School District 52 seeks public input on Budget themes

It's Budget preparation time for School District 52 and as part of their consultation process, the District has put a short survey on the SD52 website seeking the feedback of the public on how they should approach the delivery of services for 2017-18.

The survey consists of six questions, four pf which are budget specific questions, as well as one that asks the public to provide comment on a potential new vision statement.

The final question for the survey asks what category of involvement with the School system that the participant belongs to.

The survey launches with participants asked to rank their priorities for spending when it comes to a list of the four main various functions of School District Operations.

The current allocation of finances towards notes that 78 per cent of the budget is directed towards Instruction, 14 percent towards Operations and Maintenance, while District Administration takes 7 per cent of the budget with the remaining one percent allocated towards Transportation.

Survey participants are also asked to rank the importance of the elements that make up the 78 percent of the budget that is spent on Instruction, the review of how the budget is allocated is found below:

With 87 percent of the district budget dedicated towards Salaries and Benefits, the remaining thirteen percent is the focus of the third question of the survey. With participants asked to advise whether the District should increase, decrease or keep current spending levels in eight areas of spending.

They include Services, Student Transportation, Professional Development and Training, Rentals and Leases, Dues and Fees, Insurance, Supplies and Utilities.

Question four notes that the District is expecting a decrease in spending for 2017-18, with trustees set to consider potential changes to balance the budget for that period.

Survey participants are offered four opportunities to outline where they would suggest that the District reduce its spending.

The non financial question offers up the prospect the School District looking to introduce a new view on how it sees itself in the community, giving survey participants a preview of the District's new vision statement.

"The School District 52 Experience: Inclusive. Engaging. Real"

As they look to introduce that new positioning statement, the survey asks what resources should be required to enable the School District to achieve their new vision, with participants offered space to make up to four suggestions on that theme.

You can take part in the survey from this link.

There is no indication on the SD52 website that outlines how long the survey period will be and when the last day for participation is.

The School District launched its 2017-18 budget engagement process with a public meeting on Wednesday evening which offered the chance for discussion on some of the themes under consideration by trustees.

The schedule of consultations that are ahead is as follows:

February 7th -- Meetings with Partner Groups
March 9th -- Public Meeting
April 11th -- Regular Board Meeting where the Budget will be submitted for approval 

Update: Since we published our item SD52 has added more background information towards the budget consultation process:

Their Presentation on the theme can be viewed here.

While a Project Description For for submission as part of the consultation process can be reviewed here.

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