A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
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Additional and Replacement Equipment: Funds athletic equipment, cafeteria equipment, computers, office furniture and equipment, and security alarm systems.
Administration (Function 201): Funds activities associated with the regulation, direction and control of the school system, such as the superintendent, deputy superintendent, other professional staff, and secretaries and clerks. Some offices included in this category are the Board Office, Business Management Services, Internal Audit, Information Technology and Human Resources.
Appropriation: Authority to spend money within a specified dollar limit for an approved program during a fiscal year. The County Council appropriates funds to Prince George's County Public Schools according to state categories.
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Balanced Budget: A balanced budget is a budget where expenditures are equal to revenue.
Before and After-School Fund: A special revenue fund used for financial transactions related to providing school age child care services before and after school hours.
Board Sources: Funds received from non-government sources including tuition (e.g., non-resident students), fees (e.g., reimbursements for community building use), interest earnings on cash investments, and other miscellaneous revenues (e.g., sales of assets).
Bridge to Excellence Master Plan (Master Plan): Provides a long-range action plan to guide the system in preparing students for successful citizenry in the 21st century. The plan reflects the mission of the school system and addresses the system's priority goals.
Budget: A plan of financial operation including an estimate of proposed expenditures for a given period of time.
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Capital Expenditures/Improvements: Repair or maintenance of facilities and grounds, including boiler repair, air conditioning units, carpet replacement, and the resurfacing of roads, parking lots, and play areas.
Capital Improvement Program: A multi-year plan for the provision of the school system's capital facility and infra-structure needs.
Capital Outlay (Function 215): Includes activities concerned with the cost of directing and managing the acquisition, construction, renovations of land, buildings, and equipment.
Capital Projects Fund: A fund used for the purchase, construction, renovation, and maintenance of school buildings.
Category: Also known as State Category or Function. State law requires all county school districts to appropriate and record expenditures for education in accordance with standardized state budget categories. These categories are generally based on broad functional classifications such as Administration, Instruction, Maintenance and Special Education.
Community Services (Function 214): Includes activities that are provided by the school system for the community other than for public school activities.
Contracted Services: Contracted services include rental of buildings, advertising, contracted services, catering, and printing.
County: Refers to Prince George's County government.
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Employee Benefits: for budgeting purposes, employee benefits are payments by the employer for social security taxes, retirement contributions, and group health and life insurance.
Expenditure Recovery: Costs or expenditures for self-supporting programs incurred during the normal course of business that are reimbursed by program areas that use the services (i.e. Transportation, In-House Printing).
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Federal Sources: Revenue from any agency of the Federal Government that originates as a Federal program either directly from the Federal Government (e.g., Impact Aid and Head Start) or through the state of Maryland (e.g., Title I and IDEA-Part B grants).
Fiscal Year (FY): Reference to a 12-month budget/accounting year which extends from July-June.
Fixed Charges (Function 212): FICA, Health, Life and Unemployment Insurances, Retirement, and Worker's Compensation.
Food Services Subsidy (Function 213): Additional funds necessary to support the operation of the Food Services Program.
Food and Nutrition Services Fund: A special revenue fund used for financial transactions relating to the school breakfast, school lunch, and child and adult nutrition care programs.
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): A method of equating less than full-time employees in permanent positions to a full time basis.
Fund Balance: Unliquidated surplus of funds, the actual from the previous fiscal year and the estimated from the current fiscal year, whether accrued from revenues or expenditures
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General Fund: The General Fund (also known as the "Current Expense Fund") accounts for all financial transactions in support of the educational process which are not recorded in other funds. Maryland law requires that this fund operate under a legally adopted annual budget.
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Health Services (Function 208): Funds personnel such as nurses and aides. Includes physical and mental health activities which are not instructional and which provide students with appropriate medical, dental, and nursing services.
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Instructional Salaries & Wages (Function 203): Funds activities directly related to the teaching of students, the interaction between teacher and students, and the well-being of students (i.e., teachers, media specialists, guidance counselors, school psychologists, mentor teachers, paraprofessional educators and reading specialists).
Internal Services Fund: A fund used to account for the financing of goods or services provided by one department or agency to another department or agency of the governmental unit on a cost-reimbursement basis.
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Local Sources: Revenue received out of funds from the appropriating body (County Council) for school purposes including a County contribution and designated revenues such as the Telecommunications Tax and Energy Tax.
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Maintenance of Effort: State law requires each County to at least provide local funds for the next fiscal year at the same per pupil level as the current fiscal year.
