Developing a Public School District Budget

Page Disclaimer Note: These posts contain opinions of one individual, not that of the governing body on which the individual serves. The purpose of this page is to fill members of the public in on the different options available when wanting to make change in their community. Residents and employees armed with more information on what is happening at their schools and important upcoming meetings and votes can better their community.

by Angie Cardinal

Public School Budgeting is the process of allocating resources, often limited in scope, to the prioritized needs of a district. Each school district has its own approach for preparing its budget each year but all employ the same three major phases in the budgeting process: planning, preparation, and evaluation. Likewise, all school district budgets are subject to legal requirements as prescribed by state law, the New Hampshire Department of Education, and local district policy. Additional legal requirements also may be imposed by federal, state, or local grants.

There are several common budgeting approaches. In Farmington, a Line-Item Budgeting approach is used. Often referred to as the “historical” approach, line-item budgeting is the most widely utilized approach to budgeting due to its simplicity. Line-item budgeting also provides a sense of control over the budget. Budget requests are based on historical expenditure levels. Appropriations may be made based on prior year budgets plus/minus a defined percentage for changes in costs. Typically, in “historical” budgeting, only variances from year to year are justified or explained.

These are the steps we take in Farmington throughout each school year:

1. The first phase, planning, starts at the individual school buildings and departments. Each submits budget requests in terms of the type of expenditures to be made. In Farmington, past practice has been that a minimum of 8 administrative meetings kick off the Budget Development Schedule. 
2. The requests are then sent to the School Administrative Unit (SAU) for consolidation.
3. The second phase, preparation, is when requests are compiled, and a summary of the requests is submitted to the school board in a line-item format.
4. The school board reviews and adjusts the proposed line item budget and sends it to the Budget Committee for approval for placement on the warrant.
5. After the Budget Committee finalizes the proposed amount for the warrant, Farmington School District holds a Deliberative Session. The next Deliberative Session will be Saturday, February 3, 2018 starting at 9:00 AM in the Farmington High School gymnasium.
6. The finalized warrant that comes out of the Deliberative Session is placed on the school ballot, where voters will approve or defeat each warrant article along with electing certain positions for the school district. The next voting by ballot for the Farmington School District is scheduled Tuesday, March 13, 2018.
7. In the summer of 2018, the Superintendent will take the approved amount from the March vote and translate those dollars into appropriations according to steps 1-4 above. The best way to compare the progress from step 4 to step 7 is to compare two documents submitted to the NH Department of Revenue Administration: MS-27 & MS-22.
8. The third phase, evaluation, is practiced through diligent monthly review of expenditures and revenues at the regular school board and budget committee meetings throughout the fiscal year.  

January 28, 2019 update:
This week is a good time to revive a post from last year. This year's important voter events for Farmington schools are the Deliberative Session on Saturday, February 2, 2019 in the FHS gym at 9:00 AM & voting on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at the old town hall from 8 AM to 7 PM. The information about the proposed Warrant is on the sau61.org website. Please come support our schools with your vote at both if you can.