SPS Strategic Plan Survey 2011 Q20.

What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Give each school the same amount. 1 or guardian cut central office staff Parent, family member, eliminate waste or guardian make funding schools the top priority 2 Parent, family member, The issue with how the demographer comes up with student projections needs to be fixed as soon as possible so that allocation of funds for schools is more aligned with the actual number of students enrolling in our schools. 3 or guardian Parent, family member, You should start with a zero budget and do it top down based on priorities. With the RSPDP scandal we learned how haphazard and corrupt the budget process really is. Tragic. 4 or guardian Parent, family member, Make it transparent and up on the website. Right now it is not. 5 or guardian Parent, family member, Decrease administration in JSCEE and put all that money into the classrooms. 6 or guardian Parent, family member, Quit cutting the WSS!! 7 or guardian Parent, family member, Why are you doing all of these RIFs and saying schools are under-enrolled when they are clearly not? Schools like Lowell with three programs (Gen, Spec ed and APP) should not use the regular WSS model. Those three programs can't be mixed and or guardian WSS doesn't account for that. It makes it very hard for the principal when you don't let him properly budget. Parent, family member, I like that the budget is online now. I think we don't have enough money going into the school's though and that should be worked on. I think that compared to other districts of our size we are out of whack. or guardian Parent, family member, Advocate for funding at the state level, and cut central admin. or guardian Reduce spending on central administration, push budget and hiring authority to principals. Reduce building maintenance Parent, family member, backlog. Stop closing schools only to have to reopen schools a couple years later. Make all budgets publicly available with lineor guardian item detail. Parent, family member, Cut the bloated central administration or guardian Parent, family member, Stop centralizing everything. Stop making allocations a shell game. Make some choices that are sustainable, rather than having elementary counselors for three years and then not having the funding for them. Better fiscal planning will help prevent or guardian these types of things, as well as stopping the churn in central offices that leads to zero institutional memory. 1) I'm a parent. I have no visibility to the budget process. Parent, family member, 2) Could you please translate the paragraph, above, into English? If the SEC requires 'plain language' corporate disclosure or guardian documents, perhaps you should too. Parent, family member, 1, Send more money to schools, less to central overhead. 2. Be realistic about enrollment in the spring so as not to unnecessarily RIF teachers. or guardian Allocate funds for teaching in schools first. Then, if there's money left over, fund the useless fads District mandates. I'm sick of 30+ kids in elementary school classrooms with no teacher's aid while the District has Broad fellows, MAP tests, redesigns the Parent, family member, web site, numerous people in administration who were hired because they are the spouse or buddy of someone or pushed or guardian upstairs because they were incompetent in the school. Why does the District need consultants to set up a STEM school? The District should be able to set up a school by themselves. Parent, family member, PRovide more local (school) control over funds. Eliminate the deadwood downtown. or guardian Parent, family member, Closing RB and Kurose or guardian Parent, family member, Again, less central more money direct to teachers and classrooms. or guardian Parent, family member, More accurate enrollment projections? or guardian Parent, family member, Honest, realistic enrollment projections. or guardian Parent, family member, Hire honest people and keep them accountable. Use all the rigor of the law if they deviate funds for their personal gains. They are stealing TAX payers money. or guardian Parent, family member, MOre money to schools, less to central. or guardian Think about what it actually takes to help children--people and resources on the FRONT LINES. These are the essentials that Parent, family member, need to be prioritized. Also, if you're going to be data reliant, that data needs to be intelligently and constantly used--collecting it or guardian without the highest quality analysis is dangerous and potentially misleading. Parent, family member, Don't low ball projected attendance numbers. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Instead of assigning a assistant principal to our school, have a math and reading specialist and a counselor. Look at WSS and Parent, family member, weigh that budget vs. downtown budget of personnel. Your WSS budget tell the public how you really feel about "achieving or guardian excellence for all". It is not a comforting feeling. I don't know enough about this to comment clearly. That tells you why I answered "ineffective" for how effective your Parent, family member, communication is. Since I don't believe we are directing funds appropriately district-wide (too little to students/teachers, too or guardian much to administration) I also consider the process ineffective. Parent, family member, Invite and listen to parent and teacher input. We know what our schools need. or guardian Parent, family member, um, fund the schools and not the downtown office... or guardian Parent, family member, spend less in JS and lower class size in K-2 or guardian Parent, family member, Give the funds to schools not to testing companies or to high paid academic couches who don't interact with students. Every administrator in central should make a point of interacting with students. or guardian Parent, family member, Less money and less power to the central offices. More money and power to the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut central admin down. or guardian Parent, family member, Give schools block grants and allow the principal, staff and PTA to allocate the money as they see fit to best serve their students. or guardian Parent, family member, More emphasis on people working directly with kids! Career counseling and librarians too! or guardian Parent, family member, Stop underestimating the enrollment numbers, and fully fund the schools with counselors, IAs, librarians, Music and Art, family support workers. Make school funding your priority, reduce the budget for Central Administration!! or guardian What communication around the budget development process? I think I saw an electronic survey, and maybe a few hastily thrown together public meetings (with only a few days notice, etc.). This was proforma at best, and not a true effort to find out what parents want. And, I never saw anything back from the district saying "Here's what parents said they want for their Parent, family member, children, and so here's what we're planning to do." Until you try to gather my opinion and tell me what you did/did not use with that information, it is not community engagement. or guardian I tend to doubt that I'll ever see any of my comments in this survey anywhere in District policies or even a summary of this survey. Parent, family member, stop wasting the peoples' money on expensive curricula that doesn't work. eliminate MAP. reduce central office staff, reduce the superintendent's salary. have a competent accountant look at the budget or guardian Parent, family member, Fire the top tier of administration. or guardian Parent, family member, Substantially reduce the size (and budget) for central administration and give the buildings more money. or guardian Parent, family member, Start with funding schools first NOT central administration or guardian Don't lie about it. When you pass a levy to save teacher jobs, don't then RIF teachers right afterwards. When you pass a levy to Parent, family member, pay for new curriculum adoptions, don't put them on hold right afterwards. It makes you look like use bait and switch to keep those employed by downtown in their jobs while starving out our buildings and depriving our students of a rich and engaging or guardian education. Parent, family member, use real numbers and don't lowball those numbers to balance the budget or guardian Accurate population projections would help, rather than chasing after the situation of 2007. Allow for mid-course corrections Parent, family member, based on actual enrollment. At a statewide level, equalize funding per pupil by county so that some of the desert counties do or guardian not receive 15,000 per student while the western half of the state gets 6,000. Parent, family member, Ask what is needed. More transparency on BTX funds. Millions and millions of dollars are here, investigate Ron English. or guardian Parent, family member, Zero-based budgeting for central admin./office. or guardian Parent, family member, Classrooms need more money. or guardian Parent, family member, inform the voters what the consequences are in terms they will understand - what happens to counselors directly impacts community quality of life, for example or guardian Parent, family member, don't know or guardian Parent, family member, There is NO transparency. The strategic plan refresh meetings I've attended are chaos. Going nowhere fast! Quit wasting money on stuff that does not benefit the classroom. or guardian Parent, family member, Actually provide funding for a high school student to have 6 periods - very few kids actually want to do running start or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 52 53 54 55 56 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Councilors are crucial to elementary schools! Other things should be cut before those. Not everything is cookie cut - resources (ie counselors) shouldnt be allocated by # of students, rather specific school needs forensic audit and restructuring. LINE ITEM CLARITY ID ALL FUNDING SOURCES SPECIFICALLY Identify and showcase schools that use their limited allotment of funds most effectively. Allow other schools to learn from their "best practices."

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Parent, family member, Provide more clarity about what the funding priorities are, and what flexibility is allowed to the schools. Provide an avenue for or guardian schools to meet the goals in different ways, for example by choosing different combinations of support staff. Parent, family member, Be more transparent! Thanks to SCPTSA we had some transparency via training. District should have been doing that for years. or guardian Parent, family member, Raise buget by raising taxes so there are more funds to fully fund education which is the mandate of Washington State. Cutting is going too far - budget is already way too thin, students deserve a better education or guardian Parent, family member, Complete overhaul and AUDIT of entire SDS budget. Get rid of 15% of HQ staff. That would be a start! or guardian No opinion because I am not familiar with the budget and the allocation of the money. I just know one thing: in the last couple of Parent, family member, years there was not nough money to keep the schools steady for even one year. Everything is changing all the time. I don't or guardian even know how any parent can follow the changes year by year who is not a treasurer... Parent, family member, If you're going to stick 30 kindergarteners in a room, then you'd better consider adding a teacher helper. How can you be nimble enough to make sure you have resources to be able to do that? or guardian Parent, family member, Put more funding control back in the hands of the specific school communities. or guardian Parent, family member, Less to administration and vanity programs, more to taechers and main stream students. or guardian Parent, family member, ? - not sure but it is amazing that we are in the situation we are in or guardian Parent, family member, Ge the money into the schools rather than into administration. or guardian Parent, family member, The school budget system is not transparent. It is difficult to find out information - actual figures. It requires skill to drill down and fnd figures. or guardian Parent, family member, give back pay for K to the control of the schools. Where is that money going now? or guardian Parent, family member, No opinion. or guardian Parent, family member, Be more creative in leveredging nongovernmental resources, including human talents. or guardian Parent, family member, Wasting resources at the district level leave less for the classroom! or guardian Parent, family member, It seems effective in that we know know we lose and what we have to make up. It seems that the PTA funds are more and more relied upon to just maintain the programs already historically offered at the school. The parents end up paying either way -or guardian we don't really know why our tax dollars are not keeping up their end of the equation of taxes vs. "fundraising". Parent, family member, Improve transparency. or guardian Parent, family member, There are too many special programs and initiatives. What we need is excellent teachers. or guardian Parent, family member, everything is based on the people you have in control that is where your changes need to happen first before anything else can change. or guardian These are difficult times financially across the nation. Parent, family member, Keep passing the levies. I think the SPS needs to be more connected and cooperative with other departments of our city. I feel like SPS is trying to be its or guardian own corporation rather than a facilitator for education, and thus a true pulse for our city. Parent, family member, Allocate where the need is greatest first, and re-define SPS resources: include parents as your greatest resource in an abundance-based, rather than scarcity-based, model. or guardian Parent, family member, equally distributed to all schools. all schools have the same standard. or guardian Parent, family member, It's frustrating to see that overcrowded schools do not receive enough money to pay for sufficient staff to educate the students well. Each school should be able to have a librarian and counselor and nurse if needed. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 80 81 82 83 84 85 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Let all staff know of timelines and process. Provide a very brief summary to parents. Become fair in your dealings with all schools! the entire process is flawed as it is based on unreliable data- the assignment plan should help over time, but again, not for schools with an opt out option. Transparency, accountability on how funds are spent

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more transparancy Reduce the headcount at JSCEE and increase the headcount at schools. Give principals more control over their budgets. Parent, family member, Eliminate funding for a significant portion of the Strategic Plan. Eliminate spending on MAP and technology upgrades. Reduce or guardian salaries at JSCEE by 20% and give that to principals as discretionary funds. Parent, family member, the committee must be a balanced and knowledgeable representation of all three education levels, and funding should perhaps be allocated from the top down (high, middle, elementary). or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to teachers parents and students about their wants and needs or guardian Parent, family member, Parents need to see where the money is being spent. There should be annual community forums explaining the budget and how the money is being allocated or guardian Parent, family member, School that are showing academic improvement should receive some more financial help. or guardian Parent, family member, Make sure there is a funding floor so all schools have a reasonable baseline for funding. or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce central office and administration budget. Use the federal numbers for determining which schools receive the federal funding the district receives. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know. or guardian Look at your own overhead and start making the serious cuts that other companies/businesses have been forced to make. Parent, family member, Really, just shifting people in jobs does not create a cost savings and was one of the most absurd reorg statements I read from or guardian the new administration. Parent, family member, The budgeting system seems so complicated from where I sit that I can offer no useful opinion. In general, however, I'm concerned about the disparity between "haves" and "have nots" schools. or guardian

Parent, family member, Create a section on the SPS website that is specifically about the budget with data showing dollars available, the allocation by or guardian school, etc., with tabular data and charts/graphs to illustrate. Keep it transparent and make all the data available. 96 Parent, family member, First of all, be transparent. Tell us parents what is going on at the time - not a year or two later after decisions have already or guardian been made. We want to be a part of the decision making process with complete information and be able to vote on it. We hear about such wastes and misallocations. It is hard to hear about the millions spent for MAP but not have the schools rennovated to be safe for our kids...or not have new schools opened. Or the recent fiasco with Goodall-Johnson. It seems like Parent, family member, there are several people in management that are not supervised or monitored and it is costing our children their education. I or guardian would be fine with increased property tax, income tax, or lottery tax to get more money for our schools, but we need to know it is being used effectively as well. Parent, family member, I will have to think about that more. or guardian Parent, family member, Give financial control back to the good principals. Ms Claytor made excellent budget decisions when she had the opportunity to make them 5 years ago. or guardian Parent, family member, Get more money! or guardian Just about anything that can be done would be better than what has been done. Appeal to the community, remind people that Parent, family member, everyone benefits from the student's successes. The students in these schools are the people who will be solving our future or guardian medical, scientific and power struggles. Everyone benefits. Parent, family member, Ensure that all schools receive resources for intervention. There are students struggling in all buildings, not just in level 1 and 2 schools. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know enough about this. or guardian Parent, family member, MORE TRANSPARENCY or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know about the process, but there is still a lot of waste in the area of material acquisition and allocation. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text higher profile distribution of the ongoing process so that I don't have to be an SPS wonk to know what's going on. Quit wasting money on centralized testing and administration of expensive evaluation systems. Our district pays WAY too much money to consultants, "experts" and unproven programs (MAP testing and Everyday math come to mind). That money should be going to the schools and children they are supposed to be educating. More money to the classrooms; less money to administration. Input from parents - use email to let us know that we can provide input - therefore, computer systems need upgrading to allow this! listen to what parents say and school staff. each school has different needs.

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Don't know. In communications, highlight the main points -- an "executive summary" -- every time some newsworthy aspect of the process is completed. the budget survey was terrible, questions were badly written and the choices were in the weeds not stretegy plus redundant at Parent, family member, every level but it totally missed the SE who needs transportation. Do a better job at engaging the community, have a citizen group join budget committees, pulls from PTA, CPPS and others who or guardian want to help particiapte and improve budget decisions and accountability Parent, family member, Plain language explanation for parents to increase involvement with sufficient time (2 weeks to a month) for review. or guardian Parent, family member, Less scandals please! or guardian Parent, family member, The biggest part of your budget is controlled by politicians in bed with the teachers union. I would start there. or guardian Parent, family member, A fixed amount per student or guardian Parent, family member, Get more teacher, parent, and student input. or guardian Parent, family member, In my limited view into this it seems very complicated. The uncertainty is difficult for families and staff. or guardian One would like to think we have enough money to effectively run SPS, but it never seems that way. Send me a detailed budget Parent, family member, and I will do an audit then come back with suggestions (joking, kind of), but in this matter I could not render an intelligent or guardian opinion. Parent, family member, Not sure; this is understandably a challenging endeavor and kudos to all the hard-working folks behind the scenes that put budgets and priorities together. or guardian Parent, family member, Translate the documents. or guardian Parent, family member, carefully assess the needs of each school and provide what is needed or guardian I think there should be a move from single-school PTA funding to one in which half the money raised by PTAs stays at the Parent, family member, school and the other half goes into a fund that is distributed equally to all schools. The inequity of programs as you move from or guardian north to south in the district is astounding. Parent, family member, Allocate based on school need & school size. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not qualified to answer. or guardian Parent, family member, transparency. give online access to information. include detailed budget for central administration or guardian Parent, family member, Everyone seems to be underfunded and our PTA is paying for things that the school should provide. I.e. Reading specialist. Tutors, teacher supplies or guardian Parent, family member, Looks like the resources would currently be most effective allocated to teaching staff and housing of students in overcrowded schools. Focusing on these issues seems to me to be the best improvement. or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce amount being used for administration. Increase funding directly to schools. or guardian Parent, family member, I know nothing about the process. or guardian more visibility, transparency, communication to parents. make the responsibility yours to communicate, not on parents to track Parent, family member, down the information. navigating the SPS is very hard, finding information is hard, getting the same information consistantly from different people when you call in and ask questions if hard (you get different answers from different people, why is it not or guardian the same?) Parent, family member, Less bureaucracy or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text I'm not a numbers person. I just wish we had more money for our schools and teachers. How do we accomplish that? Wish I Parent, family member, knew. I will say that I liked it when each principal had control over their own budget and how it was spent for their building. or guardian Every school has different needs, why not let principals decide where funds go. too much spent in SPS HQ. Too many unneeded positions that don't directly help students. Make every staff member Parent, family member, accountable to how many hours a week their job directly benefits students. Make all HQ staff do rotations through schools and or guardian volunteer Parent, family member, transparency or guardian Parent, family member, Put a floor on the budget allocations to schools. The school that have less than about 15 to 20% F/RL had very large percentile budget cuts for 2011-2012 while the rest of the schools had very little if any reduction in their budget. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop spending money on 3 tests per year. or guardian Parent, family member, I wish I knew. or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to the teachers. Listen to the parents. Stop ignoring us. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know much about the current process, so I can't recommend how best to improve it. More transparency, communication, and family engagement in the budgeting process are needed. or guardian Parent, family member, Better educational goal and phylosphy setting, more flexibility at the local school level to implement budget or guardian What is the communication around the districts budget development process? I've never seen anything. So, if you are thinking Parent, family member, that I as a parent should now, then, I'd have to give it an "Ineffective". In terms of allocation, you have a HUGE trust issue with how funds are used. You have had huge budget shortfalls in the past and the debacle with the minority small business program or guardian that hit the news recently. It is because of these things that I voted against the recent levy. I will not give you anymore money until you PROVE to me that the money you are already getting is being used efficiently. Parent, family member, Timing, proactive communication, action plans at the school site, and community outreach in decision making would be helpful as a part of the budgeting process. or guardian Parent, family member, Use this survey to help inform how parents want the dollars spent. or guardian Parent, family member, MORE transparency, everything seems to be so secretive unless pushed into providing an answer or guardian Parent, family member, Because of the districts budget, all of my classess have at least 30 kids or more. or guardian Parent, family member, Continue transparent audits and transparency of actions take as related to audits. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop hiring dictatorial superintendents! or guardian Parent, family member, get rid of middle mismanagement and more direct funds to schools or guardian Parent, family member, Send more surveys. or guardian Parent, family member, The district wastes money closing and opening schools with no consideration for community demographics. or guardian I would love an emailed copy sent to parents for review on where the tax payer dollars are going in black and white and then Parent, family member, explain why closed schools are not sold to have cash to put back into the schools. When a person is poor they cut back cut or guardian back and then sell. Your not selling. Parent, family member, Working meetings at each school. Roll up to the district thereafter. or guardian Parent, family member, Focus on academics. Not recycling, not minority hiring, not athletics or guardian Parent, family member, need to look at costs per teacher. Refer to work done by http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/print/csr_docs/home.htm about how you can better maximize and allocate funds or guardian From

