On Saturday, November 2nd, the ConVal School Board met with SAU administrators and school principals at the SAU office for a day-long budget development workshop.
Budgets established by the eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and the high school were examined, as were the district’s administrative expenses and program offerings.
This first round in the district-wide budget development process began with three sets of assumptions for the 2020-2021 fiscal year — procedural, financial, and programmatic.
Procedural assumptions are those assumptions that support the mission, vision, and values of the District. “Mission critical” is a term used throughout the process when deciding items placed into the budget. These assumptions include referencing ConVal class size guidelines, annual reviews of Special Education caseloads, and the potential reallocation of existing resources.
Financial assumptions primarily deal with fixed costs. They include items such as collective bargaining agreements, contractual obligations, health insurance costs, utilities, capital improvements, and legal obligations.
Programmatic assumptions deal with curriculum, the continuum of services for identified students, community education programs, and technology investments and upgrades.
Board members looked over every line item to determine what the overall expected expenditures would look like for the 2020-2021 school year and where savings could be made.
On November 12, the Budget and Property Committee will further discuss, research, and revisit portions of the budget, and an additional meeting will be held on Thursday, November 14, if needed, to continue this process.
The budget will continue to be reviewed, revised, and refined several times before it will be presented to voters in March 2020. Minutes from these work sessions and committee meetings will be posted online.