Budget Committee Standard Operating Procedure

Transcription

1 Budget Committee Standard Operating Procedure February 20, 2007 (revised 11/4/15) The Budget Committee (BC) has three main responsibilities pursuant to the TCKS Fiscal Management Policy (FMP) to prepare and administer an annual school wide budget, to help identify assessed needs, and to decide on un-assessed needs. In addition, as decided by Site Based Management Council (SBMC) May 20, 2008, participation by TCKS in any passive fundraiser shall be determined by the Budget Committee, following the same procedure used for deciding funding requests. Passive fundraisers are fundraisers where TCKS communicates their existence as avenues to raise funds for TCKS, while not actively promoting participation. These responsibilities and the standard operating procedure for implementing them are as follows: I. General Rules 1. All Budget Committee decisions shall be decided by majority vote of the Budget Committee with all members participating. Deliberations may be conducted in person, by telephone, or by As an SBMC member, any Budget Committee member may call to have an item brought to the entire SBMC for decision. 3. Requests for un-assessed needs will be made through the TCKS Funding Request Form, which is appended at the end of this procedure. 4. Requests are to be initiated by delivering the request to the principal. 5. Upon receipt of a request, the principal shall forward the request to the other Budget Committee members. 6. Any person may request an allocation pursuant to the FMP. 7. Verbal conversations regarding a funding request or need are advisory only and are not binding 8. The Budget Committee shall maintain a file containing identified needs, requests, their disposition and funding, and the total amount actually expended. 9. All grants of funds shall have the following conditions: a. Funds are to be used only for the purposes identified in the request. b. Any unused funds are to be returned to TCKS. c. Any grant of funds is subject to all other TCKS and PSD rules and procedures. d. Anything purchased with the funds granted becomes the property of TCKS and the PSD. 10. When turning in reimbursement requests, requestors also need to provide documentation verifying that the expense is covered by an approved budget request or was pre-approved through the Needs Assessment process. The Office Manager shall also follow TCKS and PSD procedures. 11. The Office Manager will provide a monthly report of the school PSA and General funds to the Budget Committee. II. Annual School-Wide Budget A. Provisions of Fiscal Management Policy: To compile and present a preliminary annual School-Wide Budget to the SBMC at an April SBMC meeting. (FMP section I(a)). To consider changes to the annual School-Wide Budget. The Budget Committee decides on these changes itself if the change is 10% or less and refers the decision to the SBMC if more than 10%. (FMP section I(d and e)). To provide an accounting for the allocation of fundraising dollars to the TCKS community. (FMP section III(i)). B. Standard Operating Procedure: 1. The annual School-Wide Budget will be prepared in time for presentation at the first April SBMC meeting.

2 2. Applications for changes of 10% or less to the annual School-Wide Budget shall be considered using the procedures for deciding on un-assessed needs (see Section IV below). 3. Applications for changes of more than 10% to the annual School-Wide budget shall be referred to the SBMC. 4. A report of the amount and source of fundraising dollars and the amounts and purposes of such funds expended in the previous school year shall be delivered to the school community in September. 5. The Budget Committee will use the following protocols to determine what a 10% change in the annual school-wide budget entails: Determination of 10% change to the school-wide budget History: When the Fiscal Management Policy (FMP) was implemented, the district did not operate on student-based budgeting (SBB). Rather the schools were allocated certified (teaching) staff, leaving operations costs and classified staffing costs to the building. These operations and classified staff expenses were considered part of the school-wide budget. Protocols: To align with the intent of the FMP, the Budget Committee will use the following parameters to determine which items on the Operations Budget and SBB budget are subject to a change of 10% or less of the schoolwide budget by the Budget Committee: 1. Line items in the Operations Budget under General Fund Allocation or Treasures Copy Budget may be changed 10% or less by the Budget Committee. a. Exceptions: i. No Budget Committee changes will be made to the Media books part of the Media line item (this is earmarked from the 2000 mill levy) ii. No Budget Committee changes will be made to the Instructional planning time line item (this item is controlled by a separate section in this BC SOP) iii. No Budget Committee changes will be made involving zero value line items or new line items. 2. Line items involving classified staffing positions in the Student-Based Budgeting Worksheets may be changed 10% or less by the Budget Committee. a. No new staffing positions may be added by the Budget Committee 3. Cumulative changes for a given school year above 10% require SBMC approval at a regularly scheduled meeting. In addition, the sum total of all Budget Committee budget changes in a given school year will not exceed $2, SBMC will be informed of any changes made to the budgets at the next scheduled meeting. 5. For additional reference, a sample operations budget and a sample SBB budget are embedded here 14-15_ops_budget pro-rated_sbb_proje ctions 6. The Budget Committee will use the following protocols to determine instructional planning time for new teachers: Determining Instructional Planning Time for new teachers The Instructional planning time (new teachers) item is controlled by the following formulas, and is not subject to change by the Budget Committee: Planning days are allocated in the year s operating budget at the current sub rate.

