Iowa Admin. Code r. 281-98.61 - General fund
All moneys received by a school corporation from taxes and other sources will be accounted for in the general fund, except moneys required by law to be accounted for in another fund. If another fund specifically lists an expenditure to that other fund, it is assumed not to be appropriate to the general fund unless statute expressly states that it is an appropriate general fund expenditure. Each school district and each area education agency will have only one general fund.
(1)
Sources of revenue in the general fund. Sources of revenue in
the general fund include all moneys not required by law to be accounted for in
another fund and interest on the investment of those moneys. Proceeds from the
sale or disposition of property other than real property, proceeds from the
lease of real or other property, compensation or rent received for the use of
school property, sales of school supplies, and sales or rentals of textbooks
will be accounted for in the general fund. Proceeds for loans for equipment
pursuant to Iowa Code section
279.48, federal loans for
asbestos projects pursuant to Iowa Code section
279.52, or loans for energy
conservation projects pursuant to Iowa Code section
473.20 may be accounted for in
the general fund. Any revenue or receipt described in law as "miscellaneous
income" or related to the modified supplemental amount is restricted to the
general fund.
(2)
Appropriate uses of the general fund. Appropriate expenditures
in the general fund include the following:
a.
Providing day-to-day operations to the district or area education agency, such
as salaries, employee benefits, purchased services, supplies, and expenditures
for instructional equipment.
b.
Purchasing school buses from unobligated funds on hand.
c. Establishing and maintaining dental
clinics for children and offering courses of instruction on oral
hygiene.
d. Employing public health
nurses.
e. Funding insurance
agreements if the district has not certified a district management
levy.
f. Purchasing books and other
supplies to be loaned, rented, or sold at cost to students.
g. Purchasing safety eye-protective devices
and safety ear-protective devices.
h. Purchasing bonds and premiums for bonds
for employees who have custody of funds belonging to the school district or
area education agency or funds derived from extracurricular activities and
other sources in the conduct of their duties.
i. Paying assessed costs related to changes
in boundaries, reorganization, or dissolution.
j. Publishing the notices and estimates and
the actual and necessary expenses of preparing the budget.
k. Engraving and printing school bonds, in
the case of a school district.
l.
Transferring interest and principal to the debt service fund when due for loans
to purchase equipment authorized under Iowa Code section
279.48 and loans to be used for
energy conservation measures under Iowa Code section
473.20, in the case of a school
district, where the original proceeds were accounted for in the general
fund.
m. Transferring interest and
principal to the debt service fund when due for lease purchase agreements
related to capital projects authorized under Iowa Code section 273.3(7), in the
case of an area education agency.
n. Funding asbestos projects including the
costs of inspection and reinspection, sampling, analysis, assessment, response
actions, operations and maintenance, training, periodic surveillance, and
developing of management plans and record-keeping requirements relating to the
presence of asbestos in school buildings and its removal or encapsulation as
authorized by the school budget review committee in the case of a school
district.
o. Funding energy
conservation projects entered into with the department of natural resources or
its duly authorized agents or representatives pursuant to Iowa Code section
473.20, in the case of a school district.
p. Transferring to a capital projects fund as
authorized by the school budget review committee, in the case of a school
district.
q. Transferring to a
capital projects fund as funds are due to be expended on a capital project
authorized under Iowa Code section
273.3(7), in
the case of an area education agency.
r. Start-up costs, other than land purchase,
for the first year of a new student construction program.
s. Beginning with the budget year beginning
July 1, 2016, transferring, by board resolution, to the student activity fund
an amount necessary to purchase or, beginning with the budget year beginning
July 1, 2018, recondition protective and safety equipment required for any
extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition that is
sponsored or administered by an organization as defined in Iowa Code section
280.13, as allowed under Iowa
Code section 298A.2 pursuant to Iowa Code
section 298A.8(2).
t. Paying any other costs not required to be
accounted for in another fund.
u.
Paying for costs of activity programming required pursuant to rule
281-12.6 (256) from funds other
than those required to be accounted for in the student activity fund pursuant
to Iowa Code section 298A.8.
(3)
Inappropriate uses of the general
fund. Inappropriate expenditures in the general fund include the
following:
a. Purchasing land or
improvements.
b. Purchasing or
constructing buildings or for capital improvements to real property except
under special circumstances authorized by the school budget review committee,
in the case of a school district, or except as authorized under Iowa Code
section 273.3(7), in
the case of an area education agency.
c. Modifying or remodeling school buildings
or classrooms even if to make them accessible.
d. Paying interest and principal on long-term
indebtedness for which the original proceeds were not accounted for in the
general fund.
e. Funding
lease-purchases.
f. Purchasing
portable buildings.
g. Paying
individuals or private organizations that are not audited and allowed and
related to goods received or services rendered.
h. Paying other costs that are not operating
or current expenditures for public education and are not expressly authorized
in the Iowa Code.
(4)
Special levies. The general fund includes two special levy
programs available to school districts, but not to area education agencies,
that are restricted by the Iowa Code.
a.
Instructional support program. The instructional support
program is a district-initiated program to provide additional funding to the
district's general fund.
(1) Appropriate uses
of instructional support program funding. Moneys received by a district for the
instructional support program may be used for any general fund purpose except
those listed as inappropriate uses in subparagraph 98.61(4)"b"
(2).
(2) Inappropriate uses of
instructional support program funding. Moneys received by a district for the
instructional support program will not be used as, or in a manner that has the
effect of, supplanting funds authorized to be received under Iowa Code sections
257.41 (returning dropouts and dropout prevention programs), 257.46 (gifted and
talented programs), 298.4 (management fund levy), and 298.2 (physical plant and
equipment fund levy), or to cover any deficiencies in funding for special
education instructional services resulting from the application of the special
education weighting plan under Iowa Code section
256B.9.
b.
Educational improvement
program. The educational improvement program is a district-initiated
program available to districts in special circumstances to provide additional
funding to the district's general fund if the district already has the
instructional support program in place.
(1)
Appropriate uses of educational improvement program funding. Moneys received by
a district for the educational improvement program may be used for any general
fund purpose.
(2) Inappropriate
uses of educational improvement program funding. Inappropriate uses of
educational improvement program funding include any expenditure not appropriate
to the general fund.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.