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Purple Book is really only info out there. We should be able to see line item by department (other districts do it.) Fully fund schools first then hire and fire downtown after that. Revised WSS for K-8s is an improvement-that process seemed to work well. Projected enrollment should square for budget/assignment/registration/everything. It sounds to me like it doesn't. The Parent, family member, amount of May RIF/Oct Rehire we do is crazy, inefficient and demoralizing. Board tends to say, there is no money for schools, but then doesn't question expensive Strategic Plan elements (MAP?). You let grants drive decisions that cost us money in the or guardian long run (MAP again, Teach for America...). Allow schools to administer their own Pay for K if they like. Make it easier to hire outside staff for small amounts of time/projects. Make it easier for schools to do their own repairs, maintenance and renovations. Make it easier for buildings to trade staff across WSS classifications. Revise budgets after Open Enrollment and again at the end of August. Don't wait until October. 159

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Put the funds where the greatest NEEDS are! 160 or guardian Get parents involved. Voice your opinions and needs. Stop asking for "more money" and start showing exactly what money you Parent, family member, need and what it will be used for. Cut the waste, inefficiency, and nonsense - minority hiring? super expensive administrators? UW has been streamlining their admin, SPS should show the public how they have economized and then ask for targeted or guardian money. More public meetings in the evenings!! We parents want to support schools but are not shown how to do it effectively. YOur jobs do NOT stop at 5 pm on this, just as parents cannot go home and forget about it after 5 pm. 161 Parent, family member, SPS is a big bureaucracy and unscrupulous employees exist at all levels. Ethical administrators and collegues should be supported and action taken when misdeeds are reported. Do not wait to be outed by the Seattle Times years later! The most or guardian recent budget scandal was inexcusable, and the former SPS administrator now in the other Washington was complicit. Parent, family member, Less focus on centralization and focus only on education (does SPS really need to be in small business development???) or guardian Parent, family member, Get more funds. The state of funding for kids who aren't average (below or above) is deplorable. or guardian -Cut costs/staffing/programs at the Central office to free up funds for each school -Delay textbook buying and the like until after the recession so we can keep funding teachers in these lean times Parent, family member, -Make sure schools continue to have adequate counselor and nurse staffing -Attach extra money to struggling students (those below grade level in reading and math) specifically to pay to extra instruction, or guardian independent of low-income, IEP, etc. -Allocate more levy money directly to schools, and less in non-essential programs Parent, family member, pay our school board more money so we get better qualified people. Also have paid board staff person(s) to provide better information. or guardian Parent, family member, Decrease the salaries for administrative staff - no one should be making six figures in school administration except the superintendent. or guardian Parent, family member, Remind people why it is important to be involved or guardian Parent, family member, Cut administrators salaries or guardian it is a complex process and i do feel that communication has improved. Im not sure that it has led to greater understanding of Parent, family member, the process. I think that the general public is aware that the money is not there and is not going to be there anytime soon. or guardian Levies should be successful if you focus on filling in state funding gaps. Parent, family member, More involvement from the community. or guardian Parent, family member, Make it more transparent. Make a "dashboard" fr the district and each school easily accessible on the SPS website. or guardian 1. Please continue to try to be as transparent as possible at the administrative level--why is it so top heavy? Parent, family member, 2. Site - based budgeting is not as site - based as it appears. it would be helpful for the public to know what decisions schools or guardian can and cannot make. fund schools first. Make all funding stages for schools transparent to the public and the board. Currently only initial allocations Parent, family member, are put on the web - staffing and funding adjustments that occur after enrollment numbers come in are almost completely out of or guardian sight of the public and the board. And for all the discussion of funding the district's primary mission first, that doesn't seem to have happened - and then so many schools were underprojected as to make it an exercise in absurdity. Parent, family member, I have received no communication on this process. You could start by asking the community how we want our funds spent in terms of priorities and then engaging us in the process. or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of the levy system. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know about this process. or guardian Parent, family member, no comment or guardian Parent, family member, My daughter attends a K-8 school that was given only $15,000 to convert from an elementary school to a k-8 school. This is simply unacceptable. Resources are humiliating in how they are allocated across the district. or guardian There isn't enough money. Get private funds. I am so tired of the district talking about getting kids college/job ready and taking Parent, family member, away counselors that could help the students get on track. Academic rigor? Let's take away AP courses from the kids that really or guardian need them, sepcially in math and science. Parent, family member, Better communication with community members and parents about the process or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Fix capacity issues, stick with the neighborhood school plan and lower student to teacher ratios. all schools should be allocated equal funding according to size Post all school budgets online at a detailed level. hire more effective people, fire ineffective staff, will have more money to allocate You might try finding some outside removed auditors to assess what's been done and consult with previously effective budget planners that have no connection to the school to lay out a plan.

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I don't have opinion about this topic because I am not part of the decision making process. Stop wasting time to talk abkut the same thing over. More times you meet, more money you waste. And I would lime the lost $2M back in the district's bank. Reserving 20% of the general funds until October 1st enrollment numbers, and then not actually adjusting the budget for the school to reflect any higher numbers in enrollment seems criminal. The allocation for adequately funding k-8 schools has made a huge difference. Thank you for listening and responding to school needs. keep listening and focus your dollars on the classroom where it reaches students. Is this a trick question? We are 45th in the country is per pupil spending. Process for allocation? Allocation of what? Attack Parent, family member, greed, feed young minds, re-educate adults, and end our prison society. And did I mention that there should be an all-out or guardian public assault on greed? Parent, family member, better public communication of how budget allocation aligns with Strategic Plan priorities -- what is this framework -- should be upfront to public. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut the bureaucracy. or guardian Parent, family member, Schools are horribly underfunded and I am not a financial expert. We should have a state income tax - taxes are terribly regressive. or guardian Parent, family member, Let the community affected have input with the funds decisions. Parents may rather have funds spent at the classroom level than the downtown administration level so it is more balanced. or guardian Parent, family member, WA State, and the country as a whole needs to spend more on education. Maybe the School District needs to cut even more from the central administration. or guardian Parent, family member, It would be beneficial to have school enrollment numbers earlier in the year so school budget decisions could be made with more knowledge of the next school year's needs. or guardian Parent, family member, Give schools that have challenges more money and support them in achieving better outcomes. or guardian Parent, family member, Take a harsher look at wasteful spending (Facilities spending on closed buildings) or guardian Parent, family member, Funds should follow needs. Students with needs should have resources. I'm not really following this question. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't have a good idea on this question. or guardian Parent, family member, get clear about priorities and don't try to provide too much variety. provide less financial support for athletics (boosters are enthusiastic enough to handle this) and spend more on programs that support high achievers. or guardian We need a more open budget that is parsable by the board and community. Parent, family member, or guardian We should have hard targets on the percentage spent in schools vs administration. Parent, family member, It depend the pricipal how she/he uses it or guardian Be clear on priorities. Right now it has been a massive clean up from years of poor leadership. Are the priorities becoming the Parent, family member, best school district in the state for a public school education? Ask parents who have left, why? And make sure Silas Potter or guardian never happens again Parent, family member, Be TRULY transparent in everything no tjust the pieces you want the public to see or guardian Parent, family member, More state money!!! or guardian Parent, family member, Spend more on learning and less on assessment. Programs to support special needs of all students. or guardian Pare down the central JSCEE office to a lean cost-efficient operation. Stop redirecting funds to outside consultants, testing companies, PR personnel, small business contract operations. Parent, family member, Stop RIFing essential staff like teachers and counselors. Reinstate them. or guardian Make good on levy allocation promises. Stop focusing on the process; start focusing on the results.

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Needs to shift more to the classroom. 211 or guardian Parent, family member, Need community input. Need accountability and transparency. 212 or guardian Parent, family member, To date there is still no clear picture of how funds are spent, new positions are created and people shuffled with no spreadsheet or guardian to accompany the new information. There should be a clear and accurate count of who does what and how they are paid. Parent, family member, Decrease spending at district level. Give buildings as much autonomy as possible and trust BLT's. Don't underestimate next year's enrollment during budget process. or guardian Parent, family member, If you want parent input, that's not happening from my view. I know nothing about your budget development process. or guardian Parent, family member, really, as a parent, how would i know how to answer this????? or guardian Parent, family member, The District office is very inflated with staff that is not needed. These funds should go to schools and more teachers. There are too many people in upper and middle management. or guardian Parent, family member, Maybe this is already being done...but anonymously survey the teachers and ask them what they need....I've had three teacher's this year that have bought supplies with their own money.... or guardian Regular postings and info on the district website. Parent, family member, Opportunities to meet with administrators at local schools. Funds should be given where needed but with a progress check or guardian several months later to see that the funds were doing what set out to do . Parent, family member, Actually, I dont know. But all I hear from other parents is how badly the district manages its money. Either you really do it badly, or you desperately need to work on your PR. The opinion out there is UGLY. or guardian Parent, family member, Close RB and Cleveland or guardian Have a tracking system in the central office to ensure money is spent on our children, not on donations to outside sources or Parent, family member, into the pockets of thieves. I volunteer 20 hours a month to raise money for our school. It is so disheartening to read about or guardian staff stealing so much money or so much money being mishandled. Pooled PTSA funds. One problem with increasing funding at poorer schools is that kids in those schools get programs shoved Parent, family member, at them, like the STEM program. Instead, why not fund schools to boost where needed. For example, if a pooper school has no music program, why not increase funding and staffing until brought to a level supported at schools with established music or guardian programs? Return autonomy and budgeting discretion to individual schools. Purge JSCEE of coaches and directors and reinvest those Parent, family member, dollars in schools. or guardian Run the district. Stop trying to constantly change it. Parent, family member, The allocation process needs to be communicated as we have seen some inconsistencies in allocation amongst North and South End Schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Make sure you talk to the people implementing the budget when developing the next one. Directives from on high (the board) are not likely to pan out well when developed in isolation. or guardian Parent, family member, Be transparent and make working for the district a desirable position so people won't need to leave or steal. or guardian Parent, family member, More levies. or guardian Parent, family member, n/a or guardian Parent, family member, Do not politicize enrollment by deliberately projecting artificially low enrollments for the fall term. Don't plan staffing based on the worst-case scenario. Allocate staffing based on the most likely scenario. or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate some to AOL. or guardian Parent, family member, No advice, not my area of expertise and how could anyone really know unless they are those working on it. Ask them, I bet they would tell you if you have a good work environment that encourages thinking and innovation. or guardian Parent, family member, I have no knowledge of the district's budget development process. Has it been communicated to parents? or guardian Parent, family member, I would love to see more input at the school level. or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency or guardian Parent, family member, Free up funds from other budget categories- Top down reorganization of JSCEE. Cut MAP. Avoid legal costs. No consultants. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop pretending that every kid and every school is equal. or guardian Parent, family member, What's wrong with it? or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 239 240 241 242 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text It's way too much about process. Who is out there willing to actually make hard decisions that may go against the grain of popular support? I don't understand the process enough to answer this. better funding for the schools- for example music education should be funded not paid for by PTAs

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not sure. you have schools that are about to end the year and the parents have not been apart of the budget process or have approved the budget. you have a school that is sitting with a 48% allocation decrease and all the district can say is sorry. Board made a Parent, family member, bad decision last year. you have 3 prinicipals at one school 2 at another and where there are not even enough kids to fill 25% of or guardian the school. look at EACH SCHOOL individually and identify its needs and make it happen!!!! treat each school as though it is your child. Parent, family member, communicate it to parents or guardian Parent, family member, Include all expenses, including administrative ones, in the pot prioritizing. Much more transparency. or guardian (see ealier comment about using historical PTA fundraising levels to allocate a pool of public money to the schools with the lowest historical PTA fundraising.) This would work, because nothing will change the fact that people with the financial means Parent, family member, to support their school, will support their school. We can't have some schools with a $200k PTA purse and others with $2. Trying to create a district-wide PTA pool would be a disaster. But using historical PTA fund data to allocate a relatively small or guardian pool of PUBLIC funds would in no way squash the giving of parents, while allowing the children of poor families to enjoy some of the benefits of PTA funds. Parent, family member, Please strip unnecessary programs and allocate whatever you can to improve staffing ratios, especially for ICS students who are now going to take an even greater hit next year (if that's even possible) or guardian Parent, family member, no comment or guardian Parent, family member, Do you really want to know? Get thieves and seekers of personal gain out of the administration. or guardian Parent, family member, Work with the state legislature to align the budget process so there's less guess work. or guardian Parent, family member, No opinion. or guardian Simplify. Get rid of things that are unnecessary -- less top-down administration, less (and less expensive) professional development, less technology (really -- it isn't THAT necessary -- especially in elementary schools). Really LOOK at the budget Parent, family member, line by line and do the tough work of eliminating anything that doesn't directly affect academics. Lessening bus transportation is good. Talk with the City of Seattle about the City contributing MORE to what is actually social services, rather than academics. or guardian Adopt curricula that do NOT require a lot of money for upkeep-- like expensive "consumables" and manipulatives. Get BACK TO BASICS. Then create a media campaign to publicize this and to gain the support of the community. Be PRO ACTIVE rather than REACTIVE with you make changes. Get some local celebrities involved -- they can do it for free. Parent, family member, Give more budgeting resources and power to the school Principals. Have teachers apply for grants for classroom curriculum. Involve the district funding with school principals as well. or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce administration positions and costs. or guardian Parent, family member, Not close to this, but it is important to reinforce accountability and ownership at the school level, while providing professional oversight and support. or guardian Parent, family member, Less administrative positions and more dollars in classrooms. Drastically reduce the number of central office employees or guardian Stop penalizing schools that have more middle class families by funding them less. Parents and PTA should not be expected Parent, family member, to pick up the slack financially. Further, because the middle class schools get less funding they have less dollars to allocate to or guardian support services. So the struggling students in those schools have virtually no access to intervention or support. Won't help close the achievement gap. Fund schools equally, don't base funding on their parents income. Parent, family member, Visit each school and make a presentation and have someone there who can answer specific questions. or guardian Parent, family member, Be more efficient; less dithering. or guardian Parent, family member, make it a public process where parents have an input. pretty clear that without parent input the district will continue to make same mistakes. or guardian Parent, family member, No more political pay-offs!!! Address the fact that some schools with wealthier families can raise money via parent donations, and some cannot. This is completely unfair. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 262 or guardian Parent, family member, 263 or guardian Response Text Build the schools budget first - then and only then build central administration. Quit adding on new plans, positions and goals that cost money. I don't know the inner workings of how or why some budget decisions are made, but I do know more transparency is required to education many families about how tax dollars are spent. I need to qualify my answers to #1 and #2 above; I don't have direct dealings with the budget so I can't really answer the Parent, family member, questions effectively, I can only give you my impression based on what our school has been through. I do know there was a problem with our school being a K-8 and being classifed as if we were K-5 when it came to the budget, apparently that situation or guardian has been rectified. Parent, family member, Give most of budget to principals. or guardian Parent, family member, tell us how to find this info. so we can study it. maybe paper copies could be sent home with students with this info. or guardian Parent, family member, Drop MAP... It takes away from teaching time, it takes the Library out of use for more than 9 weeks a year. Kids need the library ! or guardian Parent, family member, Give more to schools, and cut the fat in the central office. or guardian Parent, family member, I do not know. or guardian Parent, family member, Start with better projections. Build in one extra teaching spot for each school. or guardian Parent, family member, Less $$ spent on consultants and administration, more spent on classrooms. or guardian Parent, family member, The concern is not at the school level, rather how well resources are allocated at the programmatic and operational levels. or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to the parents and school staff. If you ask for input, please take the feedback. or guardian Parent, family member, Doing your fucking job. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know. I'm not a financial analyst. or guardian Parent, family member, As the general population we have voted to fund schools so I am disappointed to see that funding gets cut first when there are serious deficits. Raise taxes to pay for education. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, Not informed enough on this topic. or guardian Parent, family member, More public input. or guardian Parent, family member, i actually don't know how you allocate funds today to be able to make a recommendation on how to improve. or guardian Parent, family member, need to communicate more with parents on the process and why certain decisions were made in the budget or guardian The budget process in mysterious. I know very little about it. I do know that our school was one of many that requested Parent, family member, additional funds to help support an influx of students with autism--which out school community supports wholeheartidly--but our school was denied any additional funding. It was clear throughout this year that the additonal resources were needed and or guardian warrented. This seems to be a big problem within the district, Parent, family member, I noticed in the school reports that McGilvra in a very wealth community of Seattle received more funding annually than our neighborhood school in the south end, with less resources from the parent community. I believe your budgeting should take or guardian into account fundraising by PTA. An additional $100K from the PTA can make a big difference to a school Parent, family member, Give them more $$! or guardian Parent, family member, parent surveys or guardian Make the process more transparent. Listen to your community and how they value programs in their neighborhoods. SSD Parent, family member, may be a non-profit, but it is also a community-based organization that needs to not be consistently split apart. this is not good or guardian for children familes, or learning in general. Parent, family member, Reduce central admin expenses to be more in line with other districts. It's inexcusably bloated with highly paid coaches and expensive, useless tests and weak required curricula. or guardian Parent, family member, Better information needs to be gathered to assess the actual and future needs of these new community based schools or guardian Parent, family member, No opinion as I haven't kept up on this. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Bring SSD more in line with similar districts as far as the percentage of staff in the central office and the percentage of staffing costs represented by the central office staff. communication and transparency are key more transparency Please see my other comments. It appears the district is in a constant mode of putting out fires and reacting to things rather than accurately projecting it's finances and being proactive. This is a complex question. In short, I'm not sure. I would like to see less money spent at the district office and on administration generally. diminish central funding; improve local funding to individual schools

