| | Background Information:
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued Statement No. 54 establishing a hierarchy of fund balances as follows:
- Non-Spendable Fund Balance - Amounts that are not in a spendable form or are required to be maintained intact. Examples are inventory, pre-paid expenses, and revolving cash fund amounts.
- Restricted Fund Balance – Amounts that can be spent only for the specific purposes stipulated by external resource providers (such as grantors), or enabling legislation. Restrictions may be changed or lifted only with the consent of the resource providers.
- Committed Fund Balance - Amounts subject to internal constraints self-imposed by the District’s highest level of decision making authority. Commitments may be changed or lifted only by the Board of Education taking the same formal action that imposed the constraint originally.
- Assigned Fund Balance – Amounts the District intends to use for a specific purpose. Assignments may be established by the governing board or by a designee of the Board. Examples include site carry-overs and accrued vacation.
- Unassigned Fund Balance – Amounts representing the residual balance in the General Fund that has not been assigned to other funds and that are not in the other classifications. The Reserve For Economic Uncertainty falls into this classification.
GASB 54 allows districts to locally commit funds, effectively restricting them for a specific purpose at a local level. The attached resolution seeks to commit projected one-time monies for the specific purpose of purchasing standards aligned instructional materials and textbooks and providing related trainings and professional learning opportunities. |