First Budget Forum of 2013

Last night was the first budget forum of the year, and there were some interesting questions and comments made by the community.

Our superintendent started off with a 1-hour presentation on some of the state mandates.  I'm not sure what her objective was.  I found the information useful, but the presentation was rather long, and I think I had the basic idea within the first half hour.  I love that so much of the materials from these discussions and the board meetings are being put online for easy review afterward.  I hope that as the community and the district become more familiar with that new reality, the 2+-hour-long details will get posted, and only the 30-minute summary will be presented.

Then, for about another hour, there was a fairly information Q&A/comment/discussion period, which was almost entirely community member talking or asking questions, with excellent answers and limited commentary from the board and leadership team.  As always, there were some familiar comments from sincere parents/residents who were new to the process.  Why don't we cut sports?  Is there a minimum number of students required for classes at the high school?  Have you compared NCSD with other suburban council schools?  Can we get a list of proposed/recommended cuts and their price tags?  I think it's great for the board to be reminded of these most basic concerns that parents have, and to be reminded that most people don't spend even a 100th as much time as they do thinking about these things.

I hope that everyone responds to the survey that will be posted later today.  In past years, people have mostly gotten involved only after the proposed list of cuts, to advocate for their favorite item.  Unfortunately, that means we all have to sit through the same questions again, and re-explain the motivation for each and every cut.  It's a big budget gap this year, so I'd be very surprised if the first vote wasn't above the "cap" and required a 60% vote.