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Get more input! Be more transparent! And when you ask for input, please listen - it's not just an exercise!!! Schools need more money, I volunteer weekly in our middle school, more staff, better lunches, better surroundings are just a few areas I've observed for improvement. Need to create a "dashboard" that updates in real time and is available for viewing on SPS website. The dashboard should Parent, family member, include key performance indicators being used to assess allocation, budget performance, management and education or guardian outcomes. Parent, family member, there are not sufficent funds for schools; maybe the admin costs need to be decreased (more efficiency) or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know what it is now or guardian When a school's budget is determined on a projected enrollment number in Feb that is wildly under what the actual number of students who will be attending the school in Sept, there is only room for improvement. Use more common sense and engage Parent, family member, the school administration in coming up with these early enrollment projections - with projected and real numbers so different, the or guardian budget process is a waste of time. Everything gets changed. Or cap enrollment at or at least very near to the projected enrollment number and then you have a better process. Parent, family member, Spend less of it on administration and on buyouts for satanic superintendents and their theiving friends. Reconsider the MLK sale fiasco. or guardian Again, every budget item should be gauged on the simple standard: Does it support teachers in the classroom? For example, if there is money allocated to a low performing school with high teacher turnover, and that money does nothing to retain good Parent, family member, teachers at that particular school, that line item should be shelved or modified so that it will have a direct impact on retaining or guardian quality teachers. The cost of a new set of books for an experimental curriculum is better invested on premium pay for a great teacher to stay at a particular low performing school. The principals need to have more local control over their budgets, curriculum and hiring of teachers. Each school and Parent, family member, neighborhood has their unique needs that principals are more familiar with than the central district. Testing money should be or guardian allocated to lower classroom sizes or more teachers and programs. Parent, family member, Money should support schools not central administration. Right now the situation is reversed. or guardian The whole process is still painfully obscure. The general public is easily lost right from the starting line with so little Parent, family member, understanding or explanation of "title" funds versus general funds, what stipulations exist for spending title monies, and how or guardian anyone is measuring the efficacy of the way money NOT allocated to schools is being spent. Parent, family member, Provide a clearer understanding of the processes. or guardian Parent, family member, Continue to assure that IDEA and special education spending complies with federal and state regulations. or guardian think outside the box. find more funding - this is one of the richest counties in the country. stop whining. listen to your teachers Parent, family member, and principals they have great ideas. make it more fair, the north end will be fully funded whether or not you provide it for them. That is just the reality of Seattle economics. The south end cannot make up the difference from the pockets and paychecks of or guardian the parents. Allocate funds accordingly and don't apologize for it. Parent, family member, I don't know. It's hard to make less go further. Do principals have discretion as to how to spend their budgets? Do schools receive different amounts? It's all unclear to me how this works. or guardian Parent, family member, Not having everything controlled by school board only. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't waste it on bad superintendents; advocate for greater funding from Olympia or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate funds to the classrooms, not to central office, admin & overhead. Get students to do janitorial and gardening work, perhaps as a supplement to PE or guardian Parent, family member, Look at the big picture. Thurgood Marshall lost Title I funding due to the forced introduction of the APP program there, leaving many without the support they need. or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

I don't understand how funds are tracked. A few years back there was a huge scandal about budget shortfall. Then a few Parent, family member, months ago I got an email about how the district "found" 3 million dollars. Then just a month later I got another email that the district had misspent 2.8 million. How can we efficiently allocate funds if we can't keep track of them? or guardian Is the district audited by an independent auditor? Parent, family member, Line item budgets at the district level. 316 or guardian Parent, family member, I preferred the school controlled budgeting model, where schools had more control of how to allocate and distribute their funds. 317 or guardian 315 Parent, family member, Run it like a business. Establish district wide goals, but then let BUILDINGS establish goals and objectives and measurements and processes to achieve their goals and objectives. Let the buildings establish processes and programs to get where they or guardian need to go. Lever off the PTSAs - give the parents a reason to get involved in their local school. Parent, family member, Make more central decisions, local decision-making results in inequity. or guardian Parent, family member, physically go to the school so you can see what is really needed or guardian Parent, family member, make it more transparent. or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of the expensive and ineffective testing. or guardian Parent, family member, Money should be going to the schools, not to administration or guardian First, we need more money, figure out how much money we really need. Add up all the PTA money the grant money, etc, and what it is buying. Figure out how much more we would need to provide exceptional programs (music, art, science, etc.) at all Parent, family member, schools, with small classes and one on one help for struggling students. What is that number? Once we know that number, we or guardian can figure out where to get it. Need to change the way you think about the problem. It's not a question of allocation, it's a question of, how do we get the money we need to do the job?????? The public still needs to understand how so much money could have been siphoned off by the department under Silas Potter, Parent, family member, and what will be done to rectify the situation. This impacts our perceptions about the district's effective use of resources, no or guardian matter how well-designed the budget is. First, be more specific about the goals and how budget line items address them. "Every child achieving" makes for nice stationery but there is no tactical application of how to get there Next, be honest and transparent about how much money is going to classroom instruction and how much to other stuff -Parent, family member, development coaches who aren't in a building full-time aren't the same as teachers who are there 40 hrs/wk and should be listed clearly and separately or guardian Make it clear what resources are tied to enrollment, and explain the reasoning behind forecast enrollment changes to dispel resentment and feeling that enrollment projections are sandbagged to clean up the budget regardless of the uncertainty it creates for teachers or parents 326 Parent, family member, Again, funding can be re-distributed so that schools are funded using monies that are allocated for planning and upper staff. How much does the upper level professionals REALLY bring change to the classroom? 327 or guardian 1. You need to figure out, first, what the schools needs are (including counselors, etc.) and budget for that BEFORE budgeting for downtown. And the school budgets need to identify "district driven" expenses -- like coaches assigned to schools, etc., that might be eliminated in favor of positions (elementary counsellors, librarians, aides, etc.) that schools and parents might want Parent, family member, instead of those positions. 2. If you count "central admin"expenses that are currently "billed" to schools, we are still spending too much (i.e. more than or guardian 6%) on central office functions. If a position isn't working directly with a student -- or isn't something that takes a task off a teacher's plate so they can spend more time with students -- it should be considered for cuts, in the current budget crisis. We are a long way from that goal. 328 Parent, family member, stop wasting money on "coaches", when many of the problems could be fixed by simply changing textbook/curricula! in general, more money in buildings/classrooms, less in central administration. 329 or guardian Parent, family member, Increase accountability. 330 or guardian Send more money to schools. Lengthen the day by at least 30 minutes; budget in time and resources for kids to have Parent, family member, questions. Spend your energy on figuring out and resolving what kids are struggling with and respond by working with each or guardian child NOT more wasted PD on the adults 331 Parent, family member, Send money to schools. Keep class sizes smaller so teachers can better manage. Cut all the "middle management". It's not helping the students. Small classes and good teachers is all we need! 332 or guardian Parent, family member, Cover the basics for all schools. Build your foundation first, then see what is needed to support this. if there are not funds for all the extras, provide the basics and teach them well. 333 or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text START by allocating money first to schools so they can do their best. Any leftover funds can be spent on Central District Administration. Right now the District does it backwards. Organize public school families and their supporters to hold Olympia's feet to the fire and demand full funding of public education Less money to administration, more money to schools! Better oversight. Hey What happened to the funds for Indians? Oops, it got lost, didn't it? Look across the board at all schools and analyze what support and resources they have and what they lack. Then give more support to schools that are struggling. spend less on admin More transperency and community input in the budget. Giving the principal's more discretion in allocating building funds liek they did a few years ago will help schools to continue to offer quality programs. No opinion. Actually I have many, but mostly pertaining to my thoughts on how ineffective and wasteful the district has been over the course of the last decade. Spending money on structures without supporting adequate staffing seems to be the current allocation plan. Process is obscure and takes huge effort. Even when I involve myself I have to study long and hard and can not keep up with the Administration and the Board when it comes time to develop the budget. Transparency in the process; providing PTA's and Site Councils with more information and at an earlier point in the budgeting process so that they can have meaningful input.

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Parent, family member, Use true community engagement. For inspiration watch this: http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/index.aspx or guardian Stop the top-down communications. Decisions must excude Kids First! No new costly website designs -- that's not kids first. Parent, family member, Start with accurate enrollment numbers. or guardian Parent, family member, I only know that Nova seems to get shorted everytime. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't have a strong opinion about your process for allocating budget. Think that's your job. or guardian Parent, family member, Continue to strengthen and improve the collaborative process, this year was a good start or guardian Parent, family member, The district still supports too many administrative units rather than allocating funding to teachers and classrooms or guardian

Parent, family member, More transparency. More explanation of the process. It is nearly impossible to tell, for instance, why Schmitz Park gets $5000 or guardian per student while Bailey Gatzert (sp?) gets several thousand more per student. Why, and what are they doing with that money? 351 Parent, family member, Cleaning up the process would be nice (yes, I'm referring to the recent boondogle). I live near Viewlands Elementary, which was closed (for reasons that were never explained), and is now be totally remodeled in order to reopen again, at a huge expense. or guardian Why close a school, only to reopen it again (at a huge expense) 3 years later, when population patterns haven't shifted? Parent, family member, Sell the main office. put the board in a different school every tome it meets and have the superintendent move from school to school and therefore know all of the district. or guardian Parent, family member, Accountability or guardian Parent, family member, More of our dollars to the schools and less to central administration. or guardian Parent, family member, I am on the BLT at my son's middle school and there was a whopping $40,000 that the school could manage in their budget process, hardly worth 12 people spending 3 afternoons talking about. or guardian Parent, family member, The state needs to make it a higher priority and figure out the accurate needs of the schools and then figure out a way to create the necessary fund. or guardian Parent, family member, Ensuring equity for all and provide rsources to accomodate ones that requires more nuturing in avademics or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency. or guardian Parent, family member, IT's hard to know when the district and each school is so short of funds. Give more choice to the school as to what they will do with their pot of money. or guardian Parent, family member, The schools should have more control over their budgets, and shouldn't have to work hard to create budgets only to have the district overturn them, and say, "You don't get your counselor after all." or guardian Please streamline the administrative process. A strategic plan should focus on how best to support teachers and students in a Parent, family member, time of financial strain. Tests and administrating tests just has not worked and we should attempt to reduce testing and support or guardian the education that our students need!!

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, HUGE question. I have no answers. 363 or guardian Parent, family member, SPS is at a severe disadvantage compared with other area districts; we are often the last to hire because principals don't get data on enrollment and staffing until far too late in the year. By that time, the best teaching candidates are gone. Schools need or guardian to know their district allocated budget sooner than they do now in order to allow for thoughtful planning. Our kids' school need so much fundraising from parents which is really hard on us. Paying for K in addition to fundraising Parent, family member, seems too much. Each school should have control moey for kindergarten. It seems like school have never enough money to do anything. How do you allocate money? Where are they? It costs so much to send my kids to school that it is not public or guardian school. Give more money to the schools and less money to the John Stanford Center. RIF central staff, not teachers and counselors. Parent, family member, Take a good, hard look at the personnel line items and decide if they serve students directly. If there is no direct impact, then that FTE needs to go. School budgets should be set first and then central administration should set its budget on the leftovers, or guardian not the other way around. *Don't put so much emphasis on the number of free/reduced lunch kids. For example, schools with a low % of free/reduced Parent, family member, lunch don't get the same number of tutors/aids - that is not logical. Kids from all areas need extra help. *Check carefully the staffing at the Admin Offices - cut here before taking money from schools. I believe the Central Office or guardian Staffing in SPSs is higher than that of similar Districts. Parent, family member, Funds for schools are abysmally tight. I wish I could answer this one. or guardian Parent, family member, Give more money to schools and greatly cut the central administration and their salaries. What is most important? The students. Give them smaller class sizes. or guardian Back off from MGJ's 5 year plan. The budget matches the strategic plan pretty well, but since the strategic plan spends so Parent, family member, much money on standardization and oversight, and we have less money than we expected, we should re-think the strategic plan rather than do our best to be faithful to it with shrinking dollars -- especially because the plan of standardization and or guardian oversight has been like throwing bombs at our teachers. Parent, family member, More discretion for use of budgets at individual sites. or guardian Parent, family member, COMPLETE transparency on how monies are being spent. Right now, schools are bearing the brunt of cuts; this should be happening more in Central Administration. or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to teachers. Allow a little more flexibility. Instituting district wide initiatives without district wide input will never have desired results and result in heavy investment in training that may not pan out. or guardian Parent, family member, Washington state needs an income tax. Teachers should be getting pay raises, not cuts. or guardian Parent, family member, Accept input from citizen watchdog groups; fund higher need schools at higher rate; decrease funding for central administration (many schools are getting less in spite of higher parental payments because of central admin collection). There must be or guardian individualized funding; different populations have different funding requirements -- "fair" does not mean "equal". - Allot only 6-7% to central administration (which should be defined as everyone that is not located in a school building at least Parent, family member, 75% of their work time.) - Get better enrollment projections in April (the numbers have been so low that the parents certainly can tell they are low just by or guardian the sniff test.) Parent, family member, There is little to no transparency into the decision making process or how it directs our kids. or guardian Parent, family member, involve community to develop the plan or guardian Parent, family member, PAY ATTENTION TO THE IMPORTANT ISSUE TO IMPROVE ACADEMY AND NOT LOOSING ALL THAT MONEY WITH ORRIBLE CHANGES SUCH AS THE NEW ASSIGNMENT PLAN or guardian Parent, family member, Get more money or guardian Parent, family member, Plan, communicate, manage or guardian Parent, family member, I think we need a completely new approach for funding. It should be a seperate fund the state supports not bundled with other non education related things. or guardian Parent, family member, i donts know or guardian Parent, family member, WHat funds? THe teachers run out of copy paper before the years end, and whats the story with the begging for Kleenex? SInce when is a box of kleenex a requirement to attend the first day of school. Are you kidding me? or guardian Parent, family member, Don't embezzle money from the district, executives! or guardian Parent, family member, Budget communications should be placed in a visible location on the SPS website or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text find more money Stop the corruption, maybe. don't rely on pta's to support the districts poor financial decisions. hire people that can do the job not based on some affirmative action increased efforts to inform public of resources needed to adequately educate children i don't know there is such a huge inequality between schools in the seattle district that it is sad, I don't know what the answer is b/c I don't know how the district allocates funds. Funding the lower level classes gets rid of the best students who escape the bureaucracy by attending somewhat effective private schools. Give the best students the reward of true rigor and challenge. reduce overhead, streamline operations and improve services At the school level it seems as if teachers and programs are being nickel and dimed on everything unless the PTSA covers the gaps. How do you explain that? more local input and control. faculty and administrators at McGilvra work closely with the community and understand the priorities well. I do not know. monitor the people who are in charge of the money greater transparency

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Parent, family member, The lack of resources in this state for public schools and teachers is downright embarassing. I think SPS does the best it can or guardian with what it has, but Inclusion training must be introduced more effectively so our most vulnerable kids don't suffer. Parent, family member, Not sure at this time. or guardian Parent, family member, again, stop throwing extra money at south-end schools - every school should get same amount per student from the district, and schools' PTAs can earn the extra for extras or guardian Parent, family member, Again I am new to the school district and do not have enough information to answer this question. or guardian Parent, family member, Do not wait until the last minute. We were identifying the need and hiring teachers days before the start of school. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure. or guardian Parent, family member, Just a comment on question 1 in this section above -- you mean "about" not "around." Using "around" in that fashion is silly or guardian business-speak-gobbledygook. I would expect educators to use English crisply and correctly and refrain from jargon like this. Parent, family member, Hire the best financial CFO or guardian Parent, family member, I'm not well briefed on this topic. or guardian Speed up process for facilitating school construction and updates. Nathan Hale students had no lunchroom-except outside-that Parent, family member, is unacceptable and shocking! The condition of the school at the beginning of the 2010 was unacceptable-especially for or guardian incoming Freshman-like a war zone. Parent, family member, It's difficult when elementary schools have to 'recruit' parents of kindergardeners to come to their schools. It hurts enrollment at or guardian other, perhaps less desired schools. I guess the neighborhood school theory is the most fair in allocating funds for schools, eh? Parent, family member, Transparent inclusive involvement in prioritization and budget decisions - invite principals into the decision processes as partners or guardian Parent, family member, study the need of individual schools and not clusters or guardian Parent, family member, Develop a strategic plan that focuses all money solely on the delivery of the curriculum. Your plan is adult focused not student focused. or guardian Parent, family member, Less waste, less changes or guardian Parent, family member, clean house downtown or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text state tax Better communication and transparency will help understand the process better and allow for more input. Need based allocation It seems from media accounts, that there is an overall lack of oversight in the SPS budget as a whole. Expend more effort in channeling more money to school-based management, and remove central drains to the budget. the problem is lack of funds, partner with outside programs like Bill and Melinda Gates, invite business community into schools purging the graft and corruption would help Spend more time and discernment on avoiding making hiring mistakes at the highest levels I don't really get to be part of the budget process, However, it would be nice if parents were since I would think the parents voice in what should be priorities would be a helpful thing for principals to have.

