The budget for fiscal year 2019-20 (FY20) was unanimously approved by the Creston Community School District Board of Directors during Monday’s special meeting to certify the budget.
The board received no written or oral comments for or against the budget, and no one was present for the public hearing.
According to the FY20 budget, the levy rate for the Creston School District remains at $16.55824 per $1,000 valuation as it was in FY19.
The levy rate for the former Prescott district will increase from $13.85250 per $1,000 valuation to $14.10581 per $1,000. The levy rate for the former Prescott district will continue to rise until it matches the levy rate for the former Creston district, which is being done over a four-year transition period.
The school’s solvency ratio provides a picture in time of the financial health of a school district. The Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) describes watching the solvency ratio trend is one element as a “quick indication” of a school’s financial health. The IASB recommends a targeted percentage for a school district to be between 5 and 10 percent.
At the end of the 2017-18 school year, CCSD’s solvency ratio sat at 3.24%, which just over a 5% increase from the prior year.
“The district wants to spend what we need and have to educate our children to the best we can, but we also need to be fiscally solvent in case there is an emergency, or if something comes up, or if the state makes an across the board cut again,” CCSD Business Manager Billie Jo Greene said.