Page 292 - Ord 866 Adopting a revised Fiscal Year 17-18 and new proposed Fiscal Year 18-19 budget

AWARD FOR BEST PRACTICES IN SCHOOL BUDGETING

Westlake Academy received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award annually since September 1, 2009. The
Government Finance Officers Association ( GFOA) enhanced the existing award program in 2017 and developed the
Award for Best Practices in School Budgeting. While the new budget process guidelines were implemented with the
2017/ 2018 budget, GFOA has not yet completed the final review.

The budgeting process presented in these Best Practices is focused on optimizing student achievement within
available resources. It encompasses a complete cycle for long- term financial planning and budgeting, aligning with
instructional priorities. GFOA recommends the following steps as part of the planning and budgeting process:

PLAN AND PREPARE
The planning and budgeting process begins with mobilizing key stakeholders, gathering information on
academic performance and cost structure, and establishing principles and policies to guide the budget process.
Establish a partnership between the finance and instructional leaders. A collaborative process increases
the likelihood that the decisions made will be supported after the budget process is over.
Develop principles and policies to guide the budget process. Budget principles and policies formalize
standards and fundamental values that should govern the budgeting process.
Analyze current levels of student learning. The current state of academic performance must be assessed
to determine what course of action to take.
Identify communications strategy. The budget process should include a plan to inform participants,
stakeholders, and the general public about how the budget process works, why each decision was made
and how to provide input in the process.

SET INSTRUCTIONAL PRIORITIES
The budget needs to be rooted in the priorities of the district. Intentionally created instructional priorities
provide a strong basis for developing a district’ s budget and strategic financial plan, as well as presenting a
budget document.
Develop goals. Goals should be thoughtfully developed and structured to be specific, measurable, and
reasonable to provide a strong foundation for the budget process.
Identify root cause of gap between goal and current state. By finding root causes of problems, a district
can identify the most effective solutions to achieving its goals.
Research & develop potential instructional priorities. The district’s instructional priorities should be
informed by practices proven by research and be limited in number to focus on items critical to
optimizing performance.
Evaluate choices amongst instructional priorities. A district needs to weigh its different options for
achieving its goals against one another to focus on those with the greatest potential for student
achievement impact.

PAY FOR PRIORITIES
Current resources and expenditures must be thoroughly analyzed to find capacity to pay for top instructional
priorities.
Apply cost analysis to the budget process. A cost analysis and staffing analysis are essential to
identifying how the district might allocate its limited resources.
Evaluate & prioritize use of resources to enact the instructional priorities. Instructional priorities need
to be thoroughly quantified as a first step to determining how much money is needed to implement the
priorities and where that money will come from. Trade- offs need to be weighted to examine whether
the costs, financial or otherwise, of implementing an instructional priority are viable.

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