3 Teachers with FTE of % who are new to teaching receive an allotment of 6 planning days. In their second year, they receive an allotment of 3 planning days. Teachers with FTE of 40-79% who are new to teaching receive an allotment of 4 planning days. In their second year, they receive an allotment of 2 planning days. Teachers with FTE of % who are new to Traut but not new to teaching receive an allotment of 4 planning days. The same applies to an in-house teacher changing teaching assignment. In their second year, they receive an allotment of 2 planning days. Teachers with FTE of 40-79% who are new to Traut but not new to teaching receive an allotment of 2 planning days. The same applies to an in-house teacher changing teaching assignment. In their second year, they receive an allotment of 1 planning day. Any unused planning day allocations revert to the general operating budget at the end of the school year. 7. The Budget Committee will use the following protocols to estimate True-Up: Estimating True-Up All changes by the Budget Committee will be measured against the best estimates of projected revenue. No Budget Committee decision will put the bottom line, Student Based Budgeting (SBB) reserves in the red when considering such projections. Should there be a change to district SBB factors, this SOP should be changed to reflect that. Flow Chart with Notes Edit date Confirm SBB allocation formulas and base rate 1 2. Confirm October Count numbers 2 3. Calculate all allocations for the total estimated revenue a) Start with the student base 3 i. Each student counts as follows Grade SBB base multiplier K ii. Factor: 1 X base rate b) Add in the free lunch factor for free lunch students, K-5 (K count as 1) 4 Factor: 0.2 X base rate c) Add in the GT factor for GT-designated students 5 Factor: 0.1 X base rate d) Add in the K-3 factor for K-3 students (K count only 0.58 each) Factor: 0.14 X base rate e) Add in the size adjustment factor for the student base from a) above Factor: X base rate 1 Consult PSD Budget Manager (Currently Dave Montoya) 2 Consult school registrar (currently Belinda Nygaard). Be sure factor students in categories below were confirmed as members of their category by October 1. 3 Consult school registrar (currently Belinda Nygaard) 4 Consult Child Nutrition office (currently Marei Wallace). Be sure Early Childhood students are left off. Also, do not count Reduced Lunch students. 5 Consult school ALP Coordinator (currently Kalvert Spaeth) and confirm with PSD GT ID specialist (currently Emily Vangermeersch) and PSD head of the GT department (currently Caitlin Sahimi). A child who qualifies for multiple areas within the ALP program may only be counted once here.

