Meeting Notes - March 17, 2015

2014/15

Second Quarter Report

SUMMARY OF MAJOR CHANGES

The district has completed its financial analysis for the second quarter of operation (July 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014). Enclosed in this document is reporting for all of the funds the district maintains as authorized by the California Education Code. The short description and analysis at the beginning of each fund report explains the purpose of the fund and recent financial trends that may have changed from the adopted budget. Also included in this report is a supplemental information section that contains the State Quarterly Report (311Q).  The analysis of the General Purpose Fund follows.

GENERAL PURPOSE FUND REVENUE

Revenue, Enrollment Assumptions, and Productivity

Our overall funding includes both Redevelopment Agency (RDA)  and  Education  Protection  Account (EPA) revenue projections, in addition to the traditional state revenue funding sources generated from state apportionment, enrollment fees, and property taxes. Consequently, all revenue reports from the state are closely monitored throughout the year in anticipation of any shortfall in total state funding. A deficit factor of 1%, as recommended by the state chancellor’s office, was included in our adopted budget in the event of a revenue shortfall. In the second quarter, a one-time reimbursement of $1.2 million for prior year mandated cost claims was received and is included in this report.

Resident  Enrollment

Under the 2014/15 adopted budget assumptions, we anticipated serving 31,942 resident and non-resident FTES. This number reflected resident enrollment of 27,355 FTES and non-resident enrollment of 4,588 FTES.

In October 2014, the 2013/14 Apportionment Attendance Report was recertified to include an additional eighty-seven resident FTES and three non-resident FTES, for a recalculated total of 32,032 resident and non-resident FTES. The P-1 320 attendance report filed in January  estimated  that  we  will  report  a decrease of approximately 500 FTES by the end of this fiscal year (see Table 2). Due to the stabilization component included in Senate Bill 361, we will still receive apportionment for 2014/15 based on the 30,032 FTES generated in 2013/14. However, our funding base will be lower for 2015/16 if the decline in FTES in the P-1 reporting calculations do not change. The colleges and the enrollment management team continue to carefully monitor student enrollment, analyze course offerings, and heighten marketing and recruitment efforts to maximize access for students and to restore the FTES decline from 2013/14.

Non-Resident  Enrollment

It is currently estimated that we will exceed our budgeted revenue by approximately $1.9 million for fiscal year 2014/15. This additional revenue is due, in part, to an increase in the non-resident tuition fee for 2014/15 and the balance generated from enrollment trends that we are currently analyzing to project year-end final estimates. Because this revenue stream can be more volatile and is dependent on many external factors, such as access to visas and exchange rates, we closely monitor our non-resident revenue throughout the year.  We will revise our revenue projections, as well as corresponding expense estimates, in the third quarter when more data is available for analysis.

Prior Year Adjustment

The state finalizes the prior year apportionment in January of the following year, when both the final property tax revenues and final college FTES reports are certified. When the district closed its books for fiscal year 2013/14 in July 2014, the deficit factor was estimated at approximately 1%, or nearly $1.4 million. The latest information from the state chancellor’s office indicates that the 2013/14 deficit factor will most likely be reduced to approximately ½ of 1%. This will result in an increase to our 2013/14 total revenue of approximately $700,000, and the adjustment to reflect this change will be reported in the third quarter.

Productivity

We have not modified the productivity estimates since the adopted budget. For fiscal year 2014/15, productivity is budgeted at 530 (WSCH/FTEF). The colleges are carefully monitoring student enrollment and course offerings to maximize access for students. We anticipate a drop in the budgeted productivity calculation by year’s end due to declining enrollment and decisions to maintain lower-enrolled classes to capture all available FTES.

GENERAL PURPOSE FUND EXPENSE

Certificated  Salaries

We are currently projecting approximately $477,500 in one-time savings to this category due to float from vacant non-teaching positions and unspent funds in the personnel contingency account. As in prior years, any float from vacant faculty positions will be used to hire part-time faculty and the remainder of unused funds, if any, will revert to the unrestricted fund balance.

Classified  Salaries

We are currently projecting approximately $245,800 in one-time savings to this category due to float from vacant classified positions. As in prior years, any float from vacant classified and management positions will be transferred to the colleges as additional one-time ‘B’ budget.

Benefits

At this time, we are not estimating any changes to the Benefits category.

Supplies and Capital Outlay

We  are  currently  projecting  a  decrease  of  $60,000  to  the  Materials  &  Supplies  category  with  a corresponding increase to the Capital Outlay category.

Operating  Expenses

At this time, we are not estimating any changes to the Operating Expenses category.

Transfers/Other

At this time, we are not estimating any changes to the Transfers/Other category.