Being fiscally conscientious

When I first started attending School Board meetings I was surprised at how much I was learning, especially about budgets. I have to be completely transparent, finances and budgeting bore me. I know I'm not the only one. However, I was shocked at how interested I became in the District's budget. I learned about the logistics of the budget like where the money comes from, restrictions on how certain funds can be spent, what happens if allocated money isn't spent, what a tax levy is and how they're connected to our property taxes, and so on. I am still in the process of learning all there is to know about funding and the budget as there are so many nuanced details. Thankfully the District's website has a space dedicated to explaining all of this information and I think every resident would benefit from using this resource to understand the complexities.

 

Farmington's student enrollment is declining. It's been steadily declining the past few years. This directly impacts the funds we receive from the government which means budget cuts. I don't want to have to choose what we need to sacrifice to stay within the budget so we need to figure out WHY there's a decline in student enrollment when our population is growing. If we can increase enrollment, we can increase funding.

 

I believe that we should be allocating the funds in a responsible manner. We need to make sure that what we're spending money on is equitable and benefits ALL learners. I also believe in supporting the work being done at the legislative level because their decisions shape where the funds come from and how we can allocate the funds.