4 For additional reference, a sample SBB revenue estimation spreadsheet is embedded here: SBB revenue estimation III. Needs Assessment and Parent Drive A. Provisions of Fiscal Management Policy: To receive the needs assessment from the Strategic Planners. (FMP section III(b)). To work with each grade level team to determine a suggested per student Parent Drive amount to support curriculum related field trips and special activities. (FMP section VI(b)(1)). B. Standard Operating Procedure: 1. The Budget Committee shall coordinate the development of assessed needs, funding recommendations, and funding priorities by the Strategic Planners, SAAC, and the SBMC. 2. In order to avoid a duplication of effort, the Budget Committee shall work with the Strategic Planners and grade level teams to determine the suggested per student contribution amount no later than the second SBMC meeting in April. 3. The Budget Committee shall work with the strategic planners to identify all school needs at TCKS, including soliciting ideas from TCKS parents, staff, and volunteers. IV. Un-Assessed Needs A. Provisions of Fiscal Management Policy: To consider and decide on un-assessed needs. (FMP section III(e h)). To recommend an allocation of additional funds to individual classroom budgets. (FMP section IV(c)). B. Standard Operating Procedure: 1. In evaluating requests the Budget Committee shall be bound by the current Funding Priorities and reserve amount and shall consider the following factors: a. Value for money the cost per student and the need for the item. b. The importance of the item to the goal to be advanced. c. Whether the goal could be met in some better or more inexpensive way. d. The effect the granting of the request will have on the overall budget balance and thus on future requests. e. Whether the request disproportionately favors one grade level or group of students considering the overall budget of the school, the parent contributions, the need for the item, and previously granted requests. f. The funds remaining in the account managed by the requesting staff member (see Expectations to Spend Down Allocations addendum at the end of this SOP). 2. Requests shall be considered within five weekdays. 3. Budget Committee members shall conduct such inquiry as is necessary prior to meeting to discuss the request. 4. The Budget Committee may meet and decide that a decision should be delayed. This delay may be for any period. 5. If one Budget Committee member feels that more inquiry is required prior to voting, upon the request of said member, the vote on that decision shall be delayed once to allow for this inquiry. Said delay shall not exceed five school days. 6. If decision is delayed for any reason, the Requestor shall be informed of the delay and the new decision deadline. 7. The Budget Committee may grant, deny, partially grant or deny, or conditionally grant or deny requests.

5 8. The Budget Committee will designate the source fund for the request. 9. Budget Committee decisions shall be in writing and may include a statement of the reasons for the decision. 10. All requests and their dispositions shall be reported to the SBMC within one weekday of their approval. 11. Challenges to Budget Committee decisions: a. Any member of the SBMC may challenge a Budget Committee decision within five weekdays of notification. b. This challenge shall be made to the principal, who will then convey that on to the SBMC and requestor. c. In this event, the issue before the SBMC is whether to reverse or modify the Budget Committee decision at the next SBMC meeting. 12. If a Budget Committee decision remains unchallenged within five weekdays of notification, the decision is final and the principal will notify the Office Manager and requestor. 13. The Budget Committee will provide a quarterly summary for the Friday Notes describing the funding requests which are granted in whole or in part. Such summary will be based on a file kept by the Budget Committee, which shall include the requestor, the purpose, the amount granted/denied, and the source of the funds used Addendum: Expectations to Spend Down Allocations 1. Draw from the SBB reserve for approved requests in most cases. 2. Expectation to spend entire annual allotments of Treasures and Parent Drive: a. The expectation is that classroom budget managers will spend, at a minimum, these entire allocations by the end of the school year. b. Any money which has not been spent from Treasures will roll into the SBB reserves, and any money remaining from classroom-specific Parent Drive funds reverts to the general Parent Drive line item in July after the school year ends. 3. If, at the beginning of the school year, a given classroom account still has more than 25% of the annual SBB allocation in the fund, the Budget Committee may request an accounting of what that surplus is allocated for before approving a budget request from that classroom account manager. V. Guidelines for Extra Curricular Activities at Traut SECTION 1: Philosophy Statement: Extra- and Co-Curricular activities (ECAs) contribute to the education, vibrancy, and sense of community at TCKS. They enhance and continue the education that takes place in the home and classroom, and include something for everyone. ECAs can provide extended learning opportunities for students who need additional challenges and for students who need more review of classroom work. ECAs also inspire students and our entire school community to be more involved and excited by our educational mission. Support from the school can come in many ways including room and equipment use; administrative support, including Friday notes and collecting money, etc.; and monetary support. Although extracurricular activities should always come behind curricular and classroom needs, if TCKS does have sufficient funds, funding certain extracurricular activities may be considered. SECTION 2: SBMC Approval Process: For TCKS administrative purposes, ECAs should be assigned to categories based on how the activity relates to regular school activities. These categories are defined in Section 3 below. To qualify for SBMC approval, an ECA must have the following in place: A means to assist those who cannot pay the full amount. This could be dealt with through the office manager to protect privacy.