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Parent, family member, Set clear goals and let the parents be involved. Focus limited funds on students and reducing class size and reduce overhead. or guardian Decision to eliminate counselors was a bad one. Even splitting counselors among schools would be better than not having one. Parent, family member, cut waste; streamline bureaucracy; cut out the dead wood (and be assured, there is A LOT of dead wood; be open, transparent, and fair or guardian Parent, family member, Have outside audits. Track where the $$ goes. Stop loosing $$. or guardian Parent, family member, Have safeguards in place to avoid mishaps that have happened recently. or guardian Parent, family member, Ensure input from all schools are evaluated. or guardian Parent, family member, IDK or guardian Parent, family member, give schools the full budget based on enrollment in the spring in the case of GHS where the schools historically retain / attract all teh students who arrive. Cap enrollment at GHS or guardian Parent, family member, increase transparency or guardian Parent, family member, Every school gets the same, regardless. or guardian

Parent, family member, allow schools more control over how they decided to use their resources. Hire back art, PE, music, school nurses and or guardian counselors - quit starving education with too much bureaucracy and administration - put the money where the kids are. Parent, family member, Consider asking the State for a 0.5% sales tax or other services tax to raise more funds for the school (or at least the larger school districts in the State). 435 or guardian 434 Parent, family member, take the unions out of it. Quit trying to be liberal-schools should remain conservative, and allow parents to teach values and or guardian religion. No reason for medical birth control clinics on school property-poor use of tax dollars when there are options for teens. Parent, family member, REview where the biggest learnign gapes are, identify if it is the teachers, be bold and improve or guardian Parent, family member, Establish a reliable, permanent funding source. or guardian Parent, family member, Does it need improving? That is a school board question. I hope someone has some ideas for you that you can use. I cant imagine a regular parent you know anything about this subject or guardian Parent, family member, more input from teachers or guardian Parent, family member, More fund raising.......... Bellevue raised 500,000 + in one afternoon. People have money and waht to help. They just need to know there money is going to help out and where it is going to help. or guardian Parent, family member, I wish I knew! or guardian Parent, family member, With the budgetary constraints the distict has faced over the last few years I feel that the district has done the best job they can. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text While I am unfortunately not quailified to propose a means for doing so, it is clear that more funds are needed to carry out the statutory (and moral) mandates to provide our students with the highest quality education across the board. This is clearly not Parent, family member, happening, and needs to be fixed (i.e. class sizes are too large, schools are closing, teacher lack training and monetary or guardian incentives, facilities are not all well kept, etc.). I suppose the tax dollars allocated for this can be much better managed (based on my observations of related news stories). Parent, family member, Spend less on central management. Put the money into the schools or guardian The voters need to make better decisions. We're really disgusted with the lack of funding for education and are considering Parent, family member, moving to a state which funds education better. I'm really unhappy with how much our PTA raises for what I consider to be or guardian education basics. Parent, family member, don't know or guardian Parent, family member, Stop changing it every few years! Allow principals more discretion in how funds are allocated. or guardian Parent, family member, open discussions, widely publicized before decisions are made or guardian Parent, family member, Allocating funds to have more teacher and a lower class size or guardian Parent, family member, Let more of the money earmarked for kids actually reach the schools. or guardian This is a fairness issue. The fact is that as long as some schools have active PTAs and others do not, there will be a lack of Parent, family member, equity. On the other hand, if some parents either cannot or do not want to contribute money or time to their schools, students or guardian with parents who do care should not be penalized. Parent, family member, I don't know much about the budget dev. process; that's why I marked it "ineffective." or guardian 1)Communication of the budget? It is too hard to understand and I feel there is very little recourse to anything our school would like changed. Where will the money come from? What should we cut?" Is all I get from my school board rep. I'm not an accountant, I just ask that the things our school deems important be taken back to the school board. Parent, family member, 2)Take more into account that free and reduced lunch for which schools get more money. My younger kid's school has very or guardian low free and reduced lunch, and so gets less money per student. Even with a very active PTA to help, we can not afford a counselor. A counselor should not be based on income of parents. Abuse, divorce, mental health issues occur in every economic bracket. Seattle Schools has been bleeding money to fraud, waste and misappropriation. It is not possible to make intelligent budgets Parent, family member, until this is fixed. No one is willing to share or compromise if they think the money may just be stolen. or guardian This has to be #1 priority above all else. It's killing the District. Parent, family member, more transparency or guardian Parent, family member, Thank you for the transparency. This did not exist during Goodloe-Johnson. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop wasting money on this kind of survey. Does this sort of thing work based upon proven results? or guardian Parent, family member, ask parents what is needed or guardian As noted earlier, I feel like parents are being asked to continually provide more to fill the budget gap each year. Not only is this Parent, family member, somewhat frustrating, but doing so through various child-based sales efforts is truly annoying and would not fall into what I or guardian would define as "education". "Exploitation" might be a better term. Parent, family member, Find out where the money is going when people rent out facilities such as they gym, or athletic fields. Where does that money go? or guardian Parent, family member, Start with putting an end to corruption. Next, don't rely on schools with strong PTA's to do the heavy lifting in fundraising. Allow or guardian schools to hire individuals, not simply to keep positions and then have to start the next year with a brand new person. Parent, family member, Know which schools will need the most funds by grasping how many incoming students. or guardian Parent, family member, More schoolbased management or guardian Parent, family member, Focus on students, not adults. Everything the district does, is, in fact, focused on adult issues in the name of children. Get out of ancillary businesses like facilities, real estate, and food and focus on being best in class in education. or guardian Parent, family member, When schools raise funds...it should be transparent how the funds are spent. Unclear to many where the money that is raised goes. Very ambiguous where it goes. or guardian Parent, family member, Hire more trustworthy people and make it clear that people in power that cost the district money will be held accountable in a monetary fashion if necessary . or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text If student assignments stay as they are today, then school with high poverty levels should recieve more funding to allow for Parent, family member, additional staff and programs to help students excel in subjects as well as emotional growth. Frequently students who fail in school also have emotionally unmet or compromised needs, you cannot achieve one without the other and programs should be or guardian developed with that in mind. Parent, family member, I don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, More budget and check and evaluation. or guardian Parent, family member, Well isn't that the question of the century?! or guardian Parent, family member, LISTEN to your principals. Be ethical. or guardian Parent, family member, Lower performing schools and those schools with fewer outside (parent) support, need more resources. or guardian Parent, family member, To point #2 above, you have to have clearly defined goals (which I don't see) and then you can start to assess whether you are meeting them. or guardian Parent, family member, Support a State Income Tax or guardian Parent, family member, Make sure that all schools receive adequate funding, not just those in wealthy districts. or guardian Parent, family member, Visit each school individually, assess its needs by observation and through meetings with principal and teachers, learning the financial strengths/weaknesses of that school population, and fund accordingly! or guardian Parent, family member, Eliminate wasteful spending on buses that ride around 85% empty. Reduce the power and influence of the unions as they relate to the school system. or guardian Parent, family member, Be fair, reasonable, practical, logical, etc. or guardian There is too much authority vested in too few people. That allows them to make absurd decisions that support some ideology but neglects the kids. I suggest decentralizing. The number one metric by which the school district might measure itself is by Parent, family member, the fraction of parents who choose to pay for private school, rather than SPS schools. Doing that is a very strong negative endorsement of SPS - they pay for schools twice, basically, through taxes and through private school tuition. or guardian You can make up all the ideological babble you like, but people are voting with their feet. I trust their feet more than the judgement of SPS. The schools district is backed into a budget corner. How about you sell MLK Elementary to the Bush school for the 9 million Parent, family member, that they offered vs. selling it to the lowest bidder? Make better decisions about where the money comes from and how it is or guardian spent. Parent, family member, More communication or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know anything about this topic or guardian Parent, family member, Do a better job of informing parents. And a way better job of transparency in internal auditing and communicating that to the Board and public BEFORE corruption can gain a foothold. or guardian Parent, family member, It's tricky. I don't agree with a lot of the decisions made and programs cut, but I understand the dire financial situation. At least getting rid of a lot of people at the Enrollment Center should help. or guardian Parent, family member, Successful schools should be rewarded, unsuccessful ones not. In other words, MERIT PAY. or guardian Parent, family member, I would need to know more to answer as in previous questions. or guardian Parent, family member, Again, first off, I respectfully request you stop relying on PTAs/PTOs to subsidize school's budgets. Resource teachers are important. Counselors are important. PE, Art and Music are important. Stop making our kids pay or guardian Parent, family member, It should be different than the way it is now. Throwing money at schools does not necessarily improve the education/students or guardian Parent, family member, I do not know enough about this to comment or guardian Parent, family member, Let the schools help, it seems to me that now the district takes all the money and allocates what the feel necessary back to the schools. (Almost as if someone wants to skim a little) or guardian Parent, family member, Seattle is ultimately tied to Washington State funding as well. Continually creating "draft" budgets based on moving funding targets is not an effective use of resources. or guardian Parent, family member, N/A or guardian Parent, family member, Make better projections about enrollment. or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian 503 Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, 505 or guardian Parent, family member, 506 or guardian 504 Parent, family member, or guardian 507 Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text No opinion. Focus first on the basics: math, reading, writing Let kids apply to get into any seattle school that they want. by doing so, just like any consumer product, we will understand which schools are less desired! not informed enough to have an opinion Get the State to pay a decent amount. Decrease administrative spending. Allow schools to choose their own staffing profile with funds. Give teachers more of a say in this. They know what the students need better than you people who sit in offices all day. I haven't been involved with budget process. Whatever the process is, it should be documented and streamlined. And clearly we do NOT have enough funding for our district. Hmm... if I said your communication is terrible, that makes it hard to have an opinion as I don't know enough to have one. Make it according to who needs it - low income neighborhoods, where the parents can't afford extracurricular activities. Let the application to improve your school be easier than doing everything yourself and applying for matching grants. No one in low income neighborhoods have that much time or resources. Regulate how you spend your money, and don't just let someone spend all the money like the last superintendent. They only got away with it because of their skin color. Prosecute them, and make sure you're paid back. There is money being spent left and right, when the money should be used on the kids basic education first. After, use what's left over for building, tech, turf upgrades. I have no idea what the process is. I don't know where to find the information. Send outlines and details in emails. Make the information easier to find on the website. I honestly don't know your processes on this. I am mostly involved w/ the school directly, and my knowledge of the operation of the District is 2nd hand. I don't know the constraints around "gifted" funding, special ed, and "poorer" area funding, but it seems that all the different buckets dilute funding making it worse for the majority in the middle to get a decent education. This probably accounts for the mass of "B" students who choose private schools. I'm amazed by the mass of "APP" & "Reg Ed" kids, & lack of Spectrum, but they are going private so they aren't lost in the middle. More freedom for principals and teachers to maximize their efficiency. Keep honing efficiency at the district level, and overall oversight. Hire GREAT operations people who can troubleshoot and fix problems. Cannot repeat the sloppy mismanagement problems that caused loss of funds and let poor performance go unheeded. First - divide the available funds (your budget) by the schools. Second - Let the principals and teachers at the individual school level set their priorities. Third - Allow the school to develop their individual budget to meet their priorities Fourth - have a district auditor visit each school once a year to verify the funds are being handled appropriatly (i.e., for educating the kids not a golf membership for the PTA president.)

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It's always going to be a fight and never seem equal. I believe SPS needs to implement an annual education fee for all students. If each student paid $180 a year for school, and paid this direct to the school they attend, to be exclusively used for Parent, family member, academic programs and enrichment, schools could keep resources like counsellors and not lose math specialists. SPS has no or guardian issue charging kindergarten parents $3000 a year for kindergarten. The reality is public schools are no longer "free". We all need them to educate our kids. Our PTA's are forced to raise thousands of dollars to pay for "perks" when if we all chipped in a little, we could always count on those programs and enrichment regardless of state funding. 510 Parent, family member, allocat equal amounts regardless of economic status of the school population. Title I money is intended to provide extra funds or guardian for struggling schools. parents should not have to donate so much money to keep a school running....that's why we pay taxes. 511 Parent, family member, not sure. lobby with the local media for a regular weekly program about the school district's problem. 512 or guardian As with many publicly (and, frankly, privately) funded entities is they get big enough that the money falls into little cracks and is either unaccounted for or simply wasted. I'm not sure how to solve this but I believe SPS does a complete audit every other Parent, family member, year that helps to fix these holes (if not, they should). Also, the more affluent schools lean heavily on the PTA for additional resources that are not available at other schools. I believe funding allocation happens related to the number of free school or guardian lunches that are provided based on a federal basis. I am not sure how else to do it. It is a difficult issue b/c you want all schools to perform equally well and at the same time allow kids that are performing above the standard to be challenged and allowed to progress. I do not envy SPS as this is a difficult task! 513 Parent, family member, More money, less scandal 514 or guardian Parent, family member, Put the money towards education not administration 515 or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Stop bying new furniture for offices and give the money to the teachers to use in their rooms. Also you can get rid of the exta vicprincipals for one. Why do you need more then one for a middle school? 516 or guardian Release each schools budget publicly at each stage, ask for parent and teacher comments, and then honor and incorporate Parent, family member, those comments. Right now there is no transparency and the budgets are entirely dependent on the whims of the principal and district central office. As a result there is way too much fluffy garbage in them and not enough of what really deserves to be or guardian funded 517 $ 5 Million pissed away- figure out what went wrong & fix it- even if some one goes to Jail. Parent, family member, indicative of a corrupt program. Also superintenent 'losing" another $ 1 Million . or guardian checks & balances on peanuts is too much & ignore the big problems 518 Parent, family member, I'm not sure. 519 or guardian Parent, family member, I don't think it is fair to base on test scores. 520 or guardian Parent, family member, Be more fair when distributing the funds to schools 521 or guardian Parent, family member, More money should be going into the classrooms for science equipment and art supplies instead of central office expenditures. 522 or guardian Parent, family member, I wish i knew. 523 or guardian Parent, family member, Allow the BLT and PTSA to influence, monitor and verify/endorse funding as appropriate. 524 or guardian Parent, family member, I wish I knew. 525 or guardian Parent, family member, I am not well enough informed to answer budget questions. 526 or guardian Parent, family member, This year is new for us and I am not sure how you allocate funds. 527 or guardian Parent, family member, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND???? The system is extremely unbalanced. 528 or guardian Parent, family member, don't cut good teachers ever. this should be the most important rule 529 or guardian Parent, family member, since i don't know what that process is, i can't comment. 530 or guardian Parent, family member, North end south end disparities= shame! Also, why are we closing schools then opening new ones. We need to develop and lease some fallow reAl estate 531 or guardian It sure would be nice not to have the district throw away millions of dollars when selling school properties. The school district Parent, family member, really seems to be more about protecting special interests (unions and nonprofit organizations that live at the public trough) than educating taxpayers' children. I suspect not much will change until the political culture is turned upside down. We pay more or guardian and more for our schools, yet get very little (or no) improvement in return. 532 Parent, family member, It's just a very tough time, however I think eliminating counselors is terrible. 533 or guardian Parent, family member, Give each school a real budget in March for the following school year. How can anyone hire good staff in September or even October for the current year? 534 or guardian Parent, family member, The allocation of what's available is fine - but there is not enough to allocate so it is unavoidable that we will fail if something drastic isn't done to change this sinking ship of an effort. 535 or guardian Allocate the funds BEFORE the school year begins. It feels like a game of CHICKEN for the first 6 weeks. It's the most Parent, family member, shameful funds management process I can imagine and so incredibly disruptive to the teachers and students. All last minute or guardian budget decisions, i.e. after school begins, affect the students and teacher. 536 Parent, family member, Hire smart and honorable people at the top. This last year with Mary Goodlow Johnson was so embarrassing. In the business or guardian world she would have been fired a long time ago. There is not a check and balance system at the district level. Parent, family member, I have heard from different school officials that the budgeting process is very cumbersome. I do not have direct knowledge about how this process is undertaken. or guardian Parent, family member, I would like to see the district split since not all neighborhoods have the same needs. I would also like to be better informed before large allocations are made. or guardian Actually allocating those funds to needed programs. I think the SPS wastes so much money with unnecessary meetings and Parent, family member, making sure the upper management is taken care of and whatever is left over they try to skim over needed programs. Again, or guardian slim down the large managers salaries and put the money where is should go. Parent, family member, Not certain or guardian Parent, family member, More emphasis needs to be placed on scrutinizing RFP's and connecting resources with effective programs that has a direct line to student achievement or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Legislation. Better resource management. 543 or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency. 544 or guardian Parent, family member, as an involved parent I don't feel there is any say or really that much need for parents to be a part of the budget process, that is or guardian your job, take care of it and stop wasting resources to figure out how to do it with meeting after meeting, be leaders I agree that different areas need different programs but it seems like that theory only goes to the places that need it most Parent, family member, instead of to the places that need the programs. Perhaps some programs should be free afterschool programs availbale to a or guardian larger range of kids instead of ust in certain schools. Parent, family member, get rid of the Lowell and spectrum programs and bring Challenge teachers to all schools or guardian Be more transparent. Institute policy that parents contribute to Seattle PTSA, not to individual school PTSAs. Distribute funds Parent, family member, more equitably. For example, 50% of a family's PTSA donation can go to their kids' school, but other 50% is available for or guardian distribution to schools that receive less PTSA donations currently. Parent, family member, implement a better oversight process for allocating funds or guardian Parent, family member, Stop working so hard to destroy the public trust so we refuse to fund you. or guardian Hire a business person who understands the bottom line to manage faciliites and operations. Hire a superintendant and top Parent, family member, level staff who can take political heat. Realize the current Mayor of Seattle is a one-term mayor and should have no voice in or guardian Seattle Public Schools. Parent, family member, ? or guardian Parent, family member, I do not recall any communication regarding the budgeting process, therefore I conclude that it was ineffective. Whether or not or guardian your budget development process is effective I have no idea. Is this a question for parents or district employees? Parent, family member, Have parent (PTSA) involvement or guardian Parent, family member, Teachers need more say. Consult the PT(S)A's. or guardian Parent, family member, Private fundraising-John Stanford said it best. Don't be so afraid to take money from people who want to help. or guardian Parent, family member, let the schools do it. or guardian Parent, family member, better internal auditing process or guardian Parent, family member, no comment. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't really know much about budget allocation. or guardian Parent, family member, try to get more money from the government. or guardian Parent, family member, More public involvement. or guardian Parent, family member, Clearer and more frequent communication. or guardian Parent, family member, Have Central Staff respect the elected Board enough to provide the Board relevant information and timely options. or guardian Parent, family member, dont know or guardian Parent, family member, Check out the article in today's Seattle Times-- no wonder Goodloe was fired. What would that 6 million have done? or guardian Parent, family member, Make sure the money is going where it should, a regular audit - tracking of money spent - putting more to our children and less to "furniture". or guardian Parent, family member, Even distribution or guardian Parent, family member, We keep hearing about money disappearing and being misallocated. The whole system sounds completely disorganized and not transparent. This should not be rocket science. or guardian Parent, family member, Raise more money through taxes and don't let it be spent on anything other than the schools. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Have it more accurately reflect the actual enrollment at the school. My daughter is at Garfield and the principal has been given Parent, family member, a budget for 1600 kids while over 1800 are expected to enroll. Teachers will have to be laid off and then reinstated at the last minute in the fall when there are 200 kids sitting around with no classes. This process makes no sense, but it has been going or guardian on for years. 571 Parent, family member, Get rid of the favoritism, the cronyism, and reduce the $$ spent centrally. Get the dollars to the principals and the teachers to use in the classrooms. 572 or guardian Accurately predict how many students are to attend a school in the fall and provide enough resources to teach these students. Parent, family member, Situations like that which occur at Garfield are very disruptive to learning--inaccurately predicting students (ignoring historical or guardian data) and not providing enough teachers. 573 Parent, family member, Have better fundraisers for the kids. 574 or guardian Parent, family member, I feel like I do not have enough information to know. I just see that there is not enough funding overall, and it is just sad. 575 or guardian Parent, family member, You need to seek input from the community and REALLY listen! 576 or guardian Parent, family member, make our citizenry understand the difference that well-compensated excellent teachers can make 577 or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce the size of the administration, it will free up a large chunk of the funds to allocate to programs that really benefit students, and also to pay teachers competitive salary. 578 or guardian Parent, family member, get some honest people working for the school district financial department. 579 or guardian Parent, family member, Fire people who are involved in current scandals, no matter where they are on the totem. 580 or guardian Parent, family member, Hard to say. When you say there is no money and then you allow wasteful programs, the public does not know what to believe. Also, erroneous enrolment projections take money away from schools for hiring purposes only to give it back to them later. We or guardian lose good people that way and have to hire teachers that perhaps were not taken for a reason in the early hiring rounds. Parent, family member, More audits or guardian Parent, family member, Most of what I've heard has come directly from my child's teacher. I may not be noticing communications from other sources... or guardian Parent, family member, More funds or guardian Parent, family member, Prioritize the fundamental subjects first, remain transparent, don't promise what can't be delivered. Better to have smaller high quality programs than big, unwieldy, diffuse programs of sporadic quality or guardian Parent, family member, Spend money on teachers, supplies, nutrition, buildings instead of the latest thing out of the latest MBA programs that have never been tested. Be practical and conservative with resources. or guardian NO MORE SCANDALS.... no more news in the paper about favoring lower bidding for sale of property. Come clean and stop favoring minority contractors, bidding and deals. I am happy that the AME church was able to buy the land - but not when I Parent, family member, heard that the district walked away and was set against the Bush school's offer. This is it's own kind of racism, class-ism and elitism. The bush school has bent over backwards for the city and the african american community. I am saddened that the or guardian fair thing was not done in this situation. Please make sure this sort of thing does not happen again, and if there is a way to relook at that transaction, please do so. Parent, family member, Communication must be fairly ineffective as I don't know anything about it. It was in the spotlight only due to extreem shortfalls and still very unclear. or guardian Parent, family member, The District office is too big and most of our budget goes there. Money needs to go directly to our schools. or guardian Parent, family member, A high level breakdown would be helpful, as well as making parents aware of things we can do to help. or guardian Parent, family member, Get your priorities clear and appropriate before even talking about it. Support teachers and students. or guardian The schools that need the most help lose their funding. This makes no sense. The funding is based on performance...this is Parent, family member, unbelievable when the school that aren't performing have countless issues with teachers admin, principals and more how does the district expect great results. Also the predominantly blacks school will continue to get underfunded for these reasons. SPS or guardian is failing our Black, Latino and Native kids. Parent, family member, based on need or guardian Parent, family member, see above responses- don't cater to the lowest and attempt to make ends meet by forcing kids into running start or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

