Thursday, January 7, 2010

De Beck: Fantasy-based budgeting in a financial crisis


De Beck: Fantasy-based budgeting in a financial crisis:

"By now everyone in the community should know that California schools are in a financial pickle. The state deficit has for the past two years been a disaster for public schools, and attempts to balance school budgets include such choices as issuing layoff notices, cutting programs and general downsizing. The process for cuts has been poorly explained, and poorly understood in many communities.

For years the conventional budget process in San Diego City Schools has been to examine the prior year’s budget, identify the shortage of income from that year to the current year, and have the board select cuts in the amount needed.

In some cases staff was able to find places where budgets were inflated by unfilled positions, or places where staff over-budgeted funds in anticipation"