[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: District 281 Consumer Budget 1.0

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
District 281 Consumer Budget 1.0
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1199077978.shtml


   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 200,000 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 Nutrition^1    $   6,530,722       $   5,800
   Community Service^2  $   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 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.