MUNCIE — It quickly became clear to Deborah Williams that Muncie Community Schools' budget was in a dire situation when she took over as the Chief Financial Officer this year. But she wanted a second pair of eyes.
At Tuesday's board meeting, that second pair of eyes, Mike Reuter, presented his financial review. It basically lined up with what Williams was seeing.
It's not pretty.
Some people questioned the district's decision to pay for a review when the State Board of Accounts was set to audit the district this year. But Superintendent Steven Baule has said it's good business practice to have a second set of eyes go over the budget, especially when new leadership takes over.
The district ended up hiring Reuter, the CFO of Hamilton Southeastern Schools who also does consulting work, for $10,000. His review looked back all the way to 2012, then projected out through 2019.
Here are key takeaways, based on his review:
1. MCS needs cuts
In order to break even in 2016 and no longer show a deficit, MCS would have to cut $16.75 million from its spending. That would get the district down to a $0 balance at the end of the year, which isn't even ideal. Ideally, a corporation would have a cash balance built up.
Right now, the district has $10 million in payments to its co-operatives that have been put off. Multiple districts get together in a co-op to offer services, like for special education. Each school pitches in, but MCS kicked its payments down the road back in 2013. Williams said MCS did make a co-op payment in 2015, but it was covering the 2013-14 school years, so the district is still behind.