By Kathryn Cross
Staff Writer
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard presented a second interim budget report at the March 18 MBUSD board meeting to cover the district’s budgetary and financial status.
California Education Code Section 42310 mandates that all public school districts annually file a minimum of two interim financial reports that are sent to the local county superintendent and the California State Department of Education. The second interim budget report covers the Nov. 1 to Jan. 31 period.
“The economy is constantly changing, and the educational needs of students are constantly evolving,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “As new developments occur, it is important for the District to make adjustments both in its short term and in its long term planning.”
The second interim budget report addressed increasing funds for pensions for retired district employees, the Southern California Regional Occupation Center, new textbooks, professional development, technology infrastructure, physical education, and visual and performing arts classes.
“The MBUSD board is still working to get back to where we were in 2008, let alone to get to levels that bring us current or move us towards being anywhere near top in the nation,” Murakawa-Leopard said.
According to Murakawa-Leopard, the District hired a Director of Fiscal Services, Arleta Ilyas on Oct. 1 to provide ongoing monitoring of the budget and its interim reports and to ensure that funds are allocated correctly and accurately. The MBUSD Business department also certifies that budgetary projections match actual transactions.
“The goal is to be able to budget in a pro-active fashion that anticipates and allows us to plan for future needs and goals,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “The District’s goal is to minimize the unexpected whenever possible and to ensure that the project budget aligns with actual revenues and expenditures as closely as possible.
The MBUSD board is still reviewing the budget, but a final District budgetary document will formally be adopted in June. The document will include a budget for 2015-16 and projections for 2016-17 and 2017-18.
“The budget is a projection of what the District’s resources and needs will be for the upcoming year and for the two years following that,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “For this reason, it is important to update the budget on an ongoing basis and to adopt and establish a new budget each year.”
According to Murakawa-Leopard, the board will approve the District’s budget in June based upon a variety of factors, including available funding, contractual agreements with the District’s labor organizations, and both ongoing and newly identified needs and priorities.
“There are a number of needs on the horizon that the Board will be working to address as it moves through the budget adoption process,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “It will be difficult to meet all of the competing needs that the District faces.”
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