The School Board on Feb. 24 hosted a study session to discuss the budget development for the upcoming school year.

The study session included a presentation led by Interim Superintendent of Finance and Operations Susan Smith Leland that focused on an alternative philosophy to build a solid foundation for a high quality budget, one that put strong emphasis on revenue, transparency, district initiatives and staffing costs.

With a tight budget from the state along with initial enrollment and staffing projections, Leland anticipates there to be “enough to do what’s important,” but not enough to entertain wish lists.

“People think that because budget is about numbers, it’s a science; it’s not,” Leland said. “Budgets are as much an art as it’s science. We have a lot more needs than we have resources. We are very fortunate that we have a community that supports us, the way they have supported us in the levy. We’re very pleased with that. It still doesn’t cover all the cost to serve the schools. So there’s a lot of choices we have to make every year, and balancing those choices is the ‘art’ part of budgeting.”

The district will receive an allocation equivalent to 1.8 percent salary increase for formula-funded teachers. While most of the funding comes from the state, the recently-approved levy will cover the salary increase for all of the teaching staff. Negotiations for non-teaching staff is not completely finalized, but Leland estimates that they will receive the 1.8 percent and an additional 3 percent increase.

Interim Superintendent Art Jarvis echoed Leland’s sentiment that staffing was a concern and a priority, and that the district is working within the allocated budget to meet staffing needs.

“In the face of no additional support from the legislature this year ,we are streamlining the budget process,” Jarvis said in an email. “The emphasis is on building a stable, transparent budget that schools can depend upon. We are also putting the budget on a faster track to enable staffing decisions early. In the face of a teacher shortage we want to fill school staffing immediately.”

Leland suggested eliminating the budgeting committee and instead allocating the budgeting responsibilities to the superintendent’s cabinet members. The cabinet members include the Superintendent, the three Assistant Superintendents, the two Chief of Schools, the Chief Technology Officer, the Executive Director of Community Relations and the Executive Director of Maintenance and Facilities.

“Having a committee of people who are not familiar with budget process, all they really become is a group of people you’re training to learn about budget in a time where you’re trying to create a foundation,” she said. “It’s difficult to do both of those at the same time. So from our standpoint, we needed to take our time to build a strong foundation we can pass off and someone else can establish the next budget process. If we need input on a budget, we will reach out to different constituencies.”

Leland also stressed the importance of being transparent in regards to the any budgeting decisions being made, which includes constant communication as well as a public meeting and hearing.

District initiatives for the upcoming year will include new initiatives called “West Hill Now!” According to Spokesperson Randy Matheson, the initiative, which is still in its planning process, is created by the West Hill elementary schools to replicate the success at Lakeridge Elementary School. Matheson said that more information about the initiative will roll out as the school staff begin to create plans and ideas.

The final budget will be presented on Jun. 6 with a budget hearing/adoption scheduled for later that month.