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Recent events concerning the misuse of SPS money have made me angry and very discouraged about improving the public's attitude towards school funding. (The MLK school building fiasco is one such example: over $9 million private dollars in rent Parent, family member, which could have come into the school system over time was turned into a $2 million dollar public liability.) While education or guardian should clearly be one of the top priorities of all communities, you can't expect people to vote for better school budgets if they see their tax dollars wasted by corrupt administrations. The best thing we could do would be to appoint people whose integrity is beyond question to all of the high level positions in the school administration. Parent, family member, Cut the ridiculous central office budget and direct the savings to the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Develop budget sooner so individual schools can then plan their budget (PTA) and get it voted on before the school year ends. or guardian Parent, family member, Let teachers decide or guardian Parent, family member, communication or guardian Parent, family member, Tighter controls at the district/overhead level and more money for the actual teachers/schools or guardian Parent, family member, Make it clear what is needed and then allow more parent input. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop squandering student funds on anti-bullying and accept everyone programs that pull the students out of the classroom for half a day several times a month. The costs are unnecessary. or guardian Parent, family member, No or guardian Parent, family member, I am unfamiliar with it, so can't comment. or guardian Parent, family member, More external oversight. The Fred Stephens affair is a disgrace. Selling the MLK property for $5 million less than AME offered should get everyone in the decision process fired for being incompetent. or guardian Look at school trends over past 5-10 years. Use data to inform the number of children assigned and then figure out the ratio of those assigned to those who actually attend. For example, do not over enroll Garfield! Those kids show up. Start the enrollement process earlier in the year so that schools can predict in April the budget they will have to work with. Create a Parent, family member, community pot of PTA funds so that schools that can raise a gross amount of money through a no bake sale will get 80% of the or guardian money raised the remaining 20% can go to schools that do not have this potential. Build a sense of social justice in PTAs. Make people feel uncomfortable that their children have access to excellent educations while children in the same district across town do not! Parent, family member, I get district email communications and don't remember any about the budget. I don't know what the process is, so I don't have any suggestions for improvement. or guardian Parent, family member, Have more money. Sorry, I know there isn't any for schools, and while I'm disappointed in SPS I realize that there just isn't funding and I'm personally blaming Tim Eyman and everyone who has ever voted for his initiatives. or guardian Parent, family member, Need more information. or guardian Parent, family member, their is insufficient funds to adequately teach students! allocating a small fraction of the true cost of teaching simply perpetuates the lack of learning that occurs. or guardian Parent, family member, I'm very curious about the issue of the sale of the old MLK school building for significantly less money than the highest bidder. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure or guardian Parent, family member, Get your numbers right, and get them earlier in the year. Most school districts get their basic numbers done by Feb or March you guys don't finalize numbers for the building until October of the next year. Ridiculous. or guardian Parent, family member, More detailed breakdown with explanations of where the money is bing spent. or guardian Parent, family member, ask the schools - top 3 wishes or guardian Corruption is to prevalent in the Seattle Public Schools because of cronyism and conflicting personal interest. An effective audit Parent, family member, process with internal controls and processes must be implemented to ensure tax payer assets are protected and used or guardian effectively. Parent, family member, Greater transparency and marketing. I hear a lot of stuff but I can't remember hearing about the budget in a coherent way. or guardian Parent, family member, Sorry I don't follow. or guardian Parent, family member, reduce expenses at the district level or guardian Parent, family member, less upper management and more support for the classrooms or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 621 or guardian Parent, family member, 622 or guardian Parent, family member, 623 or guardian Response Text Never easy and impossible to make everyone happy. Keep up the transparency. Raise taxes! survey what the parents want, not all tax-payers since most of them don't care about education

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Parent, family member, There needs to be a place for people to anonymously report misuses of funds and then the allegations need to be investigated. The district could save a lot of money right there. Also, every funding decision should be viewed through the lens of "Does it or guardian improve student learning?" It sounds obvious, but some programs don't seem to meet that single, simple criterion. Parent, family member, Establish a credible strategic plan with aligned goals and objectives and major improvement opportunities/priorities established for those items of most importance. EQUITY. CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAP or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know enough about the process to comment. or guardian Parent, family member, There needs to be greater transparency and accountability than there has been in the past year. Misuse of funds and real estate back door deals have wiped out public trust. or guardian

Parent, family member, Run the schools like a business versus the political fiasco it has become - decisions are made based on special interests, or guardian school board indecision and lack of accountability. The board, along with the prior Super, are all responsible for abuse of funds 628 The problem here is that there is not enough money and an unfair share of attention/resources goes to the north end. How is a Parent, family member, IB program being launched at Ingraham when West Seattle high remains a mess and my kids now must go there. Target more or guardian resources for those schools that need it the most! 629 Parent, family member, Integrity needs to be regained. We have dishonest individuals in charge of money in our district. Bottom line--better choice of financial leaders. 630 or guardian Parent, family member, Look at schools both as a whole and also as individual. Obviously a school with 550 kids is going to need more $s allocated to basic services than a 250 kid school. Current formulas don't allow for that. No counslers for a 550 elementary school is or guardian ignoring the issues that occur with such a large student population. CUT HEAD OFFICE BUDGET! Parent, family member, Not sure. Maybe it comes down to increasing the money available through grants from business, as I said before--and I mean grants, not payments for installing vending machines and such like. or guardian Parent, family member, Building-based decision making. WSF gave schools the opportunity to design programs that suited the community. WSS is problematic for many schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Less monies going to the folks at the Stafford Center and more monies actually going to the Students and their schools or guardian Parent, family member, create public awareness of this need and lobby for increased tax money to reach our students learning needs. or guardian Parent, family member, Equity. or guardian Parent, family member, performance metrics based on student achievement or guardian Parent, family member, change the funding equation with the state or guardian Parent, family member, a third party business person to help oversee and justify expenditures. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't cut the programs that are gems like marine science to avoid mediocrity . or guardian Parent, family member, Again, I don't feel informed enough to answer this question. or guardian Hire some new accountants since there always seems to be a huge budget shortfall causing the district to cut programs. If you have x money in t he budget for x program, why is it that the district is constantly running up against shortfalls? For example, I Parent, family member, don't understand why summer school has been cut when supposedly it had been in the budget. It is my understanding that or guardian governmental budgets are funded at least a year in advance. This constant state of no money for education when it was there makes no sense to me. Parent, family member, I like the way you are attempting to seek input from teachers, principals, parents and others in the community. This is a good start. or guardian Parent, family member, stop giving away resources (MLK school), stop funding non-critical programs such as those for minority vendors, put those monies to the schools or guardian Parent, family member, Better analysis of the community needs. or guardian Parent, family member, Make the schools a place where ALL parents choose public schools. We want to send our kids there and we have money. We just expect more. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know how this process works, and don't know how I would learn about it other than attend the board meetings, which I have no time to do. Some sort of streamlined communication about these things would be helpful. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 648 or guardian Parent, family member, 649 or guardian Parent, family member, 650 or guardian Response Text i'm not an accountant so i have no input on this clean house and demand transparency. Simplify. Funds should be allocated based on the number of students. How else would it be done and at what cost? Whatever additional cost there might be to adhere to some crazy computation concocted by bureaucrats could be foregone and those funds allocated directly to the schools.

Parent, family member, It must be done by headcount, otherwise you are saying that some children are more valuable than others. or guardian Where do I get the detailed line-item school budget? I will go to your website to see if there is a link. This information should be proactively communicated via school bulletins. Parent, family member, Just for starters, budget is simple: A budget director who knows math and how to indirectly manage people. It's that simple. We use to learn the former in grade school and the latter as high school students (the 80s). or guardian Parent, family member, Greater transparency of funds allocations at the building level or guardian Parent, family member, Move beyond a couple of website postings and listen to the community. Have you ever asked what each local community thinks about what budget priorities should be? or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency, transparency, transparency - after the latest financial scandals, Seattle school district has no financial credibility and will have to go to extremes to gain trust back again. or guardian Parent, family member, If a school is a bit more affluent than other schools, because of location and household incomes, do not penalize that school with less funding. or guardian Parent, family member, Show actual numbers, rather than a narrative of the process itself. or guardian Parent, family member, Spend less money on researching how to test students and teachers and more money and time In the classroom actually teaching and helping. or guardian If a school's budget is built around an enrollment of 1100 students but 1200 sign up, the school shouldn't have to wait until Parent, family member, October to get the 3 extra teaching positions. As soon as the numbers are available, principals should be able to plan and hire or guardian staff to teach the actual number of students. Parent, family member, Much more transparency - no fudging & misrepresenting facts (like reclassifying coaches as teachers and then claiming to have cut the central budget). Seek input from parents and teachers on the top funding priorities, and then LISTEN TO WHAT THEY or guardian SAY!! Pare back the central admin to a comparable level with that of other large school districts. Parent, family member, Transparency for the budget at all levels or guardian Parent, family member, elliminate spending that does not focus on the primary goal of educating a student. or guardian Parent, family member, Why don't I know more about how funds are allocated? or guardian Parent, family member, Again, les admin and more money to the schools or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, Eliminating expensive testing and science kits and using that money to enrich education. Science can be engaging, hands on, and far more cheaply accomplished with a bit of creativity. or guardian Parent, family member, find someone who can actually manage a budget--- hire someone from the private sector-- our district should run like a corporation in terms of finances... really -or guardian Parent, family member, Poor fiscal mngt over and over! or guardian Parent, family member, Today's newspaper headline about sellling the school for "a song" was very discouraging. Are we too politically correct? or guardian Parent, family member, Have all high-level administrators be the first to see salary cuts in the event of budget allocation imbalances, reward schools for independent budget action, and decide on priorities based on parent, student, and teacher inputs only. or guardian Parent, family member, TRANSPORTATION! or guardian I cannot pretend to understand how the decisions are made, but I cannot appreciate the outcomes. I've already expressed Parent, family member, some of these concerns. I worry a great deal about lagging achievement in some of SPS schools, and have to think that those schools need more resources, particularly talented, supported teachers. I can imagine it is immensely challenging to get this to or guardian happen, but it is what is needed. Attract the best teachers and support them. Parent, family member, GET RID OF GRAFT AND CORRUPTION IN THE CENTRAL OFFICE. What goes on down there is a travesty to the legacy of John Sanford. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text can't say Hire quality money managers with strong sense of ethics and who's number one goal is to earn money for the school system and to spend it wisely and honestly. I have no idea. You know better than I Reduce district bureaucracy. Allocate funding per student and follow through with actual dollars. Allow individual schools to allocate building dollars and teaching dollars and they will be more efficient than district. I have no idea on this topic Additional funds to those schools who show progress, but supply all schools with a reasonable baseline

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Parent, family member, How many times have you asked for money in the past while stating "it will improve our outcomes". Well it hasn't happened, over and over. The district needs to focus on things that actually help drive better student outcomes - it's time to rethink the old or guardian rules and look at what has worked in the many, many examples in other parts of the county that demonstrate good outcomes. Parent, family member, A visit to the school and reports from parents and teachers will tell you if a school is getting enough money. Also schools in higher income areas will probably need less because of more family financial support. or guardian Parent, family member, Have more than one or two people making financial decisions to insure that special interests groups do not benefit when there are other more economical or better offers available. More checks and balances. or guardian Parent, family member, Focus on those things that directly impact our students. or guardian Parent, family member, I'm not familiar with district budgeting, but the school's process is not transparent. or guardian Parent, family member, Increase Lobbying efforts? The main problem is not enough money, not its allocation. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut the fat! No expensive standardized testing programs. or guardian Parent, family member, All schools should get the sasme per student there is no reason we should have to fund raise as much as we do. With the or guardian amount I have paid into my elementary school I might as well have sent them to a private school for their younger years as well. Parent, family member, If you reward the schools that work hard with their students by giving more money more schools will improve so that they can get funds. or guardian Parent, family member, Realize that poverty is a big driver. Tell Olympia to be a state that turns around the excessive income disparities and tax rich people by turning them upside down and shaking the money out of their pockets or guardian Parent, family member, Give each school some real say in their budget or guardian Parent, family member, Giving money to schools to pay for more tutors where the need is great (working class/low income areas) or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know. I know very little about this process. or guardian Parent, family member, Delve into some of the "fixed" costs, save the teachers and programs or guardian Parent, family member, get rid of the red tape, and put more money into teachers. or guardian Parent, family member, Ask the state or guardian Parent, family member, Get Washington to prioritize education so you pull from a reasonable pool of money. Fund programs that remove disruptions in class time and reward great teachers. or guardian This is such a difficult issue. Frankly I've always supported more funding for the schools and with the recent budget cuts, I don't Parent, family member, feel I'm qualified to answer this... I'm certain their are tough choices that need to be made. I'd re-examine all areas from a cost or guardian savings perspective to focus on education/curriculum materials and retention/compensation of top teachers. And I mean current compensation not guaranteed retirement plans.... very few of us get guarantees there anymore. Parent, family member, I'm mostly concerned that the district keep overhead costs low. or guardian Parent, family member, Make a strong effort to eradicate the staff responsible budget misappropriations that have been reported over the last year. or guardian Parent, family member, Do not have enough information to answer. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text There needs to be more accountability here. I have no opinion on the process, because I am unfamiliar with it. Sounds like it Parent, family member, was very poorly managed and the focus of the district although well meaning went off track. Money for schools should be used or guardian for school programming not for any other purpose not matter how altruistic sounding. Parent, family member, Fair and appropriate funding and disbursement. or guardian Parent, family member, Someone who can speak clear English should write these communications. After a day working and meeting my kids' needs, I'm too tired to parse through bureaucratese. or guardian Parent, family member, Get parents involved by figuring out what we want, letting us know what that would take, and then send us to the legislators to make a difference. Not complicated. or guardian In schools that are under enrolled, an additional small accolation of funds (more $ per student) for additional programming, will Parent, family member, draw families and students to those schools. Ultimately this will improve the distribution of students within the district and help increase the % total student body enrolled within these schools, and state funds available to the district to support these or guardian schools. Parent, family member, I am not very informed about this, except that I have been told that the district utilizes a larger proportion of the budget centrally compared to similarly sized school districts. or guardian Parent, family member, Timing needs to be improved, especially for high school. or guardian Parent, family member, i wish i knew or guardian Parent, family member, Better oversight on those making financial decisions ie MLK elementary sale and the small business development scam. Choose your leaders wisely and for the right reasons:experience and integrity. or guardian Parent, family member, Make the process transparent. Nobody knows what it is currently or how much is being spend by school. or guardian Parent, family member, listen to the pricipals of individual schools and give them more say in where funding goes. or guardian Parent, family member, lower class size, increase pay for teachers or guardian Parent, family member, Find a way to make funding more equitable among schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut costs in central administration and put the money in the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Clarity out to parents about the role of the BLT in particular or guardian Parent, family member, Recognize the huge value-added of K-8 schools. Parents really want this, and they don't want gigantic middle schools. Eventually funding was restored to K-8 somewhat, but it took a hard fight. That should not be necessary! or guardian Parent, family member, Examine students needs first. Stop changing the core curriculum each year. Stop wasting money on all the latest, greatest technicological gadgets that become outdated by the end of the school year. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not sure how each school receives it's money so I do not know how to improve. Parent involvement is critical. If parents or guardian are not involved to raise money - lend support etc. programs that are viable get lost as they are too expensive, Parent, family member, The District should give broad guidelines, but give more power and flexibility to each school. I wouldn't go back to the "principal as CEO" days, but the top down control freak method has only brought us grief. or guardian Parent, family member, I'm not sure, but it needs to be equitable throughout the whole school region (north and south) or guardian Parent, family member, What are the determining factors for the process now or guardian Parent, family member, It might be good to look at how much money a PTSA can bring in and also use that when deciding how much money a school recieves. Some schools have very active and saavy PTSA's that raise lots of money and help with lots of extras. Other schools or guardian do not have this type of benefit from the community and could really benefit from district money to help round things out. Parent, family member, I don't really understand the budget process, but shouldn't we be FULLY funding schools before funding the central office? or guardian Parent, family member, Actually get the funds to the schools instead of spending it on pet projects and more execs at the district office. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not a principal - I don't know how it is done now, let alone what can be done to improve it. or guardian Parent, family member, More funds to schools, less money for district administration. or guardian Parent, family member, Make it more public. or guardian Parent, family member, get connected with more popular or well known organization that supports schools & can give out big donations.. or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 730 731 732 733 734 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text I don't have enough information to answer budget questions. The budgets for the schools are all inadequate. Close the acheivement gaps. Whatever that may take. All our children are worth it don't know where to begin with this one. for the level of cuts happening at the school level, how about cuts at the district level? DON'T penalize special needs of gifted learners please.

