[Speed Gibson,
Sunday December 30, 2007 at 11:12pm]
District 281 Consumer Budget 1.0
It's time to get started decoding the Robbinsdale Area Schools (District 281) budget for 2007-2008. This was developed using the 190 page budget published before the referendum. It assumed the referendum would pass. Since it didn't, this budget will be republished once the budget cuts are finally negotiated and approved by the School Board. When that happens, I will restate these numbers accordingly.
This is Version 1.0, the first attempt. Subsequent editions will subdivide these high level totals.
The published budget is written from the point of view of the producer, i.e., the district. As such, it provides much required detail showing the various revenue ("funding") sources.
The budget I am trying to assemble will be from the consumer point of view. In fact, I now begin calling the official district version the Producer budget, mine the Consumer budget.
To facilitate readability and satisfy my engineering mindset, numbers and amounts will generally be shown as rounded to a realistic number of significant digits. For example, the total expenditures for 2007-08 is $ 200,203,156 in the Producer budget (page 33). I submit that as this level, you can't possibly manage any closer than the nearest $ 100,000 so my Consumer budget will show this as $200,200,000 or in thousands as 200,200 for readability. You often see this in corporate reports as "in thousands" or "(000)" in the headings.
The same applies to enrollment, projected at 12,746 on page 143 of the Producer budget. I rounded this down to 12,700 as you can't possibly predict this number any more precisely given how many families move in an out or choose other options each year.
Another key difference is that I am solely concerned with actual K-12 education, including sports and other activities, and including Special Education. I am excluding unrelated programs like Aduit Education, Community Education, and Early Childhood programs that are not K-12 programs. I am also excluding "welfare" spending like after school child care (Adventure Club) and breakfast service.
So here it is, version 1.0 below. (I'll refine the presentation format in succeeding versions.)
For an enrollment of 12,700, that is a Consumer cost of about $ 15,100 per K-12 student.
The Producer budget by law is organized into a number of funds, the largest being the General Fund. Each has a balance and may in fact represent actual cash or equivalents on hand. Revenues vary in response to various formulas and programs as I illustrated earlier this month. Various laws also regulate and qualify how some of these amounts are spent.
My Consumer budget ignores these aspects. I do not care where the money came from, or that some revenue must be dedicated to certain purposes. I do not care (at least at this level) about demographics like free and reduced-price lunch, or Special Education.
The problem I am trying to solve is "how much does it cost to educate a student in grade X at school Y?" More specifically, what are the fixed costs and the variable costs?
At the stated minimum average class size of 22 (middle school), that is over $ 330,000 per classroom. The teacher(s) with whom the students spend the great majority of their school day represents well under $ 100,000 of that amount.
I am in search of the much larger amount remaining.
This is Version 1.0, the first attempt. Subsequent editions will subdivide these high level totals.
The published budget is written from the point of view of the producer, i.e., the district. As such, it provides much required detail showing the various revenue ("funding") sources.
The budget I am trying to assemble will be from the consumer point of view. In fact, I now begin calling the official district version the Producer budget, mine the Consumer budget.
To facilitate readability and satisfy my engineering mindset, numbers and amounts will generally be shown as rounded to a realistic number of significant digits. For example, the total expenditures for 2007-08 is $ 200,203,156 in the Producer budget (page 33). I submit that as this level, you can't possibly manage any closer than the nearest $ 100,000 so my Consumer budget will show this as $200,200,000 or in thousands as 200,200 for readability. You often see this in corporate reports as "in thousands" or "(000)" in the headings.
The same applies to enrollment, projected at 12,746 on page 143 of the Producer budget. I rounded this down to 12,700 as you can't possibly predict this number any more precisely given how many families move in an out or choose other options each year.
Another key difference is that I am solely concerned with actual K-12 education, including sports and other activities, and including Special Education. I am excluding unrelated programs like Aduit Education, Community Education, and Early Childhood programs that are not K-12 programs. I am also excluding "welfare" spending like after school child care (Adventure Club) and breakfast service.
So here it is, version 1.0 below. (I'll refine the presentation format in succeeding versions.)
| Fund | Producer ($) | Consumer ($000) |
|---|---|---|
| General | $ 141,005,950 | $ 141,000 |
| Child Nutrition1 | $ 6,530,722 | $ 5,800 |
| Community Service2 | $ 7,753,122 | $ 200 |
| Building Construction | $ 26,993,160 | $ 27,000 |
| Debt Service | $ 17,920,202 | $ 17,900 |
| TOTALS | $ 200,203,156 | $ 191,900 |
Note 1: Breakfast and summer excluded.
Note 2: Excluded as not K-12 related. Amount remaining is "lease" of building space and some support staff payroll.
For an enrollment of 12,700, that is a Consumer cost of about $ 15,100 per K-12 student.
The Producer budget by law is organized into a number of funds, the largest being the General Fund. Each has a balance and may in fact represent actual cash or equivalents on hand. Revenues vary in response to various formulas and programs as I illustrated earlier this month. Various laws also regulate and qualify how some of these amounts are spent.
My Consumer budget ignores these aspects. I do not care where the money came from, or that some revenue must be dedicated to certain purposes. I do not care (at least at this level) about demographics like free and reduced-price lunch, or Special Education.
The problem I am trying to solve is "how much does it cost to educate a student in grade X at school Y?" More specifically, what are the fixed costs and the variable costs?
At the stated minimum average class size of 22 (middle school), that is over $ 330,000 per classroom. The teacher(s) with whom the students spend the great majority of their school day represents well under $ 100,000 of that amount.
I am in search of the much larger amount remaining.