ROCKFORD: WHEN THE BUDGET MEETS THE AUDIT

[Shadowninja]

ROCKFORD: WHEN THE BUDGET MEETS THE AUDIT

Dearest readers... budgets tell us what a district expects to happen.

Audits tell us what actually happened.

And your Lady rather enjoys putting the two side by side. 👑🪶

So I matched Rockford Public Schools' General Fund budgets against its audited results for the last three completed fiscal years.

And the ledger tells an interesting, but not particularly alarming story.

📜 2022–23
Actual revenue: $117.07 million
Actual expenditures: $112.31 million

Result: approximately $4.77 MILLION SURPLUS

Ending fund balance: $15.16 million

📜 2023–24
Actual revenue: $119.31 million
Actual expenditures: $114.50 million

Result: approximately $4.80 MILLION SURPLUS

Ending fund balance: $19.96 million

Then the ink changes direction.

📜 2024–25
Actual revenue: $114.85 million
Actual expenditures: $115.98 million

Result: approximately $1.12 MILLION DEFICIT

Ending fund balance: $18.84 million

Now, before anyone runs through Rockford ringing the financial alarm bell...

Put it down. 🪶

Rockford ended 2024–25 with nearly $19 million remaining in its General Fund.

In fact, despite that $1.12 million deficit, the fund balance was still approximately $3.69 million higher than it had been two years earlier.

But there IS a breadcrumb here.

Rockford went from two consecutive audited surpluses of roughly $4.8 million each to spending more than it received in 2024–25.

And there's another little budgeting lesson hiding in these receipts. 👀

Rockford's final 2024–25 budget projected a deficit of approximately $5.95 million.

The audit?

The actual deficit was only about $1.12 million.

That's a difference of roughly $4.8 million.

Likewise, Rockford projected that its General Fund balance would finish 2024–25 around $14.01 million.

It actually finished at $18.84 million.

So when you see a frightening-looking projected deficit in a school budget, remember:

A budget is a plan.

It is NOT an audit.

And Rockford has recently finished substantially better than some of its final budget projections.

Now we're looking forward.

The district's 2026–27 budget again projects expenditures exceeding revenue, meaning another planned draw on fund balance.

Does that mean Rockford is in financial trouble?

The receipts I've reviewed don't support saying that.

Does it mean the direction deserves watching?

Absolutely.

Because one deficit after two substantial surpluses is a breadcrumb.

Repeated deficit spending becomes a trend.

And your Lady knows better than to call a breadcrumb a loaf of bread. 👑

For now, this page of the Rockford ledger gets a circle — not a siren.

We'll keep watching where it goes. 🪶

With receipts & respect.

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