Section V: Budget Sources

The budget for Ebenezer Elementary Schools Media Center is primarily funded by the
Effingham County School Boards funds received from the state, and corporate donations and
fundraisers supplement it held during the fiscal year. The funds received from the state are to be
spent entirely by and for a media center for Governor Perdues revision of HB 1187, SB 249,
beginning in year 2003- 2004, which states that funds are to be spent on media costs only with
no site expenditure controls.
In the submitted/approved budget for FY 2017, per the Effingham School Districts web
page, no other funds (Capital Projects Funds and Special Revenue Funds) were requested to
assist with the media portion outside of the amount allocated by the State of Georgias General
Fund. The below budget was approved after the hearing on June 16, 2016.

Figure 1: Proposed budget

The previous years budget held overages, which lead to a decrease in this years budget.

2015-2016 Budget Expenditures

Books and Periodicals $6,000 $4,500

Dues and Fees $ 400 $ 400

Electronic Databases $1,700 $1,700

Supplies $1,000 $ 755

Training and Development $1,500 $1,500

Travel $ 600 $ 475

Total $11,200 $9,330

Excess $1,870

2016-2017 Budget Expenditures to date

Books and Periodicals $5,300 $4,500

Dues and Fees $ 400 $ 400

Electronic Databases $1,700 $1,700

Supplies $ 900 $ 600

Training and Development $1,500 $1,400

Travel $ 200 $ 150

Total $10,000 $7,850

Balance left $2,150

Currently on track to expend a 100% of the budget for 2016-2017.

The supplemental funds received are not counted in the above budget from the state. Those
funds are held in a petty cash fund to accommodate and support the purchasing of items for the
fundraisers, as well as to purchase items not on the approved supply list. During the school
year the media center holds a candy bar fundraiser, a used book sale (the community donates the
books and those not needed in the center are sold), and a Scholastic book fair. Rarely does the
media center receive funds for overdue books.

2016-2017 Budget-Petty Cash Expenditures to date

Initial Amount $ 366

Community Donations $ 125

Purchases for fundraiser $ 450

Other supplies $ 175

Received from fundraiser $ 1,500

Total $1,991

Balance left $ 1,366

Averaging $300 to be spent at the end of the school year for various celebrations.

Ebenezers state funding does not roll over to the next year, whatever is not used during the
fiscal year is lost. Making purchases ahead of time is ok as long as those items are going to be
needed and approved. They lost $1,870 during 2015-2016 which could have been used not only
to beautify their media center, but to also potentially update their technology. Unfortunately, the
media specialist did not meet the county deadline for purchasing new materials, resulting in lost
funds for the current fiscal year. The amount allocated for the budget is adequate to
accommodate this small Media Center and all funds should have been used. Rarely does the
media center receive funds for overdue books. In total, the media center fundraisers bring in
about $1,500/year.
Per HB 1187, SB 249, 100 percent of the funds designated for media materials are for media
materials at the system level, there is only one discretionary line item, Books and Periodicals
(Media Material), in which only funds allocated to that line item can be spent on those items and
cannot be spent on anything else. Also, per HB 1187, SB 249 all other budgeted line items can be
moved as long as the funds are used for the media center. So once again, the stuff had the funds
and the needs but did not take advantage of what was allocated to them. All the staff would have
had to do would have been to sit down and develop a plan with a monetary amount attached to it
and submit it to the county for approval. Knowledge is power. The Media Specialist became
more aware of the budget policies after losing the funds last year and because of training, is
doing much better this year. She will continue to locate additional funding sources to
supplement the budget. She is happy to be on track to expend all funds allocated by the State.