Valuable participation
John Heim
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
ONE OF THE important responsibilities of the Emporia Board of Education is the allocation of resources through the budget process. The board must consider the academic needs of all children, as well as maintain a strong school district infrastructure for future generations. Everyone benefits when we help every child become a well-educated, productive member of society.
The Emporia public schools have a tradition of involving interested citizens in setting our spending priorities. We are already laying the groundwork for the 2007-08 budget, and many community members are helping administrators and teachers with our annual needs assessment process, performance-based budgeting.
Over the next two months, teams of administrators, staff, parents and community members will study achievement data and make recommendations about the needs of each school and department. These recommendations will be forwarded to a district-level budgeting team consisting of representatives from each building and department team. The district-level team will meet in February to consider the recommendations in these four focus areas:
• Core Instructional Program — Pre-K through 12 curriculum, personnel (including SPED and ESL), schedules, building budgets.
• Student Support Services — SPED, extended learning, alternative school, bilingual education, gifted, counseling, nursing.
• Instructional Support — Superintendent, human resources, professional development, federal programs, technology.
• Operational Support — Transportation, maintenance, supply, business, capital outlay, food service.
At the final meeting, team members will rank all the recommendations and make a final report. Based upon the district team’s report, the superintendent will deliver final recommendations to the board of education in preparation for next year’s budget. Another employee-citizen committee is reviewing our capital outlay plan and will make recommendations to the board this spring for future capital projects.
The district has used the performance-based budgeting process for nearly a decade. It has proven to be an effective and efficient means of aligning resources with community priorities because it allows us to develop a budget based on community values. More importantly, interested people can become more knowledgeable about the complex school-finance system.
The board of education and I appreciate the willingness of community members to serve on such committees. It is a transparent system that allows us to be accountable for the tax dollars entrusted to us.