Start With The Facts
In the coming weeks most of us will be issuing preliminary layoff notices to certificated employees. In addition, we will be approving our second financial reports. As we take action on these items, what story are we communicating to our community? Given the new reality of a State approved budget that permanently reduces general purpose funding back levels lower than 2007/08, how are we going to prepare our community for the upcoming tough decisions that need to be made? What is our overarching theme? What are our main talking points?
In preparing answers to these questions every Board should first take the time to learn more about the district budget. Before you can craft a story about the district impact of the State budget you should have your facts/data straight. Here are some areas each board member needs to know:
- Annual incremental cost of step/column expenses
- Annual incremental cost increases for inflation for items like insurance, energy, supplies, technology, etc.
- Current balances of categorical programs
- Impact of categorical flexibility to backfill general purpose funding reductions
- Percentage of expenses spent on administration compared to surrounding/comparable districts
- Impact of Federal Stimulus package on District budget
- Understanding the impact of using one-time monies to fund ongoing expenditures
- Thorough understanding of the assumptions on enrollment, State funding increases and incremental annual expenses on multi-year projections
While it is important to focus on the immediate issues of this budget crisis, it is highly likely that we are looking at a multi-year problem. Therefore, my final thought is each board needs to look at the possible scenario of no State funding increases through 2012 and what that means to our district.
Trust behaviors: Talk Straight, Create Trasparency
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