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THE NANTUCKET PUBLIC SCHOOL BUDGET The Development Process
By Glenn Field Assistant to the Superintendent for Business
January finds the school system nearly at the end of its budget preparation for the 2009 fiscal year. The Nantucket Public School budget planning process spans eight months and begins a year prior to its implementation in the system; it includes computers and fuel oil, text books and sheet music, to mention just a few items. It is varied and it is complicated; it takes time to go over the requests and to analyze new proposals. The following is an explanation of the process, a look at "how we get there from here."

Once the budget is approved it is a "fait accompli," with all its funds allocated or earmarked for specific purposes; these allocations reflect the result of extensive reviews conducted over many months by all stakeholders. The Nantucket School Committee and school administration take a leadership role in the process. Input is also gathered from school councils and staff. At the heart of each year's process is an extensive review of current programming, staff placement, projected enrollment, and potential new initiatives.

The amount of funding is limited, therefore current programs and requested new proposals must be weighed and then prioritized, so that those initiatives that are most needed and most beneficiary to the students are funded. Since Nantucket's school system has responsibility for all students, the budget must fund programs for all our learners. In this context, the public school must be a 'supermarket' of educational opportunity offering AP courses for college bound students, as well as courses for students whose future will involve the industrial technologies, carpentry, culinary arts, auto repair and consumer sciences.

During the eight month budget development phase, each department head, building principal and/or director, presents his/her budget to the School Committee in public session. The Committee questions and analyzes how all the requests align with goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan and the system-wide goals for the year. They determine how each department's or school's requests meets its improvement plan while also falling within the approved system-wide initiatives. The Committee discusses and debates in detail the level of continuing costs, new requests, and new savings ideas.

The task of compiling the recommended budget resides with the Superintendent of Schools, who relies on the input of administration and school councils. He makes the decisions, after consultation and deliberation, then presents the final version of the budget to the School Committee at a public hearing. This hearing occurs during a School Committee meeting, where the public is welcome to question or comment on anything contained in the budget. This year that meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 15. Printed versions of the budget are available to the public 48 hours before the meeting.

Once the School Committee votes to accept the recommended budget, they then meet with the Finance Committee, usually in February, to present and explain the goals, objectives and initiatives of the recommended budget. They question and review the budget from their perspective and sometimes ask for changes. The forward budget's bottom-line figure must then be provided to town administration, typically prior to March 9th, in order to be included in the town's publication of its Annual Town Meeting Warrant. The school district's budget appears in Article Eight where it is subject to taxpayer vote.

The budget process, to get to its final form, requires the work and analysis of many stakeholders. It is vetted by several groups and individuals as it progresses, and it represents a body of work that provides the underpinning of our school system. The approval and subsequent implementation of the budget allows our schools to function well and to provide what our students need to achieve

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