Stakeholder Involvement in the Budget Process

Central Office Administrators and Staff--These personnel could contribute by submitting their own departmental budget to the superintendent. They would essentially go through the same steps for the district budget in finding out the needs of the department and developing a budget accordingly. They can also communicate with campus principals as to their roles into the budget.

Principals—they are in charge of their campus budgets. They would need to complete a needs assessment with their campus and develop a proposed budget for review and to be added to the district budget.


Site Based Decision Making Committees—they can assist the principal in deciding what the vision will be for the upcoming year and where the money needs to be spent.


District Improvement Committee—these people can be very beneficial to the development of the district budget. They assist by focusing the ideas and visions around the district into a common theme or goal. They then report to district personnel about their finding, which assist with the budget development.


Teacher Organizations—reporting what is needed and being communicated by the teachers is important. The buy in factor is huge with this group. They need to feel that they have contributed to the budget.


Key Stakeholders—Need to have a voice in the budget process and should be included in meetings, input taken, and help make decisions based on the community as a whole.

Board of Trustees—Final approval of the budget is by the board. The more they are involved in the process the more likely the budget will be passed with few amendments.



When you think of a budget process, you must know that it is an effort that all the stakeholders should be a part of. The more a district leader communicates and involves the stakeholders the better. Including them in on meetings, validating their ideas and communicating with everyone is the key to a successful district, much less a successful budget. Everyone on the list above has a key role that is dependent upon the next, or upon someone else’s ideas and contributions. Again, I think the only way to truly understand the budget process, you have to be involved and go for it.