The Knox School Board took action last week to replenish the corporation’s Operations Fund. Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart says the board unanimously passed a resolution to transfer $1 million from the Education Fund.
He explains that under the school funding model put into place at the start of 2019, teacher salaries and school supplies are paid out of the Education Fund, while everything else now comes out of the Operations Fund.
The problem is that school corporations’ Operations Funds don’t typically generate enough revenue to cover all of those expenses. “So the state has allowed us, at this point in time, to transfer money from Education to Operations so that we can pay for out fuel for our buses, pay for bus drivers’ salaries, pay for capital project improvements that we’re doing around the district,” Reichhart explains.
The school board had already transferred $1 million at the beginning of the year, with the understanding that more money could be moved later, if needed. While the Operations Fund gets its money from local tax revenues, the Education Fund is funded by the state, based on each school corporation’s enrollment.
