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The Dewey Public Schools Board of Education reviews its mid-year financial report.

Superintendent Vince Vincent says federal funding has skewed the comparison from last fiscal year to the current fiscal year. Vincent says there is quite a difference between revenues and expenditures. He says one thing to keep in mind is that the FY-2022 revenue also includes $330,000 that was actually expended in FY-2021.

Vincent says there is more of a comparable amount of revenue when you look at it that way. He says they are still on the good side as they saw an increase in revenue, but it is not quite the amount they saw previously.

There was a heavy expenditure for COVID-19 related items (i.e. staff stipends and Chromebooks). Vincent says this occurred right at the end of the last fiscal year, which went on their FY-2021 expenditures. He says they were reimbursed for the costs, and that counted towards this year's revenues, giving them a false sense of mid-year comparison.

If COVID-19 relief funds and expenditures were not involved, Vincent says the picture changes. Vincent adds that they are still in good standing, even without the COVID funding. He says there are some items that they are using ESSER III funding for that they would pay for or keep even if those funds never existed.

Vincent says the district's Building Fund and Child Nutrition Fund are healthy. He says one addition to the Building Fund came from legislation passed last year called the Redbud Grant Fund. This is additional monies from the State to help equalize the funding that schools get that were below the average of ad velorem that went into their Building Fund.

Dewey Public Schools typically gets $160,000 to $170,000 in ad velorem that goes toward the Building Fund. Vincent says they are set to receive an additional $200,000 to $211,000 on top of what they normally make for that account. He says that is a big gain for DPS, a school district that is not ad velorem heavy.

Vincent says the district was well below the average in terms of schools receiving Building Fund monies across Oklahoma. He says the additional funds will drastically boost them up to the average.