Published in the Arlington Advocate, 02-19-2004

Community Involvement in Shaping the School's Budget Process

Suzanne Baratta Owayda, Chair Arlington School Committee

The Strategic Plan for Arlington schools, initiated by Superintendent Donovan when she first arrived, is the foundation for our current system-wide goals. School Committee member Joani Lamachia led the process resulting in 5 goals for our school system: To have a district-wide goal setting procedure; to recruit, support, and retain quality staff; to publish a k-12 curriculum; to strengthen programs for diverse learners; and to restructure the school day for maximum learning.

Each district goal has a chair and a working group responsible for completing the tasks associated with the particular goal. The working group is comprised of teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and a school committee member.

At the December 9th School Committee meeting we reviewed these goals and set performance objectives for this year. At that same meeting the School Committee established its own goal: "To develop a multi-year budget process, that is more participatory, includes the perspective of administrators, teachers, students, and community members, and provides educational opportunity for the community to learn about the school budget".

The School Committee's goal of a "Budget Process" is concurrent with the work currently going on for this years (FY 05) budget; it is not outside or separate from the current budget process.

Through this article I hope to recruit a working group for the School Committee "Budget Process" goal. I also hope to clarify "format of the school budget" for the Arlington Coalition.

The charge of this working group is to look at the current budget process, including improvements made over the last three years with the establishment of the Budget Subcommittee. The next step is to examine areas that still need improvements and to formalize the complete process for future school committees. In addition, the working group must figure out a way to align the budget process with the already established district goals. Finally, and most important, is to establish a community education plan - "what do we spend on education, and why?" Part of the education piece is to address the Arlington Coalition group's question about the format of the school budget. There are a number of groups in town who would like the school budget to be reported in a manner best suited to their constituents. Unfortunately the school department does not have the man/woman power to develop and produce various configurations of our budget, so it will be the task of this working group to decide one or two formats that will suit the needs of the various groups in town. Of particular interest will be the format(s) best suited to town meeting members, since they are the people who actually approve the bottom line budget number for the schools.

As clarification, this working group is not going to build the school budget; that is first and foremost the job of the superintendent, then the school committee. This working group will be advisory to the Budget Subcommittee of the School Committee whose mission is to develop a process that includes all the key participants.

It would be helpful if this working group were composed of a town meeting member or two, a finance committee member, a teacher who resides in Arlington, and other interested community members, as well as school administrative staff.

We have worked hard as a School Committee to ensure that the community has opportunity to participate, has input, and to become educated regarding the budget. We are committed to working collaboratively and proactively to ensure the best possible education for the children of Arlington. We welcome your involvement as we move forward. We are only as effective as our ability to work together. Please join me in working together so that we can achieve our goal of a solid budget process that moves education in Arlington forward. I can be contacted at suzowayda@comcast.net or at 781-646-4830. Thank you.