Budget
Need help working through your budget?
Also see the additional resources below:
Helpful Links:
If you're new to working with DCPS budgets, you can get a helpful overview of the ins and outs by exploring the folder of DCPS Budget materials for LSATs and the DCPS Budget website. Some pages of particular interest:
School Budget Worksheets - view past initial and submitted budgets for individual schools
Other Resources:
Presentation on the new DCPS budget by Joe Weedon (former SBOE rep and LSAT member)
Understanding your School's Current and Recent Budgets:
As you prepare to provide input on next year's budget, it is helpful to understand how your school is currently budgeted.
Consider reviewing some of your school's past submitted budgets:
Check the box for your school in the first drop-down, and then select the most recent fiscal year(s) in the second drop-down.
Click the "Search" button.
Click on the school name to view each document. "Initial" documents will show you the budget allocation (how much money your school received and how it was designated), and "Submitted" or "Amended" will show you how the money was spent.
Questions to ask about your school's current budget:
How much did your school receive in one-time funds? (Check submitted budget, add up Hold Harmless and Mayors Recovery funds; also note ESSER III fund amount)
How did your school allocate any at-risk / EL / Title I / Title II funds they received? (Check submitted budget - at-risk, EL, Title I, Title II columns)
What staff did your school employ outside of required staffing (e.g., baseline gen ed teachers, aides, principal, librarian, custodians, social workers/psychologists, etc)? Any surprises or questions?
What non-personnel expenditures did your school budget? Any surprises or questions?
What surprises you about your school’s budget? What questions do you have?
Preparing for This Year's Budget Discussion:
Questions can you ask in December and January to help your LSAT contribute meaningfully to February’s budget decisions:
What decisions were made during last year’s budget process? What was added / cut? Why?
Where does your school actually have budget flexibility? What expenditures are optional or flexible as opposed to required?
What current expenditures are most directly supporting your school’s CSP / master schedule (and thus should not be cut)? What potential additional expenditures would most directly support your school’s CSP / master schedule (and thus should be added if possible)?
Based on the currently-available assessment and survey data, along with educator input, where is focus most needed at your school right now? What budget expenditures could best support these areas?
How is your school currently allocating any additional funding designated for special groups (at-risk, ELL, SPED students) in order to support those students? Should any changes be made to better support these students next year?
Invite the principal to present the first things they would cut if the budget went down, and the first things they would add if the budget went up. Discuss their reasoning and prioritization. Does the LSAT agree? What questions are there for the broader school community around these priorities?
How will you inform, engage, and gather feedback from the entire school community regarding the budget process and priorities? (See suggestions below)
How can your LSAT engage the community on what they want to see in the budget and educate the community on how the budget process works?
Send out an overview explainer (via email, paper flier, post on website…) with timeline, info about how the budget process works.
Invite families to attend the LSAT meeting to learn more & share their thoughts in person.
Invite families to share their thoughts in advance by emailing or speaking with an LSAT rep, especially if they won’t be able to attend the LSAT meeting.
Share a poll or survey asking families to weigh in on an initial proposal developed by the Principal & LSAT -- which priorities are most important to them? Also include an open-ended response option to share additional thoughts.
Hold a dedicated town-hall meeting if you want to do extensive engagement
If the principal is resistant, point back to your Family Engagement goals in the CSP.
How can you manage expectations when engaging the community, so people understand that not everything is possible and don't get upset when suggestions aren't necessarily implemented?
explain where there is (and isn't) flexibility in spending
clarify that the LSAT operates in an advisory capacity and the principal has final say in the budget
offer big-picture or specific concrete priorities for your community to weigh in on
always connect back to the central priority of serving and supporting the students, and to the priorities identified in your school's Comprehensive School Plan
Key skills to lean into related to LSAT budget input:
Scheduling - Decide a strategy with your LSAT of how and when to meet prior to the budget drop. Since the budget drop and submission deadline dates are not known in advance, it is a good idea to block out a handful of time windows in mid-February that LSAT members try to keep open, so that you can quickly schedule 1-3 meetings during the window between drop and submission.
Facilitation & Transparency - Build a trust environment by setting and adopting group norms for discussing the budget prior to budget drop. Share budget info with entire LSAT board, LSAT chair should do this in conjunction with Administration.
Communication - Engage and share budget process & results with your wider school community (to be done in conjunction with Principal and parent school groups -- PSA / HSA)