Greensburg Community Schools expect to see their budgets decline by about $200,000, or 0.8 percent, for the next school year.
Superintendent Tom Hunter said that he expects tax rates, which help determine local property tax bills, to be about the same as last year.
At a special budget workshop on Monday evening, Hunter told school board members that the school corporation would advertise a budget of $26.4 million, down from $26.6 million last year.
The corporation’s advertised budget has to be approved by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, and the agency typically reduces the budget that local officials request. Local schools’ budgets also have to be approved by the Greensburg City Council.
Hunter said he expects that the school will be allowed to spend in its General Fund, the main operating fund that pays for teacher salaries and benefits, about $17.7 million, down from $17.9 million last year. The GF is paid with state revenues. Schools get money depending on the number of students they have. The figure is adjusted by the number of special education students, honors diplomas, vocational students and other factors.
Hunter emphasized that the school likely will spend only about $14 million in its General Fund next year — but it has to budget for about $17.7 million because the school has a cash balance of about $3.5 million. If the corporation were to budget only the $14 million it planned to spend, Hunter said the state likely would cut the school’s funding to $10.5 million — rather than the $14 million the school plans to spend — because the school could make up for the shortfall by using its cash balance.
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