After dodging a massive $1.3 million-dollar budget hole for months, the faltering charter school’s board finally approved a five-year deficit elimination plan on January 21, 2016.
And while the school’s five-year plan was described by its board president Craig Johnston, a boyhood friend and longtime business associate of convicted felon Ingersoll, as “not unsurmountable by a long shot”, that five-year term is not a given—except as Steven Ingersoll’s maximum federal sentence.
According to the Michigan Department of Education's September 7, 2016 “Quarterly Report to the Legislature on Deficit Districts”, issued by Superintendent Brian Whiston, the Bay City Academy was identified as a district that would end the year with a reduced deficit.
However, that designation was prepared with data as of August 30, 2016, and the Michigan Department of Education's October 20, 2016 State Aid Financial Status Report paints a much bleaker financial picture.
While the Bay City Academy's approved deficit elimination plan projected 422 students district-wide, the October 20 State Aid report is based on 398 students. The deficit plan projected $3,578,417 revenue for the 2016/17 school year, but the current year calculation is now 16% less at $3,005,866. (Student population numbers are based on headcount data collected during the week of September 12, 2016 and reported to the State of Michigan on September 23.)
Stated as a percentage of revenues, the Bay City Academy's deficit increased from -29.81% to -35.49%.
Put into historical context (shown below), that doesn't bode well for the future of Steven Ingersoll's “Ponzi” Academy. (According to Michigan Department of Education guidelines, the Bay City Academy is required to submit a deficit elimination plan revision reflecting the sinking population.)
June 2014 Fund Balance: $31,187
June 2015 Fund Balance: ($1,359,477)
Projected June 2016 Fund Balance: ($1,066,843)
% Deficit is of Revenues: -29.81%
The Bay City Academy's deficit has been covered extensively on this blog:
August 26, 2016 “Poor, Poor Pitiful Steve”
May 20, 2016 “To The Extent Possible: Cutting Ties”
April 6, 2016 “A Sorry Excuse For A School”
February 18, 2016 “Rattling The Tin Cup”
February 8, 2016 “Rotten To The Core”
December 7, 2015 “Putting The ‘Screw’ In Scrutiny”
November 27, 2015 “Lipstick On A Pig”
November 24, 2015 “Debt Hangover”
November 20, 2015 “High-Pitched Squeals”
November 17, 2015 “Deficit, What Deficit?”
November 14, 2015 “Def Jam”
October 29, 2015 “Irregular Expenditures”