Top Five Events in Budget Development

Top Five steps in the budgeting process:

1.  Conduct needs assessment (to include a review of projected enrollment and projected taxable values) and identify campus and district initiatives and goals. – I think this step is important because in a goal driven budget, expenditures must support the goals of the district. Most districts will agree that the essential goal is to improve student achievement but each district will pursue that ultimate goal through varying initiatives. The review of enrollment and projected taxable values is an important aspect of planning because it represents the number of customers your budget will serve, and will help estimate the amount of revenue you can expect to fund the servicing of those customers.

2.  Conduct Staffing decision-making (to include benefits packages) and produce proposed pay scale for next instructional year. Since 80%+ of the budget consists of personnel wages and benefits, the number of staff to be employed to serve your students in the coming year is of incredible importance.

3.  Prepare draft budget. Obviously preparation of a draft budget allows stakeholders to see in concrete terms the direction of the leadership. The ability to see the ideas allows other stakeholders to provide input in order to help review and adjust the budget.

4.  Budget hearings and workshops with the board of trustees are important steps in the process of budget development because it is the official step that includes public comments and input from outside of the district staff and administration.

5.  Approve the budget and Set the tax rate – This is the final step in completing the budget aside from periodic amendments that may be necessary throughout the school year.

The review of the steps in the budgeting process forced me to examine in detail all of the recommended steps in the TEA budgeting calendar/guidelines. The process is not one that is easy to break into five general steps because it contains so many steps and goes on continuously throughout the school year. Certain pieces of information that are necessary for the budgeting process to be “complete” only become available at particular points in time. So, the process can not be completed in one all-nighter in mid April. The process must be followed and pursued daily, weekly, monthly. The budget then is never “Complete;” it is approved for the current school year and then the work begins again for the next year’s budget. It is a never-ending cycle. 


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