Managing the District's Budget

By Rachel P. Norton

Budgeting is about making choices -- sometimes tough choices -- and holding to priorities when you can't do everything you want or need to do.

My budget priorities are:

---Maintaining current sources of funding and developing new funding: the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF), a voter-approved initative ensuring dedicated funding for early childhood education, sports, libraries arts, and music will expire in 2014. The fund, which comes from the City's general fund, has been a lifeline in recent years and has ensured that San Francisco's public schools have continued funding so-called "extras" like the arts and athletic programs even in tough times. It's essential to our students that PEEF dollars continue to be available and I will work hard to be sure a reauthorization campaign is successful. I will also continue to work on engaging San Francisco's private sector around supporting the schools -- not just financially, but also through partnerships and programs that will improve expanded learning opportunities for our students and our teachers.
---Ensuring that cuts, when necessary, fall as far as possible from the classroom: Increasing class sizes and cutting instructional days are a last resort, because these cuts have an immediate impact on the classroom. To minimize the pain, my colleagues and I have encouraged the Superintendent to first cut administration and non-essential programs wherever possible. I also believe we can do a better job monitoring our initiatives and programs over time, to be sure we are putting money where it is most effective.
---Equity is important: It's just a fact that some schools in SFUSD have more than others, and most people would agree that this imbalance is not fair. The reasons behind the inequity we see across the district are complex and they are not straightforward to address, but I will continue to consider how my decisions affect ALL students, to be sure that cuts have minimum impact and spending has maximum effectiveness.
---Transparency: I deeply believe in the power of communication and information in helping guide policy debates and building community consensus. I will continue to advocate for more transparency, more communication, and more opportunities to engage in the district's budgeting process.