BUDGETS

By Wally Lowry

We are in a time of less school funding but more students, more needs, and more State/Federal mandates.

POSITION PAPER

The following are my views on the budgetary process that directly relate to the direction in which I would like to see the Board of Trustees proceed and to which I might provide significant assistance as a Board Member:

BUDGET

We are in a time of less school funding but more students, more needs, and more State/Federal mandates.

As both a practicing C.P.A. and a classroom teacher of accounting, I can apply my professional expertise to the inner workings of the District's budgeting system in order to ensure the most efficient/effective application of limited resources to benefit long-range academic program support. School operations follow a special form of accounting called Fund Accounting (a methodology utilizing multiple funds). Each fund is like a separate entity having some special purpose. The program application of these individual funds in some situations is open to interpretation (either broad or narrow). The Santa Rosa High School District's accounting includes 14 of these funds. I have had years of experience in creating, implementing, and applying budgets, in comparing and analyzing budgetary figures with actual expenditures, and in recommending modification where appropriate.

Because of the growing number of "at-risk" students throughout the system it becomes incumbent upon the Board to ensure that there be District-wide intervention and support programs. This requires adequate budgetary assistance. Administration, staff, student, and parent support requires strong leadership, counseling, and dollars.