Maintenance of Plant (Function 211): Funds activities concerned with keeping the grounds, buildings and fixed equipment in their original condition of completeness or efficiency through repair, scheduled and preventive maintenance or replacement of property. Includes personnel such as equipment operators, journeymen, and trades helpers.
Mid-Level Administration (Function 202): Funds administration and supervision of district-wide and school-level instructional programs and activities. Includes personnel such as principals, vice principals, directors, coordinators, supervisors, specialists, secretaries and clerks, and programs such as Adult Ed, JROTC, Alternative Programs, Community-Based Classrooms, Evening High and Summer School, Career Ed, Business Ed, Family and Consumer Sciences, Technical Academies, Tech Ed, Vocational Support Services and Experimental Learning.
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No Child Left Behind Act: Education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America's schools.
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Object: Identifies the purpose of expenditure (e.g., Salaries & Wages, Fringe Benefits) required under LEA reporting requirements.
Operating Budget: Is a comprehensive fiscal plan for financing the operating programs for a single fiscal year.
Operation of Plant (Function 210): Funds activities concerned with keeping the physical building clean and ready for daily use. Personnel such as custodians and security professionals are included in this category.
Other Instructional Costs (Function 205): Funds rental of buildings, advertising, contracted services, catering, printing, local travel, registration fees, office furniture and equipment, and computers.
Other Operating Expenditures: A category of recurring expenses other than salaries and capital equipment costs that covers expenditures necessary to maintain facilities, collect revenues, provide services, and otherwise carry out departmental goals. Typical line items in this category are printing, travel, vehicle maintenance, and self-insurance.
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Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB): An integrated annual performance plan and budget that shows the relationship between program funding levels and expected results.
Public Sector Budgeting: A module that provides the business side of the organization with tools to more easily manage finances.
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Restricted: Grant appropriations that are usually federal or state and require, as a condition of receiving the funds, that the Board of Education comply with conditions imposed by the grantor.
Revolving Fund: A type of fund used to account for the financing of certain self-supporting services provided by the Board of Education (i.e., Printing, Central Garage).
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Salaries and Wages: Salaries for all Full-time and Part-time personnel including temporaries and substitutes.
School Activity Fund: Each individual school maintains a school activity fund to account for cash resources of various clubs, organizations, and annual Board allotments.
Self-Insurance Fund: The Self-Insurance Fund is a proprietary fund where revenues are recorded when earned and expenses are recorded when liabilities are incurred.
Special Education (Function 206): Provides educational services to disabled students; and funds personnel such as special education teachers, paraprofessional educators, instructional specialists, therapists, hearing interpreters, and programs such as Psychological Services, Compliance, K-12 Services, Early Childhood Programs, and Nonpublic Education.
State Sources: Revenue from any agency of the state of Maryland that originates within the State, whether restricted in use or not e.g., State share of the Foundation Program, State Compensatory Education, Student Transportation Aid, Limited English Proficiency, and Students with Disabilities (e.g., Nonpublic Placements).
Student Personnel Services (Function 207): Funds activities designed to improve student attendance at school and prevent or solve student problems in the home, school and community. Personnel such as pupil personnel workers, specialists, and secretaries and clerks; and programs such as the Appeals Office, Guidance Services, Family and Community Outreach, Interscholastic Athletics, Business Partnerships, Student Affairs/ Safe and Drug Free Schools are included in this category.
Student Transportation Services (Function 209): Funds activities that involve the transporting of pupils to and from school activities either between home and school or on trips for curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities. Personnel such as bus drivers and bus aides; and activities concerned with the conveyance of students between home, school, and school activities are included in this category.
Supplies and Materials: Funds textbooks, library books, office supplies, awards, postage, testing supplies and materials.
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Thornton Commission: The Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act HB-856, enacted by the Maryland General Assembly in April 2002. The Act was based on recommendations of the Commission on Education, Finance, Equity, and Excellence ("The Thornton Commission"), which conducted a two-year study of the State's education financing and accountability systems to ensure equitable and adequate funding for public schools.
Tax Reform Initiative by Marylanders (TRIM): Limits the tax rate applied to the assessable real property base to $2.40 per $100 of assessed value.
Textbooks and Instructional Supplies (204): Funds textbooks, instructional materials, library books, classroom teacher supplies, and awards/recognitions.
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Unit Funding: Distributes funds to individual schools based upon the total amount of money that is approved in the budget and the number of teachers that are assigned to the school through the staffing formula.
Unrestricted: Appropriations comprising the majority of the total budget that can be used for any legal purpose desired by the Board of Education.
