Discussion of next year’s school budget begins

  • Eric Berto<br>Enterprise writer
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:26am

Even though the school year is little more than half over, Shoreline School District officials have turned their attention to next year.

The process for developing the 2006-2007 budget is underway and Superintendent Jim Welsh said the district is doing everything it can to prevent history from repeating itself.

Late in 2005, the district discovered that its revenues for the year would be approximately $2.2 million short of what was anticipated because of an error in last year’s process. Welsh said that this year, the district has added several layers of scrutiny to the process.

“We have some different reporting formats that I think make it even easier for people to focus in on the key areas,” he said.

Those key areas include next year’s enrollment projections and staffing model, neither of which was available as of The Enterprise’s deadline.

Welsh said the public would also have more of an opportunity to voice opinions and look over the proposed budget. Throughout the process, representatives from parent and teacher groups will participate, a concept that appeals to Cheryl Ricevuto, president of the Shoreline Education Association, the main union of the district’s teachers.

“Having the process open and transparent to anyone who wants to be involved is important to rebuilding trust,” she said.

In the wake of the most recent accounting error, Ricevuto said that having increased involvement by outside groups was a step in the right direction. But she said she wasn’t sure what else would be necessary to ultimately rebuild trust.

Monthly updates in an easy-to-read format would facilitate public involvement, she said.

“I think the groups should get a full and accurate explanation of where the district’s revenues come from and how they’re allocated,” she said.

The first draft of the district’s budget is not scheduled to be released until May. It is at that point when the community at large will be able to comment on the proposed budget, Welsh said. The school board is scheduled to take its first vote on June 19.

“What we will be doing is sharing with the public the enrollment and staffing model,” Welsh said. “All of that will be shared with the public as part of our first preliminary draft.”

Prior to that draft reaching the public, however, it will be scrutinized by the outside consultants the district hired to investigate last year’s accounting error.

“I know there was probably a level of review before,” Ricevuto said. “It sounds like we do need more. It’s a process to make sure we don’t end up in this position again.”

The position the district is in is one of cutting any extraneous expenditures. This includes field trips and a fifth grade science fair. For the long term, it also means that next year’s budget will be leaner because revenue projections need to be lowered as a result of the error, Welsh said.

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