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Start with communicating the process. Too much waste (e.g., Selling a school to the lowest bidder). No accountablility for solid financial performance will result is waste Allow schools to spend money where they need to. Don't be so restrictive about how it can be spent. Give principals control Parent, family member, over their own budgets, and stop making silly rules like PTAs can't fund teacher time, etc. Let teachers, parents and school or guardian supporters fund what they would like to improve their school. Parent, family member, Get input first. or guardian Parent, family member, ask individual schools. less central mandates or guardian Parent, family member, More funds ... Raise taxes and get mire of state budget for schools! or guardian Parent, family member, ??? or guardian Parent, family member, Use money from the lottery! or guardian Parent, family member, Governor Gregoire and the voters of this state have completely weakened the infrastructure of SPS regarding the budget. The issue is much greater than the district itself. or guardian Parent, family member, There is never enough money for the schools due to the levys that don't get passed and our governor. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't sell buildings (or lease them) at fire sale prices. or guardian Parent, family member, Spend less on admistration and more on school based staff or guardian Parent, family member, i don't have enough information to form an opinion or guardian Parent, family member, get more funds or guardian Parent, family member, Better advance planning and better effort and focus on getting needed funds from all levels of gov't. or guardian Parent, family member, Have a more transparent process. or guardian I don't hear much about it, which means to me that it must be somewhat ineffective. Perhaps this information could be provided Parent, family member, through school newsletters, district mailings/e-mail messages, etc. rather than just by links to the district website (if this is how or guardian it's being done now). Parent, family member, Don't tie it all to "above the average of the city" = funds; and "below average" = no funds. You are punishing the best performers!!! If a business did that, they would be out of business or guardian Parent, family member, Too much bureaucracy! Too many meetings, processes, etc. I wish it was more efficient. or guardian Parent, family member, I have no idea. or guardian Parent, family member, More transparency, less dealing behind closed doors! Sadly, your reputation speaks for itself ( see Seattle Times 6/6/11). or guardian Parent, family member, Non advocate review or guardian Parent, family member, make it equal between all schools, depending on # of students, but schools in poorer districts getting a bit extra as they don't make as much in fundraising. or guardian Parent, family member, Equity does not mean equal more money to schools with the greatest need or guardian improve communication to the parents. we have no idea how much funding the schools receive and where it goes. I used to Parent, family member, blindly vote for the levies but after seeing a few incidents of misallocation of school funds (I've been in Seattle for many years), I now think about it carefully. It's a BIG TRUST issue. I don't trust the school district. it's not run as efficiently as other school or guardian districts in the area. Parent, family member, Don't allocate funds for non-student education programs, make the process transparent, hold administrators accountable or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text work with Washington state legislature on reform to an east coast model where local or regional taxes support the schools. For Parent, family member, areas where the taxes collected do not support the school, use a supplemental form. Right now, it is a black box and does not or guardian appear to be transparent or logical. Parent, family member, make this a competitive process for a percentage of annual funds - test scores, best improvement in scores, staff /parent/student satisfaction scores or guardian Parent, family member, Put honest people in charge! or guardian Parent, family member, More fund raising. Fire teachers that aren't needed. If its cheaper to have them work as independent contractors then do that. or guardian Parent, family member, Require all PTA fundraising amounts to be reported publicly and distributed equally among all schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Funds should be firstly applied toward hiring the best teachers, and then on everything else. A school does not necessarily need a remodeled library, for example, if the funds are scarce. or guardian Parent, family member, Dont squander any more money, sell properties to the lowest bidder, pay for work that hasnt been done, etc or guardian Parent, family member, Fund the classrooms before central administration. Fund more teaching positions and fewer academic coaches and executive directors. or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce overhead (administrative) and get resources to the people who teach or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to the principal, the school PTA, site council, parents, teachers, students. There was a disconnect with the board and the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Even out the attendance so that all schools have a similar WWS. or guardian Parent, family member, Prune the central office. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know enough about how funds are currently allocated to say or guardian Parent, family member, It isn't how you communicate the budget's development that is the problem; the problem is not taking folks to task when they've made significant errors. Having lots of reports can be a big CYA. or guardian Parent, family member, Less administration!! or guardian Allocate funds for schools. Our schools are underfunded. Creating a process to force more budget cuts down the throats of the school administration, then make the Principal sell it to the parents is cowardly. Cutting programs that create well rounded Parent, family member, students and give non-traditional learners something to look forward to is a travesty. Deferring maintenance to the point that or guardian the school is no longer a pleasant place to be is unfair. Cutting funds for special education and selling it as upgrading needs status is immoral. Having our funding hands tied by one activist publicity hound is rediculous. The state legislators need to have the conviction that education is a right for all throughout our state and Seattle Schools needs to demand it. Parent, family member, help the low income instead of wasting it away or guardian Parent, family member, I don't have any knowledge about this. or guardian General note (but no place on this survey asks for it so I had to add it here): we agree with and trust the judgment of Michael Parent, family member, DeBell on the school board for opinions on all on the many complex issues related to SPS, much of which I hesitate to give an opinion on because I know only enough to know that there's a lot more that I don't know! DeBell is the person we look to for or guardian reasonable judgment on issues. From

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Parent, family member, If communication around Budget issues is written or carried out the way this question/ strategy is written then we have issues for sure. But, if I understand the statement above correctly, then is seems all is being done to the best of the capabilities of the or guardian existing budget. Are we as efficient as we can get yet? Maybe... Do we need more revenue to support the schools? Yes. 779 Parent, family member, Cut the fat at the top, way too many dollars go toward administration. My child is about to enter HS and has had perhaps 2 actual textbooks in the entire time enrolled in Seattle Public schools and we are in a very affluent neighborhood economically. or guardian Get back to the basics, teach the basics, reduce administrators, and if teachers aren't performing replace them with new blood. Parent, family member, Dump the current board members and make sure Enfield knows what she is doing, because Goodloe-Johnson didn't! or guardian Parent, family member, Be transparent about what $$ is being spent in the central district. Stop micromanaging schools budgets and forcing them to pay for FTE with their discretionary and PTA funds. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop losing the money. Get the drop outs back in where they belong. Make sure you get the homeless kids in school and take care of them. Go after the kids who just are not physically in school. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text See previous points. This problem cannot be solved if the Seattle schools and their budget is treated as an island. To pretend that it can is a treacherous disservice. The school board needs to lead parents and students in a fight to redirect money from the Pentagon and Wall Street bailouts to education and other basic social needs. It's a fight, and so far we're losing badly. The school board, rather than offering any leadership in this fight, has been complicit with the notion that we have to make due with our very inadequate slice of the pie. The money is there! Let's fight for it. Being "efficient" at dividing up the inadequate crumbs allocated to public schools is an utter betrayal of the truth and nothing to be proud of. Taking into account what some school PTAs can raise vs. Low income schools--we aren't all equal. Better oversight- why did a church beat out the Bush school when there is a budget crisis? There is so much bureaucratic waste. Deal with the underlying problem...a much bigger piece of pie must be given to public schools. Unless and until the district and all of us demand more funds, there will be an impossible and destructive struggle for the measly crumbs provided, pitting essential programs against essential programs. To start, adequate budgets must be allocated to schools in a fair manner. If using the number of students enrolled in a particular school for the following school year indicates that school's allocated budget, then every school must be treated in the same manner. I wish people in the city would find schools important and be willing to pay the taxes on them so that they would run properly with the needed staffing. Our kids' future is in their hands. That should matter. We need to make a bridge from our schools to the tax payers who support them, by having a 'see your tax dollars at work day', maybe on a weekend near the two days we have to submit our real estate taxes. Have student work, including performance on display and academic awards also.

Parent, family member, or guardian 784 Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian

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Parent, family member, Better planning for and commitment to resources for those protected by law (Title 1/FRL, Special Ed, ELL) or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate more funds to schools that have higher populations of students that need more services and are not performing as well. 791 or guardian Parent, family member, I know it's a pin in a hay stack when the school finds ways to allocate or raise funds especially from low income families (like us.) I would suggest though, just like in Azusa CA. where our daughter came from half of 1st grade, they have this Food or guardian Bonanza Fair that they require families to sell &/or buy (at a low cost). It goes for a week and it's quite effective. :) 792 Parent, family member, I like getting calls that remind me what is happening, like the call to remind me of this survey. I imagine much of the budget info or guardian is on the SPS website, but I don't think to look for it, unless there was a phone reminder that a vote or decision was coming up. Parent, family member, your so screwed up now with all your mis management anything would be better maybe put some people in jail and they rest would fall in line or guardian Parent, family member, Give principals discretion or guardian Parent, family member, See how to get more parents involved in the schoold their children attend. or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of some of the stupid programs and concentrate on the classes that are important. I know this sounds harsh, but a lot of or guardian money is spent doing some nutty stuff and during a budget crisis, some of that stuff just has be to jettisoned. Parent, family member, By actually being stewards of the taxpayers and end the corruption. or guardian Parent, family member, Eliminate the school service center. or guardian Parent, family member, How are parents supposed to know about the district's budget development process? I do not receive information about this. or guardian Parent, family member, Our district budget is far too big relative to the school budget, particularly in comparison to other similar school districts. or guardian Parent, family member, Be able to tell the school earlier how many students they will have for the following year. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure. or guardian Parent, family member, In order to get parent input, more effective communication of strategies and options. Our school did a survey to get input on PTS budget priorities and this worked well. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut administration. Period. End of story. How many associate superintendents/executive directors of schools do you have now? Ridiculous. Principals report to the supe. Period. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know enough about to have any suggestions. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not a Rich person but I would be willing to pay more taxes if all the money would be going into the school system ALL MONEY!!! or guardian Parent, family member, budgets and funding could be for longer range and forecast, inability of schools to plan effectively as they do not know until just before the school year starts what they will be working with or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text No idea Get more money from the state as well as pass more levies. Ask the teachers Too much is spent outside of the actual schools and classrooms. Need to have auditors come in and go over the "books", and hold people accountable for their misappropriations. goals of the district are intentionally vague. i suspect this is to give administration officials plausible deniability. need more funds for vocational training. Not sure. Definitely need to have a better handle on how each and every dollar is spent. Stop hiring criminals that steal money meant to educate children. as noted earlier better decision making and controls at a district level. Some incredibly poor controls noted in recent Seattle Times articles about the monies dispursed to minority contractors I'm sure you're doing what you can, with what you've got, but some schools will still be able to raise $100K yearly to support their kids' schools; others will get zero extra. As a society we just have to know this will never change. Need to reduce central office overhead Need to implement proven curriculums - eliminate Everyday Math ? Due to lack of funding in so many areas, we need more grant writers to assist individual schools. We can't qualify for many grants due to not having the proper people designated to this area. I don't know about the budget specifically, but I am assuming that SPS is allocating funds to all school on an equitable basis. Do not know. ? zero based budgeting, building a budget that sustains programs. Make sure that every dollar possible is spent supporting classroom teachers-make the system transparent enough so that everyone can see that for themselves

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I know nothing about how this is being done now so cannot help. Stop selling school buildings for bargain prices to promote "social fairness". The Nordic Heritage museum offered market rates Parent, family member, to purchase the building they rented for a market rate. Because they were not "PC" offer rejected. African American Museum and First AME Church were sold buildings at less than market rate. The First AME Church beat a higher offer from the Bush or guardian School. Stop the graft and use the money for kindergarten. Parent, family member, Allocate funding per child versus per facility. Schools with 500 students needs more funding for their facility support than those with 300. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not familiar at all with this process, so not practical to comment or guardian Much more information out to families in schools about why allocations are different from year to year. Budgeting for schools Parent, family member, first is good but can have unintended impacts at district level allocations. Can't really tell how effective budgeting to meet goals is without a direct comparison. Some baseline budgeting is necessary that is NOT directed at specific goals - don't cut this too or guardian low. Parent, family member, the ratio of admin to class room needs to be reduced the State funding process needs a complete overhaul or guardian Parent, family member, Display the model used for allocating funds. Educate the parents better in understanding the process and the model used. or guardian Parent, family member, More lead time, clearer guidelines, as much flexibility for individual schools as possible or guardian Parent, family member, hire an outside party or guardian Parent, family member, I am not sure or guardian Truly understanding the needs and current resources within all of the schools. Allocation needs to be done equally, but also Parent, family member, effectively so that no school or child is left behind. For those schools not effectively utilizing what they are being given then or guardian additional follow up is needed and changes need to be made. Parent, family member, Better use of funds. Better oversight to prevent misuse of funds. or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, As a parent, I am not familiar with this at all, so I marked "ineffective" on the communication. 838 or guardian Parent, family member, Have more oversight. I am angry and disappointed over the last scandel, not just for the lack of oversight, but for the amount of $$ the district put into supporting the hiring of minority/women contractor and the amount of money they spent on specialists for or guardian their training. This is political correctness run amock. That money should be spent on our children. Parent, family member, Unfortunately, start with FAR more funds. or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know or guardian Parent, family member, Re-examine priorities - stop wasting money - a few glaring and well-publicized instances include the recent real estate debacle and the $300,00 pay-off to an incompetent superintendant as a reward for failure on the job. Shameful! or guardian Parent, family member, more transparency or guardian Please end the socio-economic programs that deprive the kids of books and the teachers of pay. As mentioned earlier, ending Parent, family member, the contracting program ran by Mssrs. Stephens and Potter, and making a public declaration that it will not return in a different form would be a good start. Similarly, no more below-market land sales to cronies based upon subjective and unprovable or guardian intangibles. The highest price wins. Parent, family member, I don't know how to solve this. It seems there is not enough to go around as it is. or guardian Parent, family member, Clearer communication to families about the budget process. or guardian Parent, family member, Take these kinds of surveys to receive more parent input or guardian Parent, family member, ?? or guardian Parent, family member, stop the meaningless emails, send out short clear to the point messages or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know what the process is. or guardian stop assuming that a school with a higher income demographic needs fewer resources because the parents will step up. Treat every child the same, then lobby for cooperation where more resources are needed. when you decide for the parents what they Parent, family member, can do on their own, you alienate the exact people you need to help the broader district. Again, stop the social engineering and more people will be willing to get involved, if you ask, on a broader level. Right now, no one wants to help another school or guardian because they know they will need to take care of things that the district won't fund one place, but will fund another. It alienates them. Parent, family member, Transparency and accuracy. or guardian Parent, family member, My daughter could not get a Spanish class at Garfield this year because the District did an poor job of providing budget to hire teachers. It needs to be improved. or guardian Parent, family member, It's not that I don't have opinions; it's that I've not educated myself enough to comment intelligently. But refusing to hire bad, ineffective teachers will save some wasted dough. Same with administrators and staff. or guardian Parent, family member, Focus on the childrens needs!~ Dont hire crooks who run off with Seattle public school money! or guardian Parent, family member, obviously, the problem is in Olympia, not Seattle. Hold lawmakers and the Governor accountable to fully fund basic education. What happened to that lawsuit? or guardian Parent, family member, creat a law that makes it our first priority. If we dont teach and ready our kids for the future, we wont have one! or guardian Parent, family member, faily, despite the "neighboorhood", supplying resources to all schools or guardian Parent, family member, have actual budget makers in the schools periodically to see the daily needs and decided for themselves how schools can benefit from blending neighborhoods in a balanced way. or guardian Parent, family member, Try to get all the schools to an equal status so there aren't ones perceived as better or worse than another. or guardian Parent, family member, Not a topic I have information about or guardian Parent, family member, Make sure we have consistent (same) funding per student for ALL schools. Make sure no school gets more funding per student then another school. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop the scandals! In order to allocate funds, you need funds to be able to allocate, ie. you need the trust of the people you serve for they approve the taxes which fund the schools. No trust, no funds. or guardian Parent, family member, take the politics out of the process (assuming they are there). or guardian Parent, family member, when the funding is haedcount based and the headcount is not evenly distributed the under enrolled schools are suffering or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Eliminate teacher tenor so funds are spent on the best teachers and not ineffective ones, end pensions which cost too much, Parent, family member, ensure that when school assets must be sold they are sold to the highest bidder not to church organizations just because or guardian someone in the school district managing the process is a member! Reward your best performing schools by academic achievement and percentage of high gpa per student with a yearly "bonus" Parent, family member, for the top three - a way to motivate your schools to compete for the best student outcomes rather than spreading funding the or guardian same to high and low performing schools. Parent, family member, eliminate district bias or guardian Parent, family member, Selling district properties at market value. I am wondering why districts surrounding SPS have more $$. What is different in Bellevue, Everett, EDmonds districts? or guardian Parent, family member, I think the entire School District is off to a better start and headed into the right direction under it's new supervision or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know how you do it, except to push funds to needy schools (which is necessary), leaving PTSAs to make up the difference elsewhere. or guardian Parent, family member, not sure or guardian Parent, family member, Get control of your money. To much is being wasted on things other than the students. If it is not directly going to benefit the kids - don't buy it. or guardian Parent, family member, Open up the process to the parents and community. Publish more information about budgets for individual schools and for district administration. or guardian Parent, family member, decrease number of board people. Make one of the board members the Supe. Give money to the schools and let them decide how to allocate. They know the specific needs at the school level or guardian Parent, family member, I am unaware of what the process is. or guardian Parent, family member, Fund allocation appears to be done in crisis mode. Would rather see a long term approach to this issue. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop spending so much on specialized programs. Fund each school to be able to meet the academic needs of every student who lives within the neighborhood. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know enough to provide helpful thoughts. or guardian Parent, family member, For starters, no more "loan" programs. What the heck was that, anyway? ALL money goes to schools. Period. Put money towards retaining teachers as #1 priority. or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of the corruption and all the people who are responsible. Start over. Place a priority on the successful schools and stop messing them up and overcrowding and dismantling successful and popular programs and schools or guardian Parent, family member, Trim JSCEE staff - shift $ to buildings or guardian Parent, family member, I thought you were doing a pretty good job in extremely difficult circumstances (not enough $), till I've been reading the recent news stories--the abuse of school funds towards cronyism has been very disillusioning. or guardian Parent, family member, Be completely transparent. or guardian Parent, family member, The school board's objectives could align better with the community they're serving. I really don't feel we prioritize correctly where to use the limited resources we have! or guardian Parent, family member, Simply have a better understanding of school needs. If a school is servicing DHH or Special Ed students it should get the appropriate funds. In the past this has not been happening. or guardian Parent, family member, out of your hands, need more funding! or guardian Parent, family member, Less bureaucratic red tape. I have no idea where our money goes. I certainly don't see it in the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, More transparency, better leadership, or guardian The system of determining budgets at schools is flawed. Every year the attendance at Madison MS is estimated in the Spring to Parent, family member, be lower, so teachers get cut, then come Fall new teachers have to be hired as enrollment adjusts. Find a way to better or guardian estimate, or allow some flexibility so you can retain those teachers. Parent, family member, Again, the survey is not working. The answer to question 1) Ineffective 2) Amazingly ineffective!!! or guardian Parent, family member, I have no idea what the system is. Maybe start with having a few parents from each school attend the budget meetings?? If they already do, then it's not trickling down... or guardian Parent, family member, you know the answer to this or guardian Parent, family member, not involved with this part of process or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text Parent, family member, Don't know. 896 or guardian I receive regular extremely poor quality communication from the District and Superintendent. This is very different from the Parent, family member, much more frequent and very high quality communication I receive from my child's teacher and school. District Communication pretty much never really says anything of substance. I have never received a single clear communication regarding the budget or guardian from the district. 897 Parent, family member, support schools thatr clearly do not have the community funds to do extra programs those schools suffer 898 or guardian Parent, family member, cut salaries of government officials 899 or guardian Parent, family member, Not familiar enough at this time to say. 900 or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency is needed. 901 or guardian Parent, family member, From my time on the PTA the budget is "carzy" & doesn't align with the schools needs. 902 or guardian Parent, family member, Blanket the funds, stop targeting specific schools. Keep within the budget. 903 or guardian Parent, family member, It shouldn't be that complicated. A specified dollar amount per student with adjustments based on special needs and/or programs. 904 or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency. 905 or guardian Parent, family member, Have someone make tough decisions and stop trying to satisfy everyone 906 or guardian Parent, family member, I have no idea. But monitor the people you put in charge of allocating funds for the schools, and you may have more money at your disposal. 907 or guardian I was surprised that Leschi school budget was cut even though they have not met AYP for a few years. How will the school Parent, family member, improve with less resources? Seems like schools at risk should be able to at least maintain their budget. I also thought the or guardian communication to the parents of budget cuts came late, I believe we were notified the same week the budget for the school was due, not allowing enough time for parents to provide input to the school on how the budget could be allocated. 908 Parent, family member, manage the district budget properly and closely to make sure schools get the most funding they can to maintain valuable library, counseling, art, music, and extracurricular activities already developed and in place 909 or guardian Parent, family member, Consider class room size and enrollment when allocating resources 910 or guardian Parent, family member, I do not know a lot about how these decisions are made. Seems to be made on sheer numbers of students? Would be good to or guardian provide more transparency to families on this process and the things that are considered. How these decisions are made.... Parent, family member, more transparency, less waste (the MLK school sale was criminal!) or guardian Parent, family member, I don't have an answer or guardian Parent, family member, Allow principals greater say in how their money is allocated within their schools or guardian Parent, family member, not even sure of what this is or guardian Parent, family member, Less for buildings, more for teachers and classroom experience. or guardian Parent, family member, Listen to the schools as to what they need. or guardian Parent, family member, Make our people in Office make it a priority, and then things will be changed. or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate the same funds to all schools so that all children attedning Seattle Public Schools are given the same opportunities. or guardian

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Again, this should wait until the fall out from the lawsuit against the state demanding more funding stability for schools pans out. Parent, family member, In the meantime, fat should be aggressively trimmed. Super aggressively, like, right down to how many hours the lights are on or guardian and what temperature the heat and a/c are set at. No more retreats or catered lunches, no paid speakers! If a program does not directly affect deploying core curriculum, it should go. We just don't have the slack for that kind of stuff! 920 Parent, family member, Do not spend money for Real Estate investment purposes like the one of MLK school fiasco. 921 or guardian Parent, family member, more accountability and transparency up front 922 or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 923 or guardian Parent, family member, 924 or guardian Parent, family member, 925 or guardian Response Text Give the school district a higher profile in the city. Get people excited about education. It's a very progressive town, it should be an easy sell. Run the financial end of the district as any corporation would. Fire those who contribute to fiscal irresponsibility, to include all individuals involved in the Madison Park school sale to AME.

