Description of Funds School District Accounting System
Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards.
The legislature requires school districts to adopt and use a uniform system of records and accounting for public schools. The adopted system, a modified accrual accounting system, is known as Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (UFARS). UFARS is important because it provides a uniform basis for comparing and evaluating school district revenue and expenditures. Under UFARS, every district must maintain the following funds.
School Funds
The budget for ISD 548 is comprised of several different funds, a listing and explanation of these funds is noted below:
Fund 1-General Fund-The general fund is used to account for educational activities, district instructional and student support programs. Generally speaking, this fund is used to report the operating costs of the district. Fund 2-Food Service-The food service fund is used to record the financial activities of the school districts food service program. This includes reporting expenses and revenues associated with school breakfast, lunch, and snack programs. Fund 4-Community Service-The community service fund is used to record the financial activities of the community service program. This includes such areas as Community Education, Early Childhood Family Education, School Readiness, Adult Basic Education, and the 21st Century Grant. Fund 7-Debt Service-The debt service fund is used to record revenues and expenditures for the districts outstanding bonded indebtedness, whether it is for building construction or operating capital, and whether for initial or refunding bonds. Fund 8-Trust Fund-The trust fund is used to record activities where the school is responsible to serve as a trustee for a trust agreement. The Pelican Rapids School district utilizes this fund strictly to house scholarships provided by outside individuals. Essentially this fund is a neutral account—revenue equals expenditures, as revenues that are paid to the district by the trustees are used then pay the scholarship sponsored by the trustee. (The expense paid can only equal that which the trustee contributed) Fund 11-Cultural Collaboration/Shared Cost-This fund is utilized by Pelican Rapids Public Schools to record expenses and revenues associated with the Cultural Collaborative shared costs. Schools that participate in this include: Pelican Rapids, Barnesville, Battle Lake, Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Frazee, Hawley, Lake Park, Perham, and Underwood. Similar to fund 8, this fund is a neutral account, as any expenses incurred will be received in revenue by the schools participating in the collaboration. Fund 24-Activity Account-This Fund is used to house student fundraising activities provided by different programs, such as athletics, Channel 2, and the Accelerated Reading program. This is also a neutral account. Fund 45-Post-Employment Benefits Revocable Trust Fund-This trust fund is used for reporting resources set aside and held in an irrevocable trust arrangement for post-employment benefits. Fund 47-Post Employment Benefits Deb Service Fund-This fund is used to record levy proceeds and the repayment of the OPEB bonds.
Information provided from the 2010 UFARS manual published by the Minnesota Dept of Education:
http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Accountability_Programs/
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06.18.13
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