281—98.61(24,143,257,275,279,280,285,297,298,298A,301,473,670) General fund. All moneys received by a school corporation from taxes and other sources will be accounted for in the general fund, except moneys required by law to be accounted for in another fund. If another fund specifically lists an expenditure to that other fund, it is assumed not to be appropriate to the general fund unless statute expressly states that it is an appropriate general fund expenditure. Each school district and each area education agency will have only one general fund.
	98.61(1) Sources of revenue in the general fund. Sources of revenue in the general fund include all moneys not required by law to be accounted for in another fund and interest on the investment of those moneys. Proceeds from the sale or disposition of property other than real property, proceeds from the lease of real or other property, compensation or rent received for the use of school property, sales of school supplies, and sales or rentals of textbooks will be accounted for in the general fund. Proceeds for loans for equipment pursuant to Iowa Code section 279.48, federal loans for asbestos projects pursuant to Iowa Code section 279.52, or loans for energy conservation projects pursuant to Iowa Code section 473.20 may be accounted for in the general fund. Any revenue or receipt described in law as “miscellaneous income” or related to the modified supplemental amount is restricted to the general fund.
	98.61(2) Appropriate uses of the general fund. Appropriate expenditures in the general fund include the following:
	a. 	Providing day-to-day operations to the district or area education agency, such as salaries, employee benefits, purchased services, supplies, and expenditures for instructional equipment.
	b. 	Purchasing school buses from unobligated funds on hand.
	c. 	Establishing and maintaining dental clinics for children and offering courses of instruction on oral hygiene.
	d. 	Employing public health nurses.
	e. 	Funding insurance agreements if the district has not certified a district management levy.
	f. 	Purchasing books and other supplies to be loaned, rented, or sold at cost to students.
	g. 	Purchasing safety eye-protective devices and safety ear-protective devices.
	h. 	Purchasing bonds and premiums for bonds for employees who have custody of funds belonging to the school district or area education agency or funds derived from extracurricular activities and other sources in the conduct of their duties.
	i. 	Paying assessed costs related to changes in boundaries, reorganization, or dissolution.
	j. 	Publishing the notices and estimates and the actual and necessary expenses of preparing the budget.
	k. 	Engraving and printing school bonds, in the case of a school district.
	l. 	Transferring interest and principal to the debt service fund when due for loans to purchase equipment authorized under Iowa Code section 279.48 and loans to be used for energy conservation measures under Iowa Code section 473.20, in the case of a school district, where the original proceeds were accounted for in the general fund.
	m. 	Transferring interest and principal to the debt service fund when due for lease purchase agreements related to capital projects authorized under Iowa Code section 273.3(7), in the case of an area education agency.
	n. 	Funding asbestos projects including the costs of inspection and reinspection, sampling, analysis, assessment, response actions, operations and maintenance, training, periodic surveillance, and developing of management plans and record-keeping requirements relating to the presence of asbestos in school buildings and its removal or encapsulation as authorized by the school budget review committee in the case of a school district.
	o. 	Funding energy conservation projects entered into with the department of natural resources or its duly authorized agents or representatives pursuant to Iowa Code section 473.20, in the case of a school district.
	p. 	Transferring to a capital projects fund as authorized by the school budget review committee, in the case of a school district.
	q. 	Transferring to a capital projects fund as funds are due to be expended on a capital project authorized under Iowa Code section 273.3(7), in the case of an area education agency.
	r. 	Start-up costs, other than land purchase, for the first year of a new student construction program.
	s. 	Beginning with the budget year beginning July 1, 2016, transferring, by board resolution, to the student activity fund an amount necessary to purchase or, beginning with the budget year beginning July 1, 2018, recondition protective and safety equipment required for any extracurricular interscholastic athletic contest or competition that is sponsored or administered by an organization as defined in Iowa Code section 280.13, as allowed under Iowa Code section 298A.2 pursuant to Iowa Code section 298A.8(2).
	t. 	Paying any other costs not required to be accounted for in another fund.
	u. 	Paying for costs of activity programming required pursuant to rule 281—12.6(256) from funds other than those required to be accounted for in the student activity fund pursuant to Iowa Code section 298A.8.
	98.61(3) Inappropriate uses of the general fund. Inappropriate expenditures in the general fund include the following:
	a. 	Purchasing land or improvements.
	b. 	Purchasing or constructing buildings or for capital improvements to real property except under special circumstances authorized by the school budget review committee, in the case of a school district, or except as authorized under Iowa Code section 273.3(7), in the case of an area education agency.
	c. 	Modifying or remodeling school buildings or classrooms even if to make them accessible.
	d. 	Paying interest and principal on long-term indebtedness for which the original proceeds were not accounted for in the general fund.
	e. 	Funding lease-purchases.
	f. 	Purchasing portable buildings.
	g. 	Paying individuals or private organizations that are not audited and allowed and related to goods received or services rendered.
	h. 	Paying other costs that are not operating or current expenditures for public education and are not expressly authorized in the Iowa Code.
	98.61(4) Special levies. The general fund includes two special levy programs available to school districts, but not to area education agencies, that are restricted by the Iowa Code.
	a. 	Instructional support program. The instructional support program is a district-initiated program to provide additional funding to the district’s general fund.
	(1)	Appropriate uses of instructional support program funding. Moneys received by a district for the instructional support program may be used for any general fund purpose except those listed as inappropriate uses in subparagraph 98.61(4)“b”(2).
	(2)	Inappropriate uses of instructional support program funding. Moneys received by a district for the instructional support program will not be used as, or in a manner that has the effect of, supplanting funds authorized to be received under Iowa Code sections 257.41 (returning dropouts and dropout prevention programs), 257.46 (gifted and talented programs), 298.4 (management fund levy), and 298.2 (physical plant and equipment fund levy), or to cover any deficiencies in funding for special education instructional services resulting from the application of the special education weighting plan under Iowa Code section 256B.9.
	b. 	Educational improvement program. The educational improvement program is a district-initiated program available to districts in special circumstances to provide additional funding to the district’s general fund if the district already has the instructional support program in place.
	(1)	Appropriate uses of educational improvement program funding. Moneys received by a district for the educational improvement program may be used for any general fund purpose.
	(2)	Inappropriate uses of educational improvement program funding. Inappropriate uses of educational improvement program funding include any expenditure not appropriate to the general fund.
[ARC 7802C, IAB 4/17/24, effective 5/22/24]