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First, make sure the goals are clearly laid out and the obvious----get more funds. while the budget process is extremely difficult it has to lie in the hands of the district to do what they can to eliminate wasteful Parent, family member, spending and make sure every penny possible go towards the students education. This means cutting out extras that are "nice" to have or extras that provide broad opportunities to students - when the money is tight it needs to be whittled down to or guardian the "bare bones" Parent, family member, Realign priorities to students needs versus policing teachers with additional administrative staff. or guardian Parent, family member, Make it more transparent. or guardian Parent, family member, Keep it simple to everyone. or guardian Parent, family member, No opinion or guardian Can't really say, as I do not have any visibility into the process. More push communications to parents who do not have time for Parent, family member, lots of research would be appreciated--as would communication that helps me understand how the decisions impact my school and/or my kid. I know that funds are shrinking at my son's school, but I gather that's happening everywhere. I would like to or guardian know more about the projected impacts of these shrinking funds. I'm not sure I learned very much about the budgeting process or the allocation process. The only issues that I have come to my attention are that of not enough funding from the state, and the relationship with the teachers' unions. Parent, family member, or guardian Remembering back to Gov. Locke's priorities of government, wondering if such a process exists at SPS. It could be a good starting place. Parent, family member, Don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, Schools without a strong PTA should be provided with more resources. or guardian Parent, family member, Send out a mailing to families (through the mail or have students bring something home) to inform them of the allocation process and include a postage-paid form asking for feedback. or guardian I know this is complex and over my head. It's good to be transparent, but not so inclusive that individual interests get in the Parent, family member, way. I have always felt that PTAs from wealthy schools should be inspired to "tithe" some of their fundraising to a sister school, or guardian or similarly to benefit schools serving less affluent families. Parent, family member, stop giving free lunch to those who do not qualify simply because they are in a school with a high percentage of free and reduced qualifying students or guardian Parent, family member, I'm not sure how the district does this. If you really want community input, you need to make the information available to the community in a simplified and understandable communication. or guardian More money to the schools and less tied up in administration. More money to low performing schools to give them a chance to Parent, family member, improve. The south end schools are in dire situations and need additional resources if they ever hope to achieve what north or guardian end schools have. Parent, family member, I'm not sure I understand this well enough to comment. I'm not sure how this is really done today, should we waste more money on a consultant or study to find out? EEEEEH....no thanks. or guardian Parent, family member, Focus on the students, reduce administration. or guardian I think that funds raised by the PTA's in the district need to have some portion that are placed to areas where there is less Parent, family member, capacity to raise funds. I have heard that the elementary school in Madison Park regularly raises hundreds of thousands of dollars where a school like Graham Hill has limited capacity to raise funds and children who have less access to resources at or guardian home. I do not know how the district allocates funds. Parent, family member, spread equally through out the schools. Some school like the New Schools has more things to offer students then Emerson. or guardian Parent, family member, Unsure or guardian Help the individual schools raise their own funds. Support them with time, resources, etc. Some schools have more active Parent, family member, fundraising than others. Some have none. p.s. This survey is much too sophisticated for busy parents who may or may not understand English. Your results will be or guardian ineffective. Parent, family member, Make everything transparent. Do not do shady deals. Use all money very judiciously. I have always voted in support to increase taxes to support schools--this last fiasco makes even me a bit hesitant for future votes. or guardian Parent, family member, You broadcast, you invite to meetings, and you apparently shelve the information you collect. or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Really? Don't send it to organizations that will rip you off. And when parents are alerting you to this a full year before it hits the newspapers, listen to them. Start reading saveseattleschools.blogspot.com. At broadview thomson K-8 I feel like the funding is inadequate. We have so many more students than many other K-8's but we don't get a proportional amount more than those other schools as far as I can tell. Too much money going to headquarters. Continue to TRIM THE FAT! Get money directly to schools and to teacher training! Finding someone that REALLY no's how accounting/funds work and staying on top of every penny is they way it should be. (not someone that steels) More funds for schools with a lower SES who need help to increase academic success. Try to get more people involved in helping pass bills for more funding. VERY IMPORTANT

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Parent, family member, The expectation was established that if our school met the 451 number we would gain certain funding. That has not come to pass, and full disclosure should have been made, if it was due to state budgeting. Not knowing means hiring late and or guardian inefficiently. The overall budget, through the board, was communicated well, but at the school level has been abysmal. Parent, family member, Have meetings at the schools so people can access them easier. or guardian Parent, family member, more equitable allocation accorss the board or guardian Parent, family member, Eliminate site-based management so that budgetary decisions are not done behind closed doors by the BLT. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop giving the hire up execs. bonuses and raises. or guardian Parent, family member, Lobby lawmakers for more money or guardian Parent, family member, parents should involve. or guardian This is a larger state issue. When there is less and less money for education every year, what can you do but offer subpar Parent, family member, education that does not create "excellence for all". More money is needed to place more staff and funds and innovative or guardian programs into the schools to teach our children. Parent, family member, consider emotional development along with academic. lack of counselors in certain populations will affect academic outcome. or guardian Parent, family member, Seems like there should be more communication via PTA and direct mail. We don't often go on the district web site. Found out or guardian today from neighbor that school time will be 855a starting next year. Don't know if that is true, but news to us. Parent, family member, have the teachers and parents vote NOT THE BOARD nor the admistrators.(who should all be fired) or guardian Parent, family member, honesly, stop spending so much money on outside consultants that you don't even seem to listen to. Also, getting back some of the funds wasted by our former superintendant to her cronies might also be a good idea.... or guardian Parent, family member, Keep us (taxpayers and constituents) informed about decision that are on the table. or guardian Each student = $$ has been a recipe for swelling classroom sizes. Perhaps a different way to allocate funds would be based on Parent, family member, a range of factors, with incentives built in for schools that demonstrate drive, academic progress, and community involvement, or guardian etc. You have to find a way to help South end and West Seattle schools that can't compete with the money PTSA's are raising in Parent, family member, higher income neighborhoods. Public schools should be more equal in what they offer, no matter whether you live in a high end or guardian or lower income area. Parent, family member, I'm not sure. or guardian Parent, family member, N/A - I haven't followed this at all. or guardian Parent, family member, Share more of the state picture. Clean up the mess -- get money from Bush School and not AME. or guardian Parent, family member, Let individual schools determine how their funds should be allocated. or guardian Parent, family member, Cut funds from the top, trickle down to the bottom. or guardian Parent, family member, facebook distribution of info or guardian Parent, family member, I'm not familiar with the process. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text More money in classroom. It is hard to be told our kids and teachers must do with less while we see headline news like MLK Parent, family member, sale in the Times and more new administrative hires to oversee regions, more computers, yet our 3rd graders are reading at 1st or guardian grade. Parent, family member, unsure, but implement a rigorous internal and external audit to prevent mismanagement and corruption or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know. I believe we need more from the State/voters. or guardian Parent, family member, You need better data. Again, fire your demographers. Figure out where the numbers are. Stop playing political games. The MLK school sale was a travesty, like Queen Anne high school. or guardian Parent, family member, I think you're doing the best you can under very difficult circumstances. or guardian Parent, family member, Stop relying on PTA and fundraisers or guardian give each school EXACTLY the same amount of money and have them serve the same amount of kids-then provide support teachers in every classroom to serve children with special needs. Have ALL money raised at any school go in to the public Parent, family member, school pot and be split equallyOR or guardian Give more money to the schools you KNOW are impoverished and let the 'rich' schools do their own fundraising for additional programs To my knowledge each school has almost no control over their budget; that the district tells the principal how much money they Parent, family member, will be allocated each year. If the school needs more money for supplies, activities, etc. They must rely on PTA funds, parent or guardian donations, or booster clubs. it is very expensive to send your child to public school these days. Parent, family member, quit wasting $ on admin stuff. get the $ to programs for the kids or guardian Parent, family member, Central office is too large. Reallocate some of those salaries and funds directly into school. Use the funds for longer school days and tutoring programs. or guardian Parent, family member, As a parent, I've written to local and state officials regarding continued funding of public education. Decisions made seemingly have nothing to do with impassioned arguments. Cynical but I guess we can only keep trying. or guardian Parent, family member, cut upper management and give more $ to the schools or guardian Parent, family member, I just don't know enough about this process. or guardian Parent, family member, I liked that the district community was involved in the budget allocation process, although I was dissapointed to see school counselors cut from elementary schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Maybe add a public forum, potentially online and live, so that the comment process would have fewer barriers? or guardian Parent, family member, Several formally owned buildings STILL not sold that could generate huge income. Disgraceful decision to sell Madison Valley or guardian school for 7million less than what offered by Bush. $ is $ if it will assure stronger Seattle Public Schools. Parent, family member, Again, transparency and a better understanding for people as to what is happening and why. or guardian Parent, family member, Pass a class size initiative with a funding source. or guardian Parent, family member, More transparency and audits. or guardian Parent, family member, Again,I don't have enough information. or guardian Let the parents share what is important to us before you cut programs. Use surveys instead of forums for those of us who Parent, family member, can't attend in person. I can't believe that science training has been cut and we didn't hear about it until after the decision was or guardian made. Parent, family member, Start with what your want quality education to look like. Calculate the cost of getting that and then fund it accordingly. or guardian Parent, family member, Do more fund raisers. or guardian Create a better funding schedule so that teacher's aren't laid off in summer, and don't know if they can have their old jobs back Parent, family member, until October. We're losing great teachers because of the uncertainty of their futures. And, it's incredibly arrogant to treat or guardian people that way. Parent, family member, Allow the schools to individually manage their allocated funds while under a contract or explicid agreement. or guardian Parent, family member, It should be based on need and address economic and racial disparities. or guardian Parent, family member, More of the grant funding model such as the recent technology deployment with iOS devices. or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 1004 or guardian Parent, family member, 1005 or guardian Parent, family member, 1006 or guardian Response Text more for southside schools where there is more help needed to make up for high drop ou rates and students not reading at grade level. Because I do not know the method or formula in which the funds are allocated, I can not opine Answered this already

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Parent, family member, I think schools are generally run inefficiently and need more accountability for administrative expenses. They are run like typical or guardian government offices, rather than private businesses. They should be more concerned about excess spending. No more MAP Parent, family member, Get rid of all the coaches and consultants or guardian Too many directors and central administrators Parent, family member, More support from the State! or guardian Spend more money at the school level, not the high level administrators - they are too far removed to know what is best for our Parent, family member, school. It should be required for them to spend 1 day a week at different school and see what they are and are not doing with or guardian our money. Parent, family member, Projections for school enrollment that is more accurate so that you are not cutting positions that are necessary for a school to function and support the needs of the community. or guardian Parent, family member, Please evaluate teachers more often and remove ineffective teachers!!! That money could be used to help the district allocate funds appropriately. Please ask the Teacher's Union to change their evaluation process! or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of/minimalize the bureacratic funding to district hq and actually allocate the funds to the schools. or guardian Parent, family member, Corporate sponsorships??? or guardian Parent, family member, Transparency - their is a real, palpable lack of faith in the district and it's leaders right now. or guardian Parent, family member, give more support to the schools who are not successful-schools that don't have books for their kids-schools that have high percentages of families who are low income or guardian Parent, family member, Level the playing field for all schools. It isn't fair that certain schools get more because of the affluence of the surrounding community. or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate more to schools for smaller classes and intervention services. or guardian Parent, family member, Give pay for k monies back to the elementary schools. Stop changing the budget process so that it can be learned and mastered by administrators. or guardian Parent, family member, Accounting? or guardian Parent, family member, Make good decisions - for example, the decision to sell ML King School to one of the lowest bidders made no economic sense (loss of 6-7 million?) or guardian Parent, family member, It is hard that it changes so often (i.e., cuts). or guardian Parent, family member, We need to pay higher taxes or guardian Parent, family member, Involve the families more in the process. Give each school more independence in connection with its budget (and more independence in general). or guardian Parent, family member, Dunno, seems like the money is drying up at all schools. or guardian Parent, family member, see my prior complaints related to finance issues. the district should not ask for a levy to supplement when it has repeatedly or guardian failed to have proper accounting and has lost millions - and recently gave away over a million dollars in property value. Parent, family member, There is way too much money being spend on central administration. or guardian Parent, family member, I get emails which is probably all I can expect. or guardian Parent, family member, Assess and clearly communicate priorities to schools, parents, legislators, voters. or guardian Parent, family member, See earlier answer about funding school counselors and giving teachers resources in their classrooms. The money needs to be directed at the students, not teacher development. or guardian Parent, family member, See previous answers or guardian Parent, family member, Estimate allocation in the spring so that hiring can be done earlier. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

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Stop wasting resources in admin. and middle management. Take into account that richer neighborhoods raise more funds on Parent, family member, the side--and offset that. For instance, we're all proud of Roosevelt High school, but there is NO REASON that those children or guardian gets multiple club opportunties, a new auditorium with rolling stages an orchestra pit, professional costumes and lighting and body mics--and Rainier Beach gets a non-profit drama club or drumming circle for at-risk youth. Parent, family member, Get rid of all the resources that are putting time and money into standardized tests and put the money into classroom support in the form of more assistants in the room. or guardian Parent, family member, Take the money away from non education causes such as a jobs procurement pipeline for minoruty construction owmers. Focus on academic excellence and get rid of all these special agendas and pet projects. or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know. or guardian Parent, family member, Improve transparency. or guardian Parent, family member, IS anyone watching the bottom line?? or guardian Parent, family member, Am not sure. or guardian Parent, family member, Hire a business staff who know who to manage budgets and are accountable and transparent. Focus on equity for all schools. or guardian Parent, family member, unknown or guardian Parent, family member, Again, I have no clue. I am an involved parent, informed citizen, active PTSA member, and I even attend the occasional board meeting; yet I have no clue of the process outside of the occasional public hearing. or guardian Parent, family member, Charter schools or give the 10K per student to the teacher. Let them take on as many students as they feel they can handle. or guardian What they could do with $200,000....(20 students)...their salary and all the materials they need.......what fun....... Parent, family member, Publish the district (by building) budget. Discuss per student funding and teacher salaries more openly. Again, be out in front of the information rather than letting local media be the sole source of information. or guardian Parent, family member, Keep SPS off the front pages of the newspaper for gross financial mismanagement. It would be a start. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure....so much of the funding issue seems to depend on how we want to tax ourselves for education or guardian Parent, family member, First be honest with the citizens. Second, sell assests to highest bidder not the your preferred winner. Stinks of fraud. Get it. Do not ask me for tax dollars when you waste them like that, or guardian Parent, family member, hire an outside auditor or guardian Parent, family member, more checks and balances appear to be necessary; more community involvement - over-site groups in communities to guide the decision process from the outside or guardian Parent, family member, I am sure the cutting administrative costs and allocating that money for teachers in classrooms would help a great deal.stopping new construction and taking care of our old school also help a great deal . or guardian Parent, family member, No idea, everyone here are poor, cannot donate. or guardian Parent, family member, not sure or guardian Parent, family member, more transparency with constituents, better data, less waste, e.g. how about energy audits for buildings like Lowell that are hot all winter? Stop buying pesticides and spreading them on school grounds. or guardian Parent, family member, Email short specified and concise bullet points regarding budget funds for schools. The website and long emails are atrocious to navigate. or guardian Parent, family member, get the priorities straight or guardian Parent, family member, retain the excellent teachers and get rid of teachers lacking in skills; also offer programs to update teaching skills, but this doesn't guarantee a job or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure or guardian The Board and the staff need to get things done when they say they will and be held accountable. Everything I read is about Parent, family member, reports being late or not there. Budget crunch everywhere and there are always more administrators being added. I didn't get or guardian an invoice for pay for K for five months. How's that for budget planning and accountabiility? Parent, family member, Too complicated for me, but I must say all of the news about cronyism and corruption of people at the top is very discouraging. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Share the money equally--stop giving all the money to the poorest schools, who have no ability to manage it adequately, so it goes to waste, and everyone suffers. What money? All we hear about is cutback after cutback. I was told at our last PTA Parent, family member, meeting, that the principal's answer is just to ask for more money from the parents---$300,000.00!!! Come on, are the principals or guardian asking that in the S'end schools? Of course not, because they are going to be handed the money--and which crooked criminal is it going to go to this year? Parent, family member, Reduce/eliminate bus service. Keeps school assignments local. or guardian Parent, family member, Spend les son district wide initiatives and more on in-classroom needs and learning specialists please. or guardian More transparency regarding the process, the line items, and even comparison benchmarks to best in class districts would be a Parent, family member, start. Also, align fundraising goals to close the gap from state and federal funding. Do not rely so much on PTA money to run or guardian our schools!!!!! Parent, family member, really get to know all the schools on this district well and not hire so many ineffective office employs, and a good employ that knows how to balance the budget with a businnes degree. or guardian Parent, family member, BUDGET or guardian Parent, family member, Seems that SPED kids eat up a disportionate amount of funds compared to non-SPED kids. I agree everyone deserves an education but in reality not everyone is going to college. or guardian I don't envy you, it is maddening that schools can't get the funding that they so deserve because of a lack of tax base and the Parent, family member, narrow-minded thinking that has taken away our political leaders' ability to initiate funding measures. Encourage familes to write or guardian to their representatives demanding more funding for our schools. See above: determine where expenses do not directly improve student learner's ability to exceed their expectations. Ditto for Parent, family member, teachers + administrative staff. Cut those expenses, reflecting them where needed. I know I'm over simplifying, but/and, could or guardian this be a helpful big picture guide? Parent, family member, less administration red tape or guardian Parent, family member, Tax candy and soda. or guardian Parent, family member, Having the School Board screen individual schools, and providing funds to the schools that need the money. or guardian Parent, family member, Hire administrators who don't bilk the system - make these positions more accountable. or guardian Parent, family member, I am not that familiar with the budgeting process. AFter basic education stuff is taken care of, Can the schools be given a chunk of money based on the population to apply to what they deem are the needs? or guardian Parent, family member, More transparency, no more wasting money on phony transactions! or guardian Parent, family member, Publish the process and how the funds are allocated. or guardian Parent, family member, Hire an independent audit person to keep track at all times of expenses. or guardian Parent, family member, share more with parents. I still don't have a sense of how the budget is developed and what the issues are. or guardian Parent, family member, create a need base system that is based on school testing results, tax base, and teacher evaluations. or guardian Parent, family member, Take into account the achievement level of that school. in the past south end schools were given more financial support but it seems with the neighborhood assignments that preferential help has evaporated. or guardian Parent, family member, Have integrity with funds. or guardian Parent, family member, establish a body comprising representatives of the faculty, administration, parents, students, and directors to discuss and consider allocation of funds or guardian Parent, family member, Physical visits and interviews with school principals and vice principals or head teachers or guardian Parent, family member, Reduce administrative overhead, invest in cultivating great teachers. Make teaching a career again. or guardian Parent, family member, Finding more ways to get funding so there's more to allocate. or guardian Parent, family member, Follow the results and out comes or guardian Parent, family member, The entire system needs to be overhauled, changed to zero-based budgeting and made completely transparent from start to finish. or guardian Parent, family member, I have not followed this issue enough to comment. or guardian Parent, family member, We can close all our defense bases not on American soil. Also we need more industry here in the USA so that there is more money to pay for education . or guardian From

