Some of you have asked how to obtain financial information about the PLSD.
There is a wealth of such information available on the internet, which you can obtain without asking anyone. For instance, you can obtain the PLSD's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (''CAFRs'') for the last few years on the website of the state auditor (www.auditor.state.oh.us). Just click on ''Audit Search'' and type in ''Pickerington Local School District.'' The CAFRs are referred to as ''financial audit'' reports.
These reports include the PLSD's audited financial statements, together with our independent auditor's report, for each year. The also include a wealth of statistical background data on the PLSD. You can also obtain copies of the PLSD's recent ''Performance Audits'' at the same place. As you may know, the school board has retained the state auditor's office to look for economies and cost savings. Their final report will be published, and available, next month.
You can obtain CAFRs at the same place for every Ohio school district that files them (not all do), if you want to make comparisons. One caution: CAFRs can be up to 200 pages long, so make sure you have plenty of paper in your printer if you decide to print them off.
The so-called ''Cupp Reports,'' which are available on-one for every school district in Ohio, including the PLSD, are another valuable source. These one-age reports present statistics on 60 key financial and academic variables, and compare each district with peer districts and with the state average. Be careful in using them, however, because data is not always presented for each variable as of the same date.
These reports can be obtained at the web site of the Ohio Department of Education (www.ode.ohio.us). Just click on ''Data,'' scroll down to ''School Finance,'' click on ''Foundation'' and then click on ''Cupp Report.''
In addition, although subject to certain privacy protections, every document in the PLSD's possession or control, including every document containing financial information, is available for your inspection (provided you pay the copying costs). You only need to ask. I should add, however, that the PLSD Treasurer's Office, where these documents are most conveniently available, is overworked and understaffed. These please be patient and considerate. Try to focus your requests, and give the Treasurer's Office a reasonable time to locate and copy the documents that you request. You might want to spend a few minutes talking to Vince Utterback or a member of his staff about what is available, before making your requests.
Here are some of the documents you may want to examine:
(1) Each fall the school board approves an appropriation resolution appropriating funds for the academic year. This is the PLSD's most important budgetary document. It also includes the assumptions on which projections were based, and some of the work papers underlying these assumptions.
(2) The Treasurer reduces the PLSD's budget to a two-page document summarizing projected/actual revenues and expenses for each month. This is the basic budgetary document that the Treasurer presents to the school board each month.
(3) The Treasurer, at various times, prepares multi-year summaries/projections of revenues/expenses. One usually is included with the annual appropriation resolution. Others are prepared for levy decisions, negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, etc.
We hope to load this type of information on the PLSD's web site soon. This will save Vince Utterback and his staff considerable time, and also help deepen public understanding of, and involvement in, the PLSD's finances. Nothing could be more beneficial. Our school belong to all of us, and we encourage you to look as closely at the PLSD's finances, books and records as you wish.
There is a wealth of such information available on the internet, which you can obtain without asking anyone. For instance, you can obtain the PLSD's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (''CAFRs'') for the last few years on the website of the state auditor (www.auditor.state.oh.us). Just click on ''Audit Search'' and type in ''Pickerington Local School District.'' The CAFRs are referred to as ''financial audit'' reports.
These reports include the PLSD's audited financial statements, together with our independent auditor's report, for each year. The also include a wealth of statistical background data on the PLSD. You can also obtain copies of the PLSD's recent ''Performance Audits'' at the same place. As you may know, the school board has retained the state auditor's office to look for economies and cost savings. Their final report will be published, and available, next month.
You can obtain CAFRs at the same place for every Ohio school district that files them (not all do), if you want to make comparisons. One caution: CAFRs can be up to 200 pages long, so make sure you have plenty of paper in your printer if you decide to print them off.
The so-called ''Cupp Reports,'' which are available on-one for every school district in Ohio, including the PLSD, are another valuable source. These one-age reports present statistics on 60 key financial and academic variables, and compare each district with peer districts and with the state average. Be careful in using them, however, because data is not always presented for each variable as of the same date.
These reports can be obtained at the web site of the Ohio Department of Education (www.ode.ohio.us). Just click on ''Data,'' scroll down to ''School Finance,'' click on ''Foundation'' and then click on ''Cupp Report.''
In addition, although subject to certain privacy protections, every document in the PLSD's possession or control, including every document containing financial information, is available for your inspection (provided you pay the copying costs). You only need to ask. I should add, however, that the PLSD Treasurer's Office, where these documents are most conveniently available, is overworked and understaffed. These please be patient and considerate. Try to focus your requests, and give the Treasurer's Office a reasonable time to locate and copy the documents that you request. You might want to spend a few minutes talking to Vince Utterback or a member of his staff about what is available, before making your requests.
Here are some of the documents you may want to examine:
(1) Each fall the school board approves an appropriation resolution appropriating funds for the academic year. This is the PLSD's most important budgetary document. It also includes the assumptions on which projections were based, and some of the work papers underlying these assumptions.
(2) The Treasurer reduces the PLSD's budget to a two-page document summarizing projected/actual revenues and expenses for each month. This is the basic budgetary document that the Treasurer presents to the school board each month.
(3) The Treasurer, at various times, prepares multi-year summaries/projections of revenues/expenses. One usually is included with the annual appropriation resolution. Others are prepared for levy decisions, negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, etc.
We hope to load this type of information on the PLSD's web site soon. This will save Vince Utterback and his staff considerable time, and also help deepen public understanding of, and involvement in, the PLSD's finances. Nothing could be more beneficial. Our school belong to all of us, and we encourage you to look as closely at the PLSD's finances, books and records as you wish.
