This guide is a review of the basics of school finance. Descriptions and examples are intended to help the reader understand the School Foundation Formula.
Please refer to the Fund Directory
Tree handout, as I discuss the specifics
regarding each of the funds available for the local school district.
The General Fund is the largest fund available for a local school district. The General Fund is funded by the School Foundation Formula, which sets a limit on the amount of expenditures for each school district based on the number of pupils who reside in the local school district. I will talk in greater length about the General Fund under the School Foundation Formula.
The labels on the left-hand side of the Fund Directory Tree—Governmental, Proprietary, Fiduciary and Account Group—are accounting terms for the grouping of the specific funds for the local school district. The administrator can ignore these because they are accounting terms under the Uniform Financial Accounting that your Business Office will use for the identification of the respective funds.