other expensive equipment should be scheduled on a regular basis. The administration should make a consistent effort to educate the Board concerning district finances and raise teachers' salaries closer to the state average. The Board should see that contingency funds be budgeted, expenditures be more carefully monitored, and property taxes be levied at the maximum rate possible. If these recommendations are followed, the district should be able to absorb shrinking revenues, and offer better teachers' salaries.

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