Stakeholders Input in the Budgeting Process

Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process
I interviewed my superintendent and considered the readings and lectures for this week to discover the importance and contributions that may be made in the budgeting process from a variety of stakeholders.
All stakeholders supply meaningful information that should be considered. The central office and campus principals will share needs for their departments or campuses early in the planning stages. Central office might express the need for budgeting in the areas of insurance or worker and unemployment compensation. Principals may express their needs for instructional materials, furniture, technology or additional staffing.
Site Based Committees and District Improvement Committees may offer information based upon the needs of students after having assessed student data. Other examples may include improvements in facilities or specific teacher or department needs. An example this year for my district is the need to attain Pre-Kindergarten materials that are consumable as well as provide the Pre-K department with new curriculum materials that are closely aligned with the Kindergarten curriculum.
Teacher organizations do not play a huge part in the budget process at my district. However they would likely contribute input at a state level and to larger districts based upon the needs of their stakeholders – teachers. A few years ago we it was newsworthy that smaller class sizes were being addressed due to teacher organizations requests and this year, it was clear during the summer that teacher groups were very vocal concerning teacher lay-offs, etc. that occurred due to the unclear state budget cuts.
Perhaps the most involved party other than the superintendent and other fiscal agents is the Board of Trustees. Often they look at the district as a whole and make recommendations. In the past in my district the Trustees have expressed facility needs such as parking lot improvement and acquiring land for additional athletic use. The range of their concerns are broad as are the superintendent’s as they are making decisions for the whole district and are included in the budgeting development throughout the entire process.
It is apparent that many individuals and groups have an opinion regarding the school budget. This is an important part of budgeting and must be considered as the process of planning unfolds.