Oregon school budget law requires a local budget committee to recommend a district’s budget to the school board. The school board has final approval authority. The committee is made up of the district’s board of directors and an equal number of registered voters appointed by the board.
The school board appoints citizen members of a budget committee. Members of the budget committee serve for a three-year term and receive no compensation for their services. A budget committee member may not be a district employee.
The Role and Process of the Budget Committee (Excerpts and summary information from the OSBA Budget Handbook, 2004)
SUMMARY
Budget committees are an important part of the district decision-making processes in setting local budget priorities. The budget committee process provides an ideal forum to discuss priorities for maintaining good schools, programs and facilities.
MEMBERSHIP
All Budget Committee Members have equal authority and responsibility. Members establish their own operating procedures as a committee. If the district board is unable to appoint qualified people to vacancies, the budget committee may function with a reduced number of members. The board appoints budget committee members for terms of three years. The board may reappoint members for additional terms.
MEETINGS
Budget committee meetings are open to the public. A majority of committee members must be present to convene a meeting and only budget committee business may be transacted during the meeting. A majority of the committee is required to approve any motion. A majority is one more than one-half of the committee members.
The committee hears the budget message, receives the budget document, may ask patrons for comments and announces the time and place for its subsequent meetings. Minutes of the meetings are kept and made available upon request. The committee process is then to review the budget as proposed and make needed changes. The budget committee may request any information for the preparation or revision of the budget document from any district officer or employee. It may request the attendance of any employee at its meetings. Such requests by the budget committee should be made through the superintendent and/ or budget officer.
We have scheduled the first meeting for May 26, 2021, at 6pm in the Stanfield Secondary School Conference Room. Should we need a second meeting it will be held June 9, 2021, at 6pm, at the same location.
MEMBERS TASK
The budget committee may direct the administration to make increases or decreases in the proposed budget. The budget committee approves the budget document as submitted by the budget officer or as revised by the committee. The committee recommends a level of spending for the year and specifies the property tax amount or rate for all funds in the approved budget.
NEXT STEPS
The board holds a hearing on the budget document approved by the budget committee. The board may make additional adjustments as necessary after the hearing; however, the amount of the estimated expenditure for each fund may not be increased more than 10 percent or $5,000 (whichever is greater) and the total property tax to be levied may not exceed the amount shown in the budget financial summary as published with the first notice of hearing on the budget. The board may republish the budget summary and hold another hearing. The board may reconvene the budget committee at a later date if financial conditions in the district change.