Budget Development is a Year-Round Event

The school year budget year runs from July through June, so this month of December marks the halfway point of the school year. The teachers have been gathering data over the past month or so planning for the 2008-09 school year budget needs. This week, the principals and other administrators will be meeting with me and our business administrator to gather all the budget requests so that the full district budget can be developed.

The development process continues through January and February. The full budget is further developed, difficult decisions are made, and a budget is finalized once all the state funding issues are known. In the past, the state funding numbers have been provided very late in the process. This year, we are hoping to have information from the state a bit earlier. Just last week, the governor released a proposal for a new school funding formula that would be very favorable to the Woodbury Public Schools. At this time, it is just a proposal; we await final word so that we can begin to factor this state funding into our budget plans.

Ultimately, the board approves the budget to go to the voters some time in March. We will hold a public hearing. Then, there is an April vote by the residents.

The Board of Education started planning for this budget development cycle in August. Our administrators met in September to receive the parameters for the 2008-09 process, and teachers received information in October. As you can see, this budget development cycle is almost a year-round event.

As we get closer to the final, proposed budget – especially as we get more information on possible new state funding – I will provide some updates here on the blog.