Dearest reader,
We have reached Step 5 of our Trenton Public Schools workup, and this time Lady Budgetdown went digging through the audits and budgets.
Because budgets tell us what a district expects to happen.
Audits tell us what actually happened.
And in the two audited years we reviewed, those were two very different stories.
📜 2021–22
The final General Fund budget projected a $849,770 reduction in fund balance.
The audited result?
+$334,496.
That is a $1,184,266 swing better than budgeted.
Then we move forward to 2023–24.
📜 2023–24
The final budget projected a $1,329,989 reduction in fund balance.
The audited result?
+$811,236.
That is $2,141,225 better than the final budget projection.
And there is another receipt worth looking at.
Trenton's audited General Fund balance went from:
💰 $5,946,332 — June 30, 2022
to
💰 $7,148,987 — June 30, 2024
An increase of:
$1,202,655 — or 20.23%.
In 2023–24 alone, actual expenditures finished approximately $3.05 million below the final budget, including spending below budget in basic instruction, added-needs instruction, pupil support, instructional staff support, operations and maintenance, central services and capital outlay.
Now, dearest reader, this deserves context.
Budgets are forecasts. Circumstances change. Revenue changes. Grants change. Expenses change. A final budget and an audited actual are not expected to match perfectly.
And spending less than budgeted is not, by itself, evidence that something improper occurred.
But Lady Budgetdown finds the pattern worth showing.
In both audited years reviewed, the final budget projected the General Fund balance going down.
In both years, when the books were closed, it actually went up.
That doesn't answer every question.
But it certainly gives us another breadcrumb.
And that is why we don't stop at the budget.
We follow it all the way to the audit. 🪶
Source: Trenton Public Schools Audited Financial Statements, years ending June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2024.
With receipts and respect.
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