CABC Helping Community Understand Budget Process

March 2009

On March 11, Monticello Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Michel welcomed the more than four dozen attendees to the third meeting of his Citizens’ Advisory Budget Committee (CABC). The CABC was created two years ago as a way to keep the doors of communication open between taxpayers and school district administrators and to get community members actively involved in the school budget formation.

This year, formulating the school budget has been complicated by the proposed cuts in school aid and the uncertainty in the amount of federal stimulus money for which the district may qualify.

“The district has to be fiscally responsible to its taxpayers,” explained Dr. Michel. “Without knowing the amount of money we may get puts us at an extreme disadvantage during our calculations.”

Audience members agreed that this budget season was one of the most challenging they had ever experienced. They were also perplexed how the state and federal governments could expect school districts to create their budgets with so many unknowns.

“Don’t they understand that what they’re asking of us is virtually impossible,” said Emma C. Chase Elementary School PTO President Lauralyn Radlein. “How do they expect us to do this?”

The meeting included presentations by some school administrators who presented scaled down versions of their departments’ budgets. In an effort to control expenditures, Dr. Michel has asked his managers to cut 10% from their prospective costs before submitting them for approval. He did note that although it is a tough year financially it is still imperative to remain focused on the district’s core mission - providing all students the equal opportunity for a quality education that adequately prepares them for the 21st century workplace.

Photo: Monticello Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Michel talks with the district’s director of ELA, Social Studies and Library Science, Theodore Kusulas, and Board of Education president, Robert Stewart, at the recent CABC meeting.