Budgeting

Every organization has a limited amount of money to spend. Deciding how to spend that money is done through budgeting. Families have budgets. Businesses have budgets. And the school district has a budget. The budgeting process has guidelines and deadlines in state law. The majority of the general fund decisions—teachers, transportation, staff—are made at the state level, but most of the spending decisions are made by the district. Since the district is in the final stages of this year’s budget cycle, I am presenting my opinions on how the budget should be constructed.

Budgeting Process
I believe that the greatest improvement regarding the budget can come through communication in the budgeting process. I believe the following ideas should be implemented:

• The budgeting calendar should be presented to the Board and documented in the meeting minutes. The calendar should include contingency time for the final approval to allow for changes initiated by the Board and/or through community input.


• The district should have frequent, open communication with the Board during the budget preparation. This communication should be part of the scheduled board meetings or workshops and listed in the agenda. These discussions should be documented in the meeting minutes.


• Any reduction in staff, especially in the classroom, should be presented to the Board as soon as such reduction is known. This information should be documented in meeting minutes. Principals are required to and are making personnel decisions regarding next school year before the budget is finalized. The Board and the public should know about these decisions before they happen.


• I believe the Board should be required to approve any classroom personnel reduction.


• Public input regarding the budget should not be discouraged. Public input should also not be limited to the public hearing on the budget in June at which time most decisions have already been made and implemented.

How to Spend
A focus on the classroom and the education product needs to be a priority in the budget. Like our own family and business budgets, the decision where to spend available funds can be a difficult process. People’s lives and careers can be affected. Like in our individual situations, spending habits might need to be altered. The district has done admirably in the budget as the majority of the funding is directed to the classroom. However, in a quick review of past budgets, I found the following areas that I believe merit further review:

• Elementary school administration appears to be nearly equal at every school, although some schools have more than twice as many students. An individual school approach should be used.


• District benefit costs continue to increase. Benefits availability and cost need to be in proportion to the job classification. Benefit cost increases should not be automatically absorbed by the district.


• District travel expenses were approximately $2.5 million in last year’s budget. This seems high since no employee is required to travel to educate any of the district’s customers.

Other areas that I believe should be reviewed include supplies and equipment, district administration staffing and school location, construction and scheduling. New and non-traditional methods (electronic texts, school-business partnering) should also be reviewed as budget opportunities. As the economic climate improves in future years, I believe that budget increases should be made slowly and deliberately. Also, a contingency fund should be established and grown as allowed by state law to help absorb future economic downturns without drastic cutbacks as seen in recent years.

As the budget decisions are presented to the public this year, I hope that everybody takes the time to review the district budget and make comments through their elected Board of Education. It is through this communication that the educational system will prioritize their resources and function in the way that the community desires.