It’s Budget Time! By July 1 of each year, the School Board must approve and adopt revenue and expenditure budgets. This is required in Minnesota Statute 123B.77, Subdivision 4. It’s one of the most important responsibilities of the School Board, and we have spent some time already receiving and discussing the draft budget document, with a planned vote on June 21. Over the next week, I’m going to provide some highlights and directions to some key sections of the budget - if you have any feedback, please email me and my Board colleagues at canathan@rochesterschools.org or schoolboardmembers@rochesterschools.org before June 21.
If you’re looking for transparency in our District finances - here’s a link to the 146 page draft budget document and some good background from the June 7 school board agenda item http://go.boarddocs.com/mn/rps535/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=CEFCJY315BCC
The first photo below shows the breakout by fund of the $388,152,555 budget (page 13 in budget book). The second photo provides detail of the General Fund, which represents $256,313,672 or 66% of our district budget (page 17 in budget book). We get many questions about how much the District spends on specific areas, including: instruction, administration, mental health, counseling, social work, special education, English Learners, professional development, transportation and operations. The second photo provides that detail.
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