GLADSTONE — On March 17, the Board of Education for Gladstone Area Schools adopted its first general fund budget amendment of the 2024 to 2025 year. The meeting included a financial report from the school district’s business manager, Lisa Boudreau, who also reported that an audit is upcoming in April.

Initial budgets are made with a bit of guesswork, so some restructuring is normal after more definitive numbers from the State emerge.

As far as revenue (incoming funds), the amendment shows that the school’s general fund will receive $593,256 more than previously expected. While state aid was down by $144,000, there was also an increase in property tax revenue. Even with interest rates falling, the school accumulated almost $85,000 just by having a large sum of money (over $4 million) in the bank.

A sum of $330,000 from special grants awarded earlier also shows as revenue.

“Some of these grants we’ve had for a couple years, but they’re expiring this year, so we need to spend it or lose it,” Boudreau said.

Most of the expenditures were budgeted; some repair and maintenance projects were scheduled, and Boudreau said that some of the planned costs are able to be covered with grants rather than entirely out of the fund balance. One large cost increase was in transportation.

“We always have a bus in our budget every year. This year, the bus came in a lot higher than normal,” Boudreau said.

After the budget amendment, expenditures rose by $270,226. Even when the increase in expenditures is considered, the district will have $323,030 in additional revenue added to the fund balance. The projected fund balance for June 30, 2025 is $4,424,794.

At the end of February, there was a little over $4.94 million in the district’s general fund, plus $556,062 in food service; $11,776 in athletics; and $29,856 in community service / public library.

Boudreau said that Gladstone is due for a state audit. She relayed that audits usually happen every three to five years, but that COVID caused delays.

“It’s a pretty deep audit that they do,” Boudreau said. “…They’re just trying to make sure that we’re following all the rules and and do corrections if there’s something that we’re doing that we’re not supposed to. I went through one at Rapid, and it sounds very scary, but the truth is, they’re very good people, and they really just want to make sure you’re doing the right thing.”

Also at the school board meeting:

– Superintendent Jay Kulbertis said that a couple pieces of legislation had been proposed that would make teacher certification simpler — he felt that they didn’t make sense.

“We want there to be standards and expectations and a process to go through … so we know it has value,” he said.

– James T. Jones Elementary School Principal Holly Howes noted that the Indian Education Spring Fest, featur