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Could a portion of fundraising at 1 school be used to support another school in need of funds? Much more accountabilty!!! Don't know the process which, as a parent in the District, may tell you something. fund failing schools; not successful schools It needs to be done earlier to allow schools time to adjust PTA budgets and school funds. No opinion. Less money for testing and more for the actual education of our kids (ie- art, history, science...)

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Parent, family member, Instead of taking away from the schools, start cutting jobs from the people who sit behind a desk all day analyzing the best way to cut money from the school. How many people do you really need to do that job? How many "data inputers" and or guardian "administrative assistants" do you really need? How do they help our kids? How do they influence, teach and benefit our kids? Parent, family member, Process cannot be judged effective until disparitesi are eliminated. or guardian Parent, family member, increase accountability or guardian Parent, family member, NA or guardian Parent, family member, Involve families in the process. Offer enough time for input not just a week. or guardian Parent, family member, make it more transparent and comprehensible to the public or guardian Parent, family member, I have no information about the process, and thus, cannot comment on what needs to be changed/improved. or guardian Parent, family member, greater variety of ways to allow for parent input beyond community meetings that not everyone can get to. or guardian Parent, family member, Come on? A north Seattle elementary school can raise $100,000 at an auction and then supplement East side type programs and in SE Seattle, we dodge gang warfare or guardian Parent, family member, Cut out the middleman. Pay the schools directly with oversight and audit capability. or guardian Parent, family member, make kindergarten free or guardian Parent, family member, Run the district as a business, not a bureaucracy. or guardian Parent, family member, There doesn't seem to be a budget. It seems that programs are being cut on a continuous basis. or guardian Parent, family member, Better oversight and accountability. Stop hiring based on community connections and hire according to skill. or guardian Parent, family member, equality for all schools or guardian Parent, family member, Get some business minds on the school board. Top professionals in business strategy and development are needed to grow and allocate funds. or guardian Parent, family member, Reductions should be made in Research, Assessment and Eval, Academic Warehouse, Central Administration and nonsustainable Strategic Initiatives or guardian Not having useless programs that take money away from the primary focus of the school district: education our kids. I still don't Parent, family member, understand WHY so much money was wasted on a program that has NOTHING to do with education (the minority business development program involved in scandal). Get rid of ANY and ALL programs that don't directly relate to the provision of or guardian education for our students. Parent, family member, I have no idea, but it seems like there should be a major shake up and examination of how money is being spent. I do not have faith that our money is being properly spent. or guardian Parent, family member, Not sure at this time or guardian Parent, family member, schools need more funds, this issue is way bigger than SPS or guardian Parent, family member, This survey is a good idea. I hope there are some good analysts to interpret the data! or guardian Parent, family member, More money to schools, less central governing from administrators. or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1119 1120 1121 1122 From Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Parent, family member, or guardian Response Text Include the families in the process As indicated earlier, I believe more power should be at the individual school level, and that too much is spent on Research, Assessment and Evaluation Dept. and individual salaries in Central Administration. decentralize

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accountability The way you allocate assistance is unfair -- all free for those that are poor, all paid for by those who are struggling yet still manage to pay our taxes. Please do not go down the path of making families pay for more and more portions of school; art, Parent, family member, music. This needs to be dealt with on a large public scale, not by nickel-and-diming the families who work hardest. It's public or guardian school! 50% of my taxes go here! Yet my children can't take art classes and I have to pay over $200/mo for my child to attend public K. I understand that this is a State issue. It needs to be pushed, hard. Parent, family member, As a parent, I don't remember receiving any information about SPS budget. or guardian Parent, family member, Please do not continue to cut from highly capable programs - they are being bled dry disproportionately. We don't let students slip through the cracks, but as a society, we also need to support those with significant potential. or guardian Parent, family member, More transparency to the public on our schools budget. or guardian Parent, family member, Limit the number of administrators in the school district or guardian Parent, family member, Not enough understanding to respond or guardian I don't know - as a parent I have seen no outreach to us regarding budget issues. Was there a survey I missed? Was there a Parent, family member, newsletter sent indicating the issues and what the options are? Was there something sent to parents to let them know that they or guardian could attend particular meetings so that their input could be heard? I certainly did not hear of any of the above - it should not have to be up to the parents to search the school district website for this kind of information. Parent, family member, This is the job of the internal folks at SPS or guardian Parent, family member, Keep the current schools that aren't being used. REnt them for a profit....worse case scenario, sell them for a profit. Not to a non profit that used tax payers money. Another embarrassing seattle school district mistake. Sickening. or guardian Parent, family member, give schools more authority on how to best spend their allocations. or guardian Parent, family member, better over-sight. Volunteer reviews by outsiders? or guardian Parent, family member, Don't know a lot about it. Communication is poor here. My understanding is that the budget is not consistent from one year to the next. or guardian Parent, family member, A blend of site-based management with district mandates or guardian Parent, family member, Allocate based on need. Look at the ecomnomics of the nieghborhoos, lunch programs, and more. or guardian Stop taking funding away from programs that have the highest value add. Like the self-contained Spectrum Program at Parent, family member, Wedgwood. This program has produced highly motivated, advanced learners for decades, and now it's been proposed to be or guardian dismantled. Why would you remove something that has a proven track record of excellence and success? This program needs to continue to function in it's current form so the children it serves get what they need and deserve from the district. A chance. Parent, family member, I hear in the news paper about the budget cuts, and I hear from the school that nothing there will change. I really don't have any idea what the budget process is, or how the district is taking care of the school communities. or guardian Parent, family member, Two million dollars, and maybe another 7 million from the property sale would have made full-day kindergarten free for all. or guardian Parent, family member, cut down on administrators or guardian Be clear about the actual bugdet reductions. There was press about almost a 100 positions cut at the central office, but then an SPS employee told me that many of those positions were just moved to the capital budget and in actuality only 30 positions Parent, family member, were cut. This kind of shell game only continues to erode public trust in the central administration of SPS. or guardian

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As for school funding, is there a way to make up for the inequity caused when some schools can purchase more staffing and programs via PTA funds and others cannot? Parent, family member, Don't try to make everything equal. Reduce administration. Use the community to overcome shortfalls. Communicate better and further in advance. 1142 or guardian 1141

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text stopp siphening away funds to special political and scial agenda projects. I am embarassed and angry with with the school district for allowing so much money to be lost and frottered away at the expense of our students and our teachers; it is shameful and the school funds should not be used to fulfill whatever sence of social justice held by any administration- particularly when it is no well monitored, researched and quite possibly corrupt. Financing should not be a problem and, if it is, it is because the Parent, family member, funds are being misused. I am a huge proponent of public schools and a completely commited to the success of Seattle; or guardian however, if the administration continues to fund bogus projects and walk away from lucrative transations due to some misplace sense of social "responsibility" which actually looks like reverse cronyism, I will vote against the school levies and I will probably pull my children and my resources out of the public school system in order to provide my children with an education built around students, not politics. Parent, family member, it's not fair that more $ is given to schools in the south end. All schools should be given funds based on the number of students! or guardian Funds should be allocated equally across schools, and: Parent, family member, Convince the more affluent schools to set aside some funds to donate to a less affluent "sister school" ; set aside a pool of $ within the district that schools can apply for (like a grant) so if they work for it, they can get extra or guardian Partner with businesses who can "sponsor" schools. Parent, family member, pursue private funding; lobby state for more $ or guardian Parent, family member, hire budget professional or guardian I believe I've already shared my opinion about the budget / funding in earlier comments. I've never actually seen the SPS Parent, family member, budget, but I'm guessing its available for public viewing online somewhere, yes? Is it user-friendly or does it use a lot of or guardian bureaucratic speech that the average citizen would be unable to interpret? Parent, family member, it needs to be more public or guardian Parent, family member, Maximize the allocation of funding for the classrooms over administrative allocation. or guardian Parent, family member, As a parent of a first grader, I do not feel the communications are reaching me - I constantly have to go out & ask & look & research for what's going on. or guardian Parent, family member, Not enough info provided, however, balancing the budget by cutting teachers will move away from the goal of "excellence for all" or guardian Parent, family member, the districts financial management is a joke or guardian Parent, family member, Since I don't know what the existing process is for allocating funds, I don't know how to improve it. or guardian Parent, family member, Do you tell the parents anything about allocating funds to schools? Get better demographers so the schools know a higher % of their budget, sooner. or guardian Parent, family member, Better communication- more transparency between the school board and the community or guardian Parent, family member, I have seen little or no information about the SPS budget. Our school waited a very long time to announce its budget based on the district's delay. or guardian Parent, family member, I think the greater needs of students in the surrounding community should be taken into consideration. or guardian Parent, family member, Better communications to families about how that is done. or guardian Parent, family member, I guess we need proper funds first! Then, it should be equally distributed. or guardian Parent, family member, That is a tough one to comment on without more detail. You need more money in the first place! It seems like the schools with good a good PTA can offer more programs and art opportunities than others. or guardian Parent, family member, Let individual schools have more control and ownership of program development and spending. or guardian From

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The budget process is a big unknown. I have sat on a BLT and watched the budget being developed and it is still a mystery to Parent, family member, me. I am especially concerned about how the district budgets/allocates special education funds. Our school is cutting back on Instructional Assistants at the same time as more students with IEPs are coming into the school. Where is the budget to or guardian support those students? Why does my school have to beg money from the PTA to fund basic educational needs? Why is my school not getting the money that it needs, but some small business program is throwing funds away? 1163 schools should set their budgets and come and present them based on students/[programs and needs...they should have to prove their numbers and deliver on performance...money is tied to lunches..? what is that about..? there will always be Parent, family member, inequality in the district given economics of people...but not EVERY school can do the same things..base it on where the or guardian programs and dollars will deliver the highest end result...don't penalize a school because it might be in a better neighborhood and raise more money..that is not the point... 1164 Parent, family member, look at needy students 1165 or guardian

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 1166 or guardian Parent, family member, 1167 or guardian Parent, family member, 1168 or guardian Response Text More funds should be allocated toward advanced learning. Why wouldn't we want to give more money to our brightest students? No comment.

cutting bureaucracy and red tape. by putting the funds in the hands of those who are the educators. Budget for schools first, administration last. Parent, family member, Increase WSS. or guardian Have public meetings for listening, not for explaining. 1169 Parent, family member, Actually give guidelines when giving funds. If a school has a program that works and it is not part of the guidelines, review the program and if it works well with and for the children, allow it implemetation. 1170 or guardian Reduce the overhead staff at headquarters. There are way too many non-teaching positions. Also the oversight in money Parent, family member, matters is scandalous. There have been two headlines news stories in the past couple months of outrageous, possibly criminal, mis-allocation of money. I suppose the school board (an elective position answerable to the public )should be or guardian watching this but they apparently are not. 1171 Parent, family member, I think the bigger problem is the size of the pie, not how it is cut. 1172 or guardian Parent, family member, I don't know about allocating funds, however if we made the fundraising auction goals that schools like Madronna and John Hay or guardian meet and exceed spill into a pool of resources that other, less affluent schools in the district can dip into. Parent, family member, Make the process known to people outside of the school board or guardian The district needs to be audited regularly to prevent the abuses that we have seen through out the past year. There is no Parent, family member, excuse for the district to leave millions on the table in the sale of school and not inform the public of exactly why they are doing or guardian it. Parent, family member, Consider more public input budget hearings. Budget meetings should be held in South Seattle, West Seattle and North Seattle. or guardian Parent, family member, Too many hands touch too many pieces of paper. Make sure SPS has contracted for the best and most efficient services. Make contracting more transparent. or guardian Parent, family member, Not quite sure why you are asking parents about budget information? We are not privy to the workings of the budget process. or guardian Parent, family member, Budgets are dense and difficult to communicate to the public. Yet some tools do help. Pie charts and other simple graphs help people visualize budget numbers. Having information readily available on the web site helps. Having clear analysis of what or guardian money goes to which component helps. Having organization charts helps, as so much of the District's budget is salaries. Parent, family member, not sure or guardian Parent, family member, This is huge problem and long standing and will take a while to solve. Whatever you decide, do not do it in a rush, but think through in details, involving qualified people. or guardian Parent, family member, There should be an open forum for interested parents to share their opinions on this subject. or guardian Parent, family member, I believe there have been some missed opportunities to secure additional funds for the district as well as poor choices around expenses. or guardian Parent, family member, The central administration should have to take much bigger reductions than the schools. At the City of Seattle, front line service or guardian departments like Police and Human Services are given smaller % reductions than administrative departments. Parent, family member, I am unsure. or guardian Parent, family member, Find more dedicated money or guardian Parent, family member, Unfortunately, in the current economic climate it's hard to know what the heck to do. I don't envy you. or guardian Parent, family member, Allow more parent input and parental empowerment to vote on the how the budget is divied up or guardian Parent, family member, find a system to stop the corruption! or guardian Parent, family member, Lobby the state to do their constitutionally mandate duty to fully fund basic education. or guardian Parent, family member, Pay the school board members. Hire professionals to address the budget. or guardian Parent, family member, Given the severe budget constraints we face, the budget process needs to be streamlined and communciation about it to families should be improved. or guardian

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Parent, family member, 1193 or guardian Parent, family member, 1194 or guardian Parent, family member, 1195 or guardian Response Text Pay for K funds should be allocated to the schools where tuition is paid. Stop wasting money in the central office. Hire a dedicated data analyst and strategic planner. A number cruncher with innovative critical thinking skills.

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Don't know, other than to cut the administrative staff, I am sure more can be done with less. Focus in on delivering the best quality of education to the kids, which should NOT emphasize constant testing. Get innovative, you are the educators, figure it Parent, family member, out, that's what you're getting paid for. The waste that goes on in this District would never fly in private industry clean up, or guardian tighten up and focus in on the kids. That is your goal and mission - to deliver the best quality education possible to the kids of this city. Also figure out how to work with the Legislature to change how schools are funded. You are the biggest district in the state, get some resources together to become more innovative and try to get more $s delivered to the schools. Parent, family member, I wish I knew. One thing is for sure, there needs to be someone trustworthy in the position of allocating and overseeing funds. or guardian Parent, family member, Get rid of excess at the District and focus $$ on hiring quality school staff. or guardian Parent, family member, More information via school newsletters. or guardian Parent, family member, Unsure or guardian Community member Money should follow the children. Vouchers for education would help the schools and families. Make a line item budget available. Limit central administration costs to 6% like other districts and give the buildings more say in Community member personnel and materials. First, start by cutting central administration by one third. Community member Second, drop all phases of the Startegic Plan that do not put money directly into classrooms. Community member REAL transparency in the process and a lot less money going to Central Admin, special projects and testing, testing, testing. Allow more judgment by parents and principals (school-based but parents have to be able to have a voice and some vote on it). Not have the district keep money for their pet projects. Money should go to the classroom. First, streamline central. We spend way too much money on administrators. Cull them and their huge salaries and put that money back into the schools. We need counselors and librarians. Decide what a building needs, not what downtown thinks a building needs. Then add the costs for your budget The district appears to be top heavy administratively. Redirect funds to the classroom from the overly rich central administration. Fewer folks at central and salary cuts to six figure employees would be a good start. Funds need to be allocated based on the needs of the students; every school is different, and equal funding for each school does not mean equal opportunities will be present. Provide more funding to schools where students are struggling. Give the schools that are struggling the most the most funds to grow with. In hospitals, they triage, working first with patients with the most acute injuries/illnesses. Schools need to do this. The papercuts can be patient and wait a minute for their bandaids while the schools that are hemoraging with inadequate progress be given the best care, both financially and with the most skilled and trained educators. Start from scratch and engage community members and business leaders. They have a high stake in our schools and should be a part of the process and the solution. Honesty! Community input! Listening! