Great Bend USD 428’s 2019-2020 fiscal year ended Tuesday and a new year starts Wednesday, so the school board held a final meeting Monday morning to make year-end transfers. The board also approved next year’s insurance quote.
Assistant Superintendent John Popp said the total estimated annual premium was $232,066, up from last year’s premium of $199,238. To that amount, the board approved additional cyber insurance, which would protect the district from a computer attack or other data compromise issues. The district’s $50,000 coverage can be increased to 10 times that for less than $1,600 more (from $514 to $2,096), Popp said.
Almost $20,000 of the increase in this year’s premium is for property coverage, Popp said.
“This amount is not necessarily that we have had a lot of claims, but the western half of the state has had a lot of wind and hail damage,” he said.
Automobile insurance also increased from $51,733 to $61,341.
The school district’s insurance carrier is EMC, through Insurance Planning Incorporated.
“We’re able to call a local agent (Shawn Powelson),” Popp said.
Transfers
Superintendent Khris Thexton explained the year-end budget transfers, which included prepaid expenses for the 2020-2021 school year:
• Property and liability insurance - $233,648
• Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) Workers Comp - $103,128
• Paper - $17,677
• Student accident insurance - $44,375
Money not spent in the general and supplemental funds are transferred to specific funds, such as special education. “If we don’t take the money out of supplemental and general, then it goes back to the state,” Thexton explained.
Of note was a $250,000 transfer to the textbook fund, with a proposal of another $150,000 when completing the process. Thexton said the district needs to build the cash balance in this fund because next year (2021-2022) USD 428 will adopt a new math curriculum and the following year it is scheduled to adopt a new English language arts curriculum.
“The proposed transfers will restore the special funds due to money spent during the year. This practice will keep our cash reserves stable in special funds to help us through difficult financial times,” he told the board.
