[SchoolFinance] Undesignated Fund Balance

[Gravelle, Paula B]

Carla,

Yes there is a proposed bill to keep it at 9%, but that will have to go through the legislative process and be enacted before it can be enforced.

Current law restricts it to 5% at this time.

FYI: here is a link to LD 1103: https://legislature.maine.gov/backend/App/services/getDocument.aspx?documentId=112830

Sincerely,
________________________________________

Paula Gravelle
Director of Public School Finance
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
Email: paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov<mailto:paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov>
Phone: 207-624-6792
Maine DOE<http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom
<https://mainedoenews.net/>
[cid:image001.jpg at 01DBAA06.77E95E30]

From: SchoolFinance <schoolfinance-bounces at maillist.informe.org> On Behalf Of Carla Franzose
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2025 10:27 AM
To: Moderated information sharing for school business managers <schoolfinance at maillist.informe.org>
Subject: Re: [SchoolFinance] Undesignated Fund Balance

EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside of the State of Maine Mail System. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
But isn't there a proposed bill, LD 1103, that proposes to allow the threshold to stay at 9% that applies to all future fiscal years?

Carla

On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 9:10 AM Gravelle, Paula B <Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov<mailto:Paula.B.Gravelle at maine.gov>> wrote:
Hello All,

Given the current conversation here is a reminder of the current statute for unallocated fund balances

As always, we recommend you seek guidance from either legal counsel and/or your auditor.

Here is a copy of the specific statute: Statue is 20-A 15689-B, 6.<https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec15689-B.html>

6.  Balance of allocations.  Notwithstanding any other law, general operating fund balances at the end of a school administrative unit's fiscal year must be carried forward to meet the unit's needs in the next year or over a period not to exceed 3 years. Unallocated balances in excess of 5% of the previous fiscal year's school budget must be used to reduce the state and local share of the total allocation for the purpose of computing state subsidy. School boards may carry forward unallocated balances in excess of 5% of the previous year's school budget and disburse these funds in the next year or over a period not to exceed 3 years. For fiscal years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 only, unallocated balances in excess of 9% of the previous fiscal year's school budget must be used to reduce the state and local share of the total allocation for the purpose of computing state subsidy and school boards may carry forward unallocated balances in excess of 9% of the previous fiscal year's school budget and disburse these funds in the next year or over a period not to exceed 3 years.
[PL 2021, c. 213, §1 (AMD).]

FY 2020-21 = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 5% of previous fiscal year’s school budget
FY 2021-22 = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 9% of previous fiscal year’s school budget
FY 2022-23 = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 9% of previous fiscal year’s school budget
FY 2023-24 = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 9% of previous fiscal year’s school budget
FY 2024-25 = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 9% of previous fiscal year’s school budget
FY 2025-26 onward = May carry forward Unallocated Balance up to 5% of previous fiscal year’s school budget

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

________________________________________

Paula Gravelle
Director of Public School Finance
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0023
Email: paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov<mailto:paula.b.gravelle at maine.gov>
Phone: 207-624-6792
Maine DOE<http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom
<https://mainedoenews.net/>
[cid:image001.jpg at 01DBAA06.77E95E30]

On Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 10:44 AM Carla Franzose <cfranzose at carrabec.org<mailto:cfranzose at carrabec.org>> wrote:
Just wondering if you all could share what % of the previous year's budget is your unallocated fund balance.  RSU 74's is currently at 11.5%


--
Carla Franzose
Business Secretary, RSU 74
_______________________________________________
SchoolFinance mailing list
SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org<mailto:SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org>
http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance

_______________________________________________
SchoolFinance mailing list
SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org<mailto:SchoolFinance at maillist.informe.org>
http://maillist.informe.org/mailman/listinfo/schoolfinance


--
Carla Franzose
Business Secretary, RSU 74
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://maillist.informe.org/pipermail/schoolfinance/attachments/20250410/82ff9870/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 13760 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://maillist.informe.org/pipermail/schoolfinance/attachments/20250410/82ff9870/attachment-0001.jpg>