Litchfield Elementary School District

At $560 per pupil, Litchfield Elementary’s fiscal year 2005 administrative costs were similar to the comparable districts’. However, the District inappropriately paid to administrative and classified staff performance-based bonuses totaling about $327,000 that were not properly included in fiscal year 2005 employment contracts. The food service program was self-sufficient and operated efficiently with a cost per meal of $1.78, 35 cents lower than the comparable districts’ average. The District achieved this low cost per meal by using a significant amount of federal food commodities and monitoring the program’s performance benchmarks. Despite having efficient routes and average costs, the District subsidized its transportation program by $264,000, mostly due to growth. Plant costs were similar to comparable districts’. The District spent its Proposition 301 monies for purposes authorized under statute. Eligible employees each received a base pay increase of $800 and an average performance pay increase of $1,853. The District’s fiscal year 2005 classroom dollars percentage of 57.2 percent was 1.2 percentage points below the state average, and its total per-pupil spending was lower than state and national averages. The District spent less federal and state program monies and allocated more discretionary monies for capital purposes, such as classroom equipment, than the comparable districts did.