Better Than Zero-based Budgeting-- Part 2

Summary: In which Menin describes a better budgeting process being adapted the School Committee.

The previous post describes on a meta-level the driving forces behind the approach to school budgeting before the arrival of Kevin Lyons. I have previously dealt with the issues of budget "drivers," such as teacher salaries, utilities and Sp Ed costs, and will continue to address those issues directly in future posts. I also didn't talk about the general process for creating the budget; I've gone over that previously and will again before the election.

The School Committee and Dr. Lyons have agreed on a simple guiding principle in moving forward on budgets.

Student achievement.

Rocket science. Had we figured that out years ago, (six, to be exact) when Dick Sullivan and I joined the School Committee and advocated putting the kids and curriculum first, we'd still be facing deficits, but the erosion of our curriculum wouldn't have proceeded at such a dramatic rate.

We will be looking at the budget through the filter of what best preserves and promotes student achievement in every area. We will put resources where analysis best indicates they can impact on the learning. Do we need curriculum development, professional training, do we need an additional class to provide more intensive or remedial support? We will prioritize that.

This year, we will be using tools for forecasting that we have never had. We will have hard data about which curriculum areas need immediate attention, which grades, which subject areas need to be focused on, what are the best practices to address those needs.

The budget process will utilize the feedback from the School Council, which in turn will be informed by the systematic, ongoing assessment of student progress. Once it has gone through Administrative Council (all of the administrators in the system, and the Superintendent), the Superintendent presents a recommended budget to the School Committee, which holds public, open hearings to consider the recommendations, and get feedback from the community.

Last year between the reconfiguration and the budget, the School Committee held over 20 public hearings; accepting public feedback at all of them.

It isn't zero-based budgeting. It's something better-- budgets driven by student achievement.

Coming to a School Committee near you-- soon.