The Budget - A Matter of Choices

Economics & the Budget. The reality of scarce and limited resources brings the inherent necessity to make choices for resource allocation. Every budget decision comes with an opportunity cost and consequences. In other words, nearly every resource in the District can be used for many potential alternatives and opportunities, but every resource is limited in its capacity to be used.

For example, suppose a significant amount of funds becomes available. “Where should these resources be used?” Some of the alternatives might include the following:

• • Increasing staff compensation, which will help strengthen recruitment, retention, and internal relationships

  • Hiring additional staff to reduce class sizes and improve services to students

  • Expand the technology infrastructure to improve instruction and education programs

  • Increase professional development for teachers to improve instruction

  • Replace aged and existing assets where resources have not been earmarked to otherwise do so

  • Improve instructional services through interventions for a specific group of students or location(s)

Consider another scenario local governments often face. Suppose a significant amount of funds are no longer available that previously paid for critical services. “How should this situation be addressed?”. Some of the alternatives might include:

• • Reductions in staff

  • An across the board cut in staff compensation

  • Reductions in a less critical program

  • An across the board cut in all programs

  • Increasing local property taxes to continue funding the services

In every budget decision, the answer to the question “how should we spend the public’s funds?” is sometimes a choice between many valid and wonderful possibilities, and in other cases the choices are difficult. This is why a very well thought out and collective decision-making process is needed.

Collective Decision-Making. The process of choosing which alternatives to dedicate resources to can be a challenging and very important process. A well-founded decision-making process strengthens education services for children over the long-run. As decision-makers consider possible alternatives, using valid and quality information to understand the elements and consequences involved, the likelihood of success improves greatly. The Superintendent by law gathers information and proposes to the Board of Education a budget plan each year, based upon the information available and the values and priorities of the District and our communities. The Board listens, investigates, learns and explores the possibilities; they speak with community and school patrons, all before drawing their own conclusions and giving final approval for the budget.

The underlying values, mission, and goals of our communities and school district drive the budget decisions that are made each year. Wrestling with defining the values and priorities that underlie decisions can take a significant amount of time. The budget process involves many people with differing interests, values, and priorities. In addition, gathering the necessary information to adequately assess the alternatives and potential consequences can also take a significant amount of time.

Transparency & Information. The purpose of each annual budget report and Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (audited CAFR) is to provide decision-makers and the public with quality information. These reports provide explanations of the options being considered, explanations of choices being made, and the potential consequences of decisions. It is the District’s desire to provide this information for a collective decision-making process and invite many to participate. This is done not only from an accountability standpoint, but also to help educational services progress, improve, and evolve over time.

Strategic Planning. As directed by the Board of Education, the budget decision-making process is one that is of a strategic nature. This helps ensure decisions are made in an orderly manner, and decisions reflect underlying values, mission, and goals as communicated by the Board of Education. The Board of Education spends a great deal of time defining values, mission, and goals for the District. The Board of Education and Superintendent wrestle with very difficult decisions continually, and many of these decisions deal directly with the many choices available with regard to using scarce and limited resources. The Board’s values, mission, and goals provide the compass to the decisions being made.

Goals. Ultimately, the desired outcome is for the budget decision-making process to 1) be an informed decision-making process, 2) a process that considers the possible budget options available, and 3) a collective decision-making process that strengthens educational services for long-run success.