Failed Budget Governance: Start with Where Your Money Went this Year Compared to a Year Ago - Not with Cuts Out of Context

Our School Board is beginning a budget dialogue with the community using budget cut discussion items - wrong!

A first place for the Board to start budget discussions would be to look at where the money went last year (Download Comparison of 03-04 budget vs. 04-05 budget)

Where did the budget increase? Building Services, Student Services, Human Resources and Education Services - $18.3 million

Where was the budget cut? Elementary, Middle and High Schools took the biggest cuts - $2.1 million.

The MMSD School Board needs to start here, ask for an estimate of revenues for 05-06 and ask for scenarios with different allocations of these revenues. The School Board would then have a place to start a dialogue with the community.

Posted by at March 5, 2005 7:50 AM
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