Orange County School Board members discussed school-level budgeting during a work session Tuesday, Nov. 19. This is the first of several work sessions requested that will detail the district’s budgeting process. This meeting is the foundation for this series of work sessions.
The Office of Management & Budget presented on state-level budgeting known as the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) and how it impacts district-level budgeting in turn school-level budgeting. The Chief Financial Officer explained how outcomes of the state budget impact Orange County Public Schools down to the classroom.
The district receives five calculations in the budget cycle for every school year. For work session purposes, the school board members reviewed the second calculation for the 2019-20 school year which was received July 19. The summary presented compares the second calculation to the first budget calculation.
The school board expressed interest in hearing more about funding that is not mandated in hopes of possibly having more input on where they may be able to trim and re-allocate as much as possible to teacher salaries.
School board members also participated in an exercise to experience what a principal goes through when appropriating monies in their school budget using specific guidelines outlined in work session handouts and the criteria shown in the photo below.
The public will be able to view every budget work session throughout this series on the OCPS YouTube channelwhere each meeting will also be live streaming. The next work session is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 12.