For the third consecutive year, Hutchinson Public Schools is conducting a Budget 101 Workshop for the public that will kick-off the district’s public input process for the 2014-15 budget.
From 5:30 to 6:30 p-m, on Monday, March 3, the district Business Office will present Budget 101 in the Professional Learning Center at Hutchinson High School. The PLC is the old auditorium at HHS, located in the 1400 block of North Severance.
Any community member – even individuals who do not live in USD 308 but are interested in school finance – is welcome to attend the Budget 101 session.
Additionally, there will be three meetings in late March and April that will gather public input to provide the Board of Education on the 2014-15 budget.
Those community budget meetings will be
March 31, 5:30 to 7:30 p-m.
April 16, 5:30 to 7:30 p-m.
April 21, 5:30 to 7:30 p-m.
All meetings will be in the Professional Learning Center at HHS.
“We worked the past two years to develop this process to give our staff and community more input into the district’s budget,” said Dr. Shelly Kiblinger, USD 308 superintendent. “We’ve used feedback from the past two years’ participants to provide opportunity for even greater input and discussion. We have designed new activities to help the participants process and understand budget issues better. Hopefully, those who participate come away with a greater understanding of school finance and feel they had a real voice in the decision-making process.”
During the community budget meetings, there will be a review of district objectives and the strategic plan that’s currently under development. Current legislation will be covered and the possible impact on the district of those proposals.
Lori Blakesley, executive director of fiscal management and business operations, said there are three goals for the budget process.
“This year, the budget process for fiscal year 2014-2015 will have three goals – increase community and staff involvement, create community ownership of the budget issues and decisions, and develop a budget that supports the district’s new strategic plan that’s currently under development and operational plan,” Blakesley said.
The Community Budget Committee will work through a process and make a recommendation to the Board of education for dollars needed to balance the 2014-15 budget.
Additionally, the district will take electronic feedback from the public. A budget comment line has been set up on (620) 615-4014. Patrons may leave comments on the line but are asked to leave a name and telephone number so that district staff may be able to call back and get additional feedback. A Budget Suggestion page will be available on the district’s homepage at www.usd308.com where patrons can fill out a form and leave suggestions, beginning in mid-March.
Kansas K-12 school budgets go from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year. Because the way the district receives information from other entities that impact the budget, however, the final budget is normally not available to the Board until late July and is formalized in August.