The annual budget is the financial plan for the operation of the school district. It provides the framework for both expenditures and revenues for the year and future years and translates into financial terms the educational programs and objectives of the District.
The Superintendent or designee is directed to develop, subject to annual approval by the Board, a three-year budget plan that assures the future financial viability of the District and achievement of the District's objectives and takes into account future revenue, including tax and non-tax revenue, and future increases in operating expenses.
Budget Process
Public school budgeting is regulated and controlled by statutes and by requirements of the State Board of Education that prescribe the form of District budgets in order to ensure uniformity throughout the state.
The budget shall be presented in a summary format that is understandable by any layperson. The budget format shall itemize expenditures of the District by fund. It shall describe the expenditure and show the amount budgeted for the current fiscal year and the amount budgeted for the ensuing fiscal year. When budgeting for any enterprise funds, the District shall use the full accrual basis of accounting. The budget shall summarize revenues by revenue source and expenditures by function, fund, and object.
The budget also shall disclose planned compliance with spending limitations outlined in Article X, Section 20, of the Colorado constitution, including holding TABOR reserve funds in an unrestricted general fund or in cash funds.
The Board assigns to the Superintendent overall responsibility for annual budget preparation, budget presentation, and budget administration. As part of the Superintendent's budget responsibility, the Superintendent shall cause to be prepared a budget presentation calendar that shall ensure that all deadlines established by law for budget presentation, hearings, and adoption for certification of amounts to be raised by school tax levies are met by the school district. The budget calendar shall take into consideration the possible need to submit a request to raise additional local revenue to a vote by the District's electorate. The Superintendent shall have authority to delegate portions of his or her budget responsibility to the chief financial officer of the District.
The budget prepared and presented by the Superintendent shall be consistent with the budget priorities of the Board.
Budget Reserve Requirement
The budget shall ensure that the school district holds unrestricted general fund or cash fund emergency reserves in the amount required under the provisions of Section 20 (5) of Article X of the state constitution; except that, the Board of Education will provide for a District emergency reserve in the general fund for the budget year, established at an amount equal to at least three percent of the amount budgeted to the general fund. The Board may then:
Last Revised: April 12, 2010
- Designate real property owned by the District as all or a portion of the reserve required by Section 20 (5) of Article X of the state constitution, so long as the Board has filed with the state treasurer and the Department of Education a letter of intent that expresses the intent of the Board to increase the liquidity of such property upon the occurrence of a declared emergency within the meaning of Section 20 (5) of Article X of the State constitution by entering into one or more lease-purchase agreements with respect to such property or by other means acceptable to the state treasurer; or
- Secure a letter of credit from an investment-grade bank as all or a portion of the reserve required by Section 20 (5) of Article X of the state constitution so long as the Board has filed with the state treasurer and the Department of Education a letter of intent that expresses the intent of the Board to satisfy its obligation to reimburse the bank for moneys drawn on the letter of credit upon the occurrence of a declared emergency within the meaning of Section 20 (5) of Article X of the state constitution that are not reimbursed to the bank within the same fiscal year by entering into lease-purchase agreements with respect to real property owned by the District.
- If the Board of Education expends moneys from the District emergency reserve in a single fiscal year, the Board shall restore the reserve within thirty-six months of the first draw of the money from the reserve; and
- If the Board of Education expends moneys from the District emergency reserve in two consecutive fiscal years, the Board shall restore the reserve by the end of the fiscal year following the second fiscal year in which the Board expended moneys from the reserve.
| Legal References: | C.R.S. § 22‑44‑101 through 22‑44‑117 (School District Budget Law) |
| C.R.S. § 22‑44‑105 (1)(c.5) (Budget - Mandatory Contents) | |