School board financial report shows surplus

Money set aside for Crested Butte modulars for next year

by Anika Pepper

At the October 22 Gunnison Watershed REJ1 school board meeting, district business manager Stephanie Juneau presented the quarterly financial report to the board. Juneau said the district is coming in under budget, according to the September 2018 financial report.

The specific areas where the district is coming in under budget include, but are not limited to, teacher salary and emergency spending funds. Juneau says it is challenging to appropriately budget for teacher salaries as there is a high turnover rate within the district for staff members and a wide scale of employee salaries. The emergency fund, while used almost entirety for snow removal during the 2016-2017 school year, sits currently unused. In addition to this, there is a $30,000 surplus in the Mill Levy Override Fund.

Juneau noted the money is  sitting within the district’s accounts, waiting to be used for facility adjustments at the Crested Butte Community School. With the Crested Butte Community School hitting its maximum capacity this year, the district is preparing to install modular classrooms and student spaces for the 2019-2020 school year.

Juneau and the school board said they have been financially planning for this event for the last couple of years and the money needed for this project also explains the surplus in the September quarterly financial report, as modular classrooms and student spaces have not been a necessary discussion until now.

Superintendent Dr. Leslie Nichols spoke proudly about Juneau and the district’s savvy financial spending. “Many districts have to take out low interest loans just to pay the bills. It is an honor to work with a district that does not have to do that. Well done.”