The Willmar School Board approved a revised 2019-20 budget Monday with a number of adjustments related to the pandemic.
The board met Monday afternoon via Zoom. A recording of the meeting is available on the district’s website, willmar.k12.mn.us, under “School Board.”
The delay in the Middle School addition is not the only change in the school district’s finances due to the pandemic. Some of the financial effects could continue to show up over the next year.
The district is providing care for school-age children of essential workers at no charge, but there’s no state or federal funding for that.
Funding for school meals ended when schools closed in mid-March, but the state ordered that schools use their kitchen staff and bus drivers to prepare and deliver meals to children younger than 18.
“We are extremely grateful for the fund balance,” said Business and Finance Director Pam Harrington in presenting the budget revision.
School budgets are set in June for the following fiscal year beginning July 1. At that time, much about grants and other funding sources is unknown. The budget is usually revised in the spring to reflect changes in revenue and expenditures.
The district’s undesignated general fund balance of more than $13 million was built in part to help weather uncertain economic times.
The revised budget projects about $60 million in revenue and nearly $61 million in expenditures.
School officials had planned to use money from the fund balance to build a Middle School addition that included a new gym and classrooms for an alternative learning center. The Southwest West Central Service Cooperative would have leased part of the addition for a new facility for high-need special education students.
Superintendent Jeff Holm said he had put the planning on hold, given the uncertainty of the times.
The district is currently in a stable financial position, but “it doesn’t mean there aren’t hard decisions to make,” Harrington said.
Transfers from the general fund may be needed to balance some budget areas.
Since schools closed in mid-March, state revenue for food service stopped, she said.
The school district is now feeding more than 4,000 meals a day to children in the district. Children younger than 18 are given a breakfast and a lunch of non-perishable food each day.
“Meals are free to everyone, as long as you live here,” Harrington said. The meals may be picked up at schools and are also delivered using school buses. Paraprofessionals whose jobs changed when the district moved to distance learning are working on the food service effort now.
Blue Cross Blue Shield awarded Willmar a $75,000 grant to support the meal service.
“The food service has done a phenomenal job during this period,” Holm said. “They had just hours to get it rolling, and they did.”
When it comes to the child care for essential workers, “I was hopeful there would be state or federal funding,” Harrington said. “We have not seen it so far.” The district is currently paying the expenses for the program.
Revenue in the community education fund fell after it was no longer charging parents for school-age care and when community education programs were shut down.
Enrollment projections were adjusted from an average daily enrollment of 4,250 to 4,230 students. It’s not yet known how the temporary closing of Jennie-O Turkey Store processing plants in Willmar could affect future enrollment, Harrington wrote in the budget document.
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April 29, 2020 at 05:00AM
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Willmar Middle School project on hold as pandemic causes loss in revenue for district - West Central Tribune
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