6 All adult participants must be registered PSD volunteers. or employees All TCKS and PSD requirements and rules must be followed at all times. The ECA is subject to the overall supervision of the principal and the PSD Any finances of the ECA are subject to the supervision and audit of the participants and the PSD. Each ECA will be assigned to one of four categories. When a new ECA is approved, SBMC will determine to which category it belongs (see SECTION 3 below). Category 1, 2, and 3 ECAs must be approved through SBMC. Category 4 ECAs are approved through PSD. To assist SBMC in the determination of which category to place new ECAs, the following guidelines are provided. These guidelines are also for use in budgeting decisions within each category: 1. Is it feasible and fair to have families pay the full cost of the child s participation in the ECA? Ongoing costs versus startup or one-time costs? Collecting small amounts of money from large numbers of participants. Will the activity fail without monetary support? 2. How many participants are there? Is there a large percentage of the school population or a small percentage? How extensive is the activity? Many sessions or only a few? Do the direct participants also provide benefits for the rest of the school? Does the extracurricular activity enhance the reputation of the entire school? Are there are non-tcks students? 2. What is the cost? What is the cost benefit ratio? What effect would funding this activity have on the possible funding of other activities? 4. What is the custom in other schools? What are people s expectations? TCKS should be as good as other schools. 5. Does the activity directly enhance or extend our educational goals? How directly? Does the activity provide enhanced opportunities to gifted students or to students who need additional help? 6. Should TCKS at least fund the fees of those students who are unable to pay for the activity? 7. How does the activity make TCKS a better school and community? SECTION 3: Categories: Characteristics, Benefits, and Examples: Following is a summary of the categories of extracurricular activities at Traut. In each category, there are 3 sub-headings. The Characteristics section is a place to keep track of questions or tests which can be used to determine if a particular ECA fits in a given category. The Benefits section is a list of the support that the extracurricular activities (ECAs) in this category can expect from the school. Additional support may be given to a specific ECA only if approved by the SBMC. The Examples section provides a list of ECAs which were current and/or envisioned when this document was created which would most likely fit in a given category. Characteristics Category 1 Directly-Sponsored Activities

7 This ECA is a direct extension of the school s educational program and is often led by a regular staff member of the school. This ECA may fail to operate successfully without direct school funding. This ECA is provided first to Traut students. The ECA must be a not-for-profit activity. The ECA shall be open to TCKS students. Participants shall be grouped impartially. Group size, age, ability grouping, and conduct limits are allowed. TCKS is an educational institution and our ECAs support this purpose. Accordingly, while ability grouping is permissible, exclusion from an ECA based on ability is discouraged. Membership will comply with the Guidelines for Membership of Size-Limited Extra Curricular Activities addendum found at the end of this document. Benefits Paid staff support Eligible to obtain funding, grants, and loans through the Budget Committee process (including review by the SBMC as provided in that process). o Ongoing money from school budget: Operating expenses o Capital money from school budget: Startup or hardware expenses o Special or Honors money from school budget: Funding of special events, activities, or awards o Other special requests for funding may be considered through the SBMC process if the initial request is turned down by the Budget Committee. Money handled by school office Free meeting space Free storage space for equipment Advertising in Friday Notes, web site, and list Advertising via flyers near office Examples Art Club Art Fair PE-Related Activities such as Run/Walk Club, Climbing Club, Pumpkin Run, Traut Track Ten, Tennis, etc.) SAB (Student Advisory Board) Science Fair Study Hall Vocal Choir Chimes Choir Foreign Languages

