Stakeholder Input Critical to Budget Development Process

To have a district budget that truly reflects the priorities of the district’s stakeholders, it is critical to have input from as many stakeholder groups as possible.  My superintendent is masterful at this, and he modeled this last spring through an incredibly difficult budgeting process because of the state’s projected budget deficit and resulting cut to school funding.

Central office administrators: The superintendent meets weekly with his executive team to gather their input.  All “big” ideas are run through this group, and the group is made up of his leadership team (assistant superintendents, executive directors, and representative principals  from each level.)  This group was the first to suggest possible cuts for last year’s budget.  We were also the group who began the process of prioritizing the cuts and determining the order they would be added back in if the loss of funding was not as large as expected.

Principals: Principals provided feedback based on their school assignment (i.e., elementary, middle or high school.)  They were charged with reaching consensus among their groups before advancing suggestions to the superintendent for review.  They were also responsible for disseminating key budgeting decisions to their staffs and SBACs.

Site Base Advisory Committees:  Each campus SBAC met with the principal to provide input from their perspective to the principal.  The principal was then responsible for using that input in his/her discussions with the principal groups.

District Improvement Committee: The DAC is comprised of at least one staff member from each campus. The superintendent met with the DAC several times throughout the budgeting process last spring.  Like the executive team, he had the DAC suggest possible cuts for last year’s budget and prioritize the cuts that were suggested.

Teacher Organizations:  We have one teacher organization that is unique to our district.  The president of that group meets with the superintendent and others on different occasions throughout the school year to discuss concerns/issues related to teachers.  In addition, he often speaks at board meetings.

Key Stakeholders:  The superintendent held two community forums regarding budget issues that were well attended by community members.  Data was presented at these meetings, state budget information was explained, and questions were answered.  Community members were invited to prioritize proposed cuts and were also asked to complete a budget survey. All budget information was posted on the district’s Web site, and all stakeholders were invited to submit budget questions to the Web site, which were then answered and posted on the Web site.

Board of Trustees:  The Board of Trustees is responsible for approving a final budget so it is imperative they understand the process and the recommendations being made.  The superintendent had different key personnel research answers to the board’s questions and report back. In addition, 4 board workshops were held so that board members could review budget information before approving the budget.

As has been mentioned many times in these courses, the school district, its students and its resources do not belong to the superintendent.  They are only entrusted to the superintendent to manage to the best of his/her ability.  In fact, the district, its students and resources belong to the community, its parents and taxpayers.  Therefore, if the superintendent and the Board of Trustees truly want to develop a goal-driven budget, they will gather as much input as is possible from all of the stakeholder groups listed above before making final decisions on the budget.