Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 11, 2011 12:36:09 GMT -5
...the draft budget released by the Board of Education to the BAC is at an excellent starting point by historical standards. The good news is that the baseline, budget-to-budget comparison is 2.87% higher than this year's adjusted budget.
I would like to focus attention on this rather good news for a moment. The budget lines detail indicate a sincere effort, and a lot of time and hard decision making by many people, including Department Chairs, Directors, Principals, the Central Administration and the Board of Education. It also has removed a significant stress factor from the BAC who will not have to deal with an astronomically high preliminary budget as had been the case in many prior years. Kudos to all for that accomplishment.
Okay, so much for the ‘good news’. As the title indicates, this is a starting point, meaning, it is not the ending point for the 2011-12 budget.
What’s the other news then?
The Central Administration and Board of Education are working to reduce the preliminary budget, and a revised document is expected to be released to the BAC next week.
I do not want to pre-judge the results of the on-going efforts, especially since the initial efforts have been so encouraging, reaching the “good news” starting point.
Stay tuned for updates, or stop by the BAC meeting next Tuesday evening in the High School Cafeteria.
Remaining encouraged,
Chris Wendt
I would like to focus attention on this rather good news for a moment. The budget lines detail indicate a sincere effort, and a lot of time and hard decision making by many people, including Department Chairs, Directors, Principals, the Central Administration and the Board of Education. It also has removed a significant stress factor from the BAC who will not have to deal with an astronomically high preliminary budget as had been the case in many prior years. Kudos to all for that accomplishment.
Okay, so much for the ‘good news’. As the title indicates, this is a starting point, meaning, it is not the ending point for the 2011-12 budget.
What’s the other news then?
- We are losing $2 Million in revenue, and although the preliminary budget increase is a nice-sounding 2.87 percent, it is a WHOPPING $2 Million increase over the current budget. That yields an unfavorable budgetary “swing” of $4 Million, which is untenable.
- The $2 Million, 2.87% increase is calculated on the 2010-11 “adjusted budget” which is higher than the original voter-approved budget, but, more importantly, is $4.65 Million higher than the ACTUAL spending for the 2009-10 school year.
- Worse yet, the preliminary 2011-12 budget total of $71.2 Million is $5.64 Million or 8.73% HIGHER than the 2009-10 ACTUAL spending of $64/5 Million!
The Central Administration and Board of Education are working to reduce the preliminary budget, and a revised document is expected to be released to the BAC next week.
I do not want to pre-judge the results of the on-going efforts, especially since the initial efforts have been so encouraging, reaching the “good news” starting point.
Stay tuned for updates, or stop by the BAC meeting next Tuesday evening in the High School Cafeteria.
Remaining encouraged,
Chris Wendt