8 Category 2 Authorized Support Organizations Characteristics These ECAs use the school name in their titles and primarily attract TCKS students. These ECAs further the school s educational goals. These ECAs can operate successfully without direct school funding. These ECAs are open primarily to Traut students. Group size, age, ability, and conduct limits are allowed. These ECAs are run by volunteers These ECAs are not-for-profit Benefits These ECAs may use Traut-owned materials, which may require a deposit and/or rental fee. These ECAs will pay for any damages to or loss of these materials not due to normal wear and tear. These ECAs will need to meet PSD requirements if they wish to meet on campus. If these requirements are met, free meeting space will be provided through the district. If PSD requirements are not able to be met and the ECA desires to meet at Traut, a staff sponsor can be requested. Meeting times and days will be mutually agreed upon. If this occurs, the ECA will then become a category 1 ECA and follow the guidelines listed above. Our regular program always takes precedence over the use of any school-owned materials. Free storage space for equipment, if such space is available. Advertising in Friday Notes, web site, and list without need for disclaimer. Advertising via flyers near office. No funding, accounting, or financial transactions for these organizations are handled by the school. These organizations are responsible for their own supervision, liability, and medical care. Examples Lego Robotics Odyssey of the Mind Category 3 Affiliated Outside Organizations Characteristics These ECAs do not officially use the school or PSD s name in their titles, but they still primarily attract TCKS students. These ECAs are tuition-based. These ECAs are governed and funded through an outside agency. These ECAs have meeting time/place and space allocation for materials handled on a fee basis directly through PSD. Benefits Paid meeting space scheduled through PSD customer service Free advertising in Friday Notes, web site, and list with the following disclaimer: The activity advertised below takes place in our building on a regular basis, and we present it here as a service to parents. Please note that this activity is not officially sponsored by or otherwise directly affiliated with Traut or PSD. Advertising through flyers placed near office These ECAs may use Traut-owned materials, which may require a deposit and/or rental fee. 8

9 These ECAs will pay for any damages to or loss of these materials not due to normal wear and tear. Our regular program always takes precedence over the use of any school-owned materials. No funding, accounting, or financial transactions for these organizations are handled by the school. These organizations are responsible for their own supervision, liability, and medical care. Examples Guitar Chess Service organizations such as Scouts BASE Camp Category 4 Unaffiliated Outside Organizations Characteristics These ECAs do not go through the SBMC approval process, but rather may only be approved for facility use directly through PSD and according to PSD rules and requirements. These ECAs are governed and funded through an outside agency. These ECAs fall under one or more of the following categories: o Non-school-related group o For-profit company o Might not be open to Traut students o Might not be directly aligned with Traut educational goals Benefits Paid meeting space scheduled through PSD customer service Examples Non-Traut identified sports, such as Fort Collins basketball Community meetings Church groups Guidelines for Membership of Size-Limited Category 1 Extra Curricular Activities Often there are more students interested in a Category 1 Extra Curricular Activity (ECA) than there are available openings in the group. These guidelines are to be used in determining who gets to fill those openings. 1. Children of group sponsors and volunteers are granted membership in the ECA.. Volunteers must help with all classes in order for their children to be guaranteed membership. For some activities, parents may be required to attend with their children (i.e. parents of Kindergarten students). In this case, these parents may not be considered volunteers, and their children may not be guaranteed membership. 2. Other openings are filled in the following manner: The ECA will notify parents of openings through a Friday Note (FN) announcement which clearly states the following process and dates: a. Names are gathered for at least two weeks from the FN posting. b. Interested parties are to inform a point person (through a means clarified in the FN) stating their interest before the deadline. c. At the end of the gathering period, the names of interested parties are randomly drawn until all available openings are filled. All students in the same family will be given the same number in the drawing for each session, unless sessions are divided by grade(s). In this case, a separate family number will be given for each grade division (i.e. separate numbers would be given for children in the same family if the children fall into different K-2 nd and 3 rd -5 th sessions). d. Students not selected are put on a wait list (through random drawing) in case a student drops out. 9

10 New Funding Request Form This form is to be used for requesting funding for a new item not listed on the Needs Assessment. Requests for funding for items previously listed on the Needs Assessment should be made on the Needs Assessment Funding Request Form. Click on the grey boxes and type in your response. Date: Requestor: Amount: Request: Purpose and relation to curriculum or school goals: (Why do we need this? How will this item improve TCKS?): If this request is for an item which could be funded by your classroom or annual budget, please explain why additional funds are necessary: How important is this request? Is it a must have, a very important, a nice to have, or a dream? How many students will benefit from this request? Is it an item with a multi-year use? Is there an existing budget for this request? Are you aware of any grant funds which might exist to fund this request? Would a lesser amount be useable to fulfill some of this need? Please submit this form electronically to the TCKS School Principal. The request will be forwarded to the Budget Committee, and the committee will review it as provided by the Fiscal Management Policy and the Budget Committee Standard Operating Procedure. You will be notified of the decision within five school days. Please do not hesitate to contact any member of the Budget Committee if you have any questions. 10