The School Board combines operating and capital revenue and expenditures in a Consolidated Budget. The Consolidated Budget consists of four funds: General Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Child Nutrition Fund, and Special Revenue Fund.

In addition to these funds, the Insurance Fund and Debt Service Fund are maintained strictly for accounting purposes. The budget for the Insurance Fund is not presented separately since it represents interfund transfers from other OPSB funds. The Debt Service Fund is funded from General Fund resources. These expenditures are required to service outstanding long-term debt instruments.

The General Fund is the primary operating fund of the School Board. Reported in the General Fund are most of the revenues from local and state sources. General Fund expenditures represent the costs of general school system operations

The School District currently levies a tax of 52.7 mills. Historically, Property Tax revenues have been stable. The Homestead Exemption is applied to the School District’s property tax.

  Sales Tax

The School District receives the proceeds of a 1½% sales tax on eligible sales in Orleans Parish.

  Other Local

A formula designed by the state to equitably distribute funds for local education that considers local wealth across the state, prior year expenditures, and revenues. However, the major component is student enrollment, which has declined slightly over the past several years.

The State provides funds for non-public school transportation and textbooks through each local public school system. This item is State funding that passes-through the OPSB budget directly to the non-public schools.

The State provides a fixed supplemental appropriation to be shared by local government agencies within Orleans Parish. This revenue is an attempt to offset the loss of revenue associated with Property Tax Homestead exemptions.

The Federal Government provides resources to local tax recipient bodies to offset potential property tax losses due to Federal property, i.e., housing complexes, military facilities, etc.

This fund accounts for all resources and expenses for the operation of the School Board’s breakfast and lunch programs. This fund is treated as a Special Revenue Fund, meaning it is used to account for resources legally restricted to expenditures for designated purposes.

The purpose of the Child Nutrition Program is to serve both lunch and breakfast to all children who attend the New Orleans Public Schools, according to their eligibility to receive meals free, reduced or at full price. The Federal Government also provides the program with a yearly allocation of USDA Commodities with an approximate value of $1.4 million.

This is the primary source of revenue for the Child Nutrition Program. Based on the number of students that participate in the Lunch and Breakfast program, Child Nutrition is required to submit a monthly report within 25 days to claim Federal reimbursement funds. Reimbursement rates are fixed by USDA for each school year and are announced in July for the upcoming year.

The Child Nutrition Program receives a share of the Minimum Foundation Program funding.

Proceeds from the sale of breakfast and lunch to students at reduced/full price are the primary source of local revenue. State guidelines also allow the sale of milk and extra items, such as fruit juices, muffins, etc. In addition, meals can be sold at cost to adults.

Transfers from the General Fund to the Child Nutrition Program to fund pay raises and inventory.

Repair fees are expected to increase as old and deteriorating equipment is not replaced.

Equipment replacement is needed in many schools to maintain compliance with standards stipulated by the Fire Marshall and Health Department Authorities.

A sum of approximately $1 million is transferred to the General Fund for various overhead services received (utilities, delivery service, Maintenance Department repairs and travel, truck insurance and pest control).

This fund is used to account for resources earmarked for specific purposes. Revenues are from external grants and restricted Federal and State programs. The fund is composed of several individual grants that are accounted for as separate entities. It is expected that revenues from grants are expended during the award period. In some instances, grantors will allow carryover of any unexpended balances to the following fiscal year.

Services provided by the resources include:

1.  Instructional programs that supplement the General Fund effort;

2.  Exemplary and/or pilot (instructional) programs, and;

3.  Other programs not provided through the General Fund.

Major Special Revenue Fund programs include:

This is a federal program to provide services to pre-school children and supplementary services to educationally deprived children residing in economically depressed areas of Orleans Parish. Three additional grants are allocated under the auspices of IASA Title I - the Homeless Assistance Program, the Capital Expense Program, and the Migrant Education.

This program provides support for local education reform efforts consistent with and supportive of State-wide reform efforts under Goals 2000: Education America Act. Title VI programs support State and local efforts to accomplish the National Educational Goals and provide funding to enable State and local educational agencies to implement promising education reform programs.

Class Size Reduction Program

The purpose of this program is to improve student achievement by hiring enough teachers to reduce class size in first, second, and third grades to 18 students per teacher.

The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1986, Public Law 99-570, provides funding to address education, public awareness, and prevention of substance abuse. The primary emphasis of the program is prevention.

This grant provides interested students a vigorous, more challenging and coherent program of vocational and academic studies to prepare them for continued learning in either an employment or educational setting.

These funds insure free, appropriate public education to exceptional children.

These funds are used to provide instructional materials, supplies and equipment to operate pre-school classes for special education children.

These are funds provided to the school system to provide additional school days for severely handicapped students whose Individual Education Plan (IEP) requires maximum reinforcement of educational skills.