Finance
Debra Jacoby, CPA
Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer / Biography
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The Finance Division is actually divided into several departments. These departments include Accounting, Payroll, Treasury, Financial Reporting, Pupil Accounting/Grants and Human Resources
The Finance Division develops and monitors the district’s budget, classifying revenues and expenditures correctly, and preparing all financial reports and statements. Staff also coordinate the annual audit and maintain compliance with all state and federal regulations and reports pertaining to the fiscal operations of the district.
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 Susan Crowder Director of Federal Programs Biography |
The district’s finances are classified within several funds, including the General Fund, Building Fund, Child Nutrition Fund, the debt service fund, and Bond Funds. The largest of these, the General Fund, is used to pay salaries of teaching and support staff members, purchase classroom supplies and textbooks, and utility and insurance costs. On average, salaries and benefits make up more than 80 percent of general fund expenditures.
The Human Resources department manages employee relations and benefits.. Pupil Accounting coordinates enrollment and manages student statistics, working closely with Teaching and Learning.
Economic Condition and Outlook
Union Public Schools is located within the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a seven-county area whose population exceeds 897,000 or 25.1 percent of the population of the state of Oklahoma. The Tulsa Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce reports Tulsa’s major industries as aerospace, transportation and logistics; advanced manufacturing and services; health care; IT and telecommunications; petroleum and natural gas; financial and business services; and education and knowledge creation. The Chamber estimates the value of all goods and services produced in the Tulsa MSA as $37.2 billion, or 29 percent of the Oklahoma economy. Forbes magazine in 2007 ranked Tulsa as the sixth best city for jobs among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country, considering the median household income, unemployment, cost of living and job growth (see Statistical Section page 96 for additional details). Tulsa offers a low cost of doing business at eight percent under the U.S. average due to low rent, energy costs and taxes. Other qualities that attract new growth are Tulsa’s sound infrastructure and low cost of living.
The ongoing turmoil in the national and international financial markets will have an effect on the area’s economy. The Office of the State Treasurer reports that the state ended its fiscal year with revenues above projections due to the high prices of oil and natural gas in the last few months of the fiscal year. However, the lower oil and gas prices of recent months will begin to affect state revenues in late 2008 and the state is bracing for slower revenue streams and rising operating costs as the economic downturn reaches Oklahoma.
Tulsa has not experienced the recent real estate “bubble” created by property values increasing so rapidly they reached unsustainable levels relative to personal income. In fact, an October 2008 article in BusinessWeek reported that the real estate market is quietly humming along in Tulsa. It noted that sales were up almost eight percent. In a recent news conference, the Oklahoma Bankers Association emphasized the strength of the state’s banking industry. A high concentration of energy-related industries and lower exposure to the subprime mortgage market are two factors that boosted the rankings of the Tulsa area in the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities 2008 report.
The unemployment rate in the Tulsa MSA declined to 3.8 percent in 2006, then began an incline to a 2007 level of 4.1 percent, with a projected 2008 level of 4.6 percent. The Chamber projects that this rate will continue to increase through 2009 as the impact of the current national economic event filters through Oklahoma.
Union Public Schools contributes to Tulsa’s workplace initiatives by offering community programs for both adults and children such as:
- Adult Basic Education – classes for adults who need basic instruction in reading, writing, math, and life skills;
- Workplace Education – links education goals to the employer’s desire for high performance work and product quality;
- G.E.D. Preparation – instruction to prepare adults to take the Tests of General Educational Development (G.E.D.);
- Three of Tulsa’s top five employers are major health care systems that continue to expand. A joint effort between Bedlam Community Health Partnerships and Union Public Schools produced cutting-edge services for the Union community. The Union Public Schools Bedlam School-Based Health Clinic operates at both Roy Clark Elementary School and Rosa Parks Elementary.
These clinics provide a convenient way for students to receive a wide range of health care services. They operate at no cost to the school district. The primary goal of the clinics is to serve the families of all children in each of the schools, including those who qualify for Medicaid or have no health insurance. The clinics provide at least one full-time physician’s assistant or a resident physician. In addition, a pediatrician visits each clinic as part of a rotating schedule. The physicians work with and assist school nurses. - In addition to student health care, Union partnered with the University of Oklahoma Physicians Tulsa to provide low cost medical services for its employees through its newly opened employee clinic. This unique partnership provides access to quality health care while controlling escalating health care costs. The clinic is staffed by a fully-licensed OU physician, a physician assistant, and a licensed practical nurse. Even some pharmacy services are available.
Bond Funds 
Voters in the Union school district approved a $20 million bond issue by a whopping 83.6 percent Tuesday on February 10, 2009. Superintendent Cathy Burden said she thought it was remarkable that the bond issue got a "supermajority" approval of at least 60 percent.
"We feel like in this economy particularly, that it's a real testament to the district that people know educating kids is a high priority," she said. "Of course, since this did not increase taxes, it's no wonder that our community was supportive."
Major projects to be funded by the 2009 bond issue include extensive remodeling at Grove Elementary School and updating at the Union Performing Arts Center..
Grants/Federal Programs
During the 2008-2009 school year, Union received more than $9.3 million in federal grant money. Grants were used to fund such programs as drug education, special education, professional The district’s child nutrition program received more than $2.8 million in federal and state money. Approximately 42 percent of Union’s students were eligible for free or reduced meals.
Internal Control
Management of the district is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure designed to ensure that the assets of the district are protected from loss, theft or misuse and to ensure that adequate accounting data is compiled to allow for the preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The internal control structure is designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that these objectives are met. The concept of reasonable assurance recognizes that 1) the cost of a control should not exceed the benefits likely to be derived; and 2) the valuation of costs and benefits requires estimates and judgments by management. 
Long-Term Financial Planning
The Board of Education of Union Public Schools, in conjunction with the Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer, establishes a system of sound financial planning and management to assure that the district’s objectives are addressed and that funds are expended in accordance with plans expressed through the Board budget.
The financial management system components include:
- a planning process that consists of a review of state statutes, Board policies, concepts, ideas, problems, constraints, approaches, and systems before dollar amounts are established in the budget; and
- a budget that is the expression of the plans of the Board through three main budgets
– the General Fund, a Special Revenue Fund, and the Child Nutrition Fund. Budgetary Controls
The district utilizes budgetary controls to ensure compliance with legal appropriation limitations and to provide an operating plan for the district’s resources. The annual appropriated budget includes activity of the General, Special Revenue Funds, and Child Nutrition Funds. Capital projects activity is controlled with approval of project-length financial plans. Initial budgets are adopted at the beginning of the fiscal year with periodic amendments approved by the Board as necessary. 
The level of budgetary control is maintained by fund, project, and function. Individual line items may be adjusted without Board action, but total budgeted expenditures may not exceed appropriations at the major fund level without Board approval. The district utilizes an encumbrance system as a technique of budgetary control with encumbered appropriations lapsing at year end.
Independent Audit
Oklahoma state statutes require an annual audit by independent certified public accountants. The accounting firm of Cole and Reed, PC, was selected by the Board to conduct the audit. In addition to meeting the requirements set forth in state statutes, the audit was also designed to meet the requirements of the Federal Single Audit Act of 1984 and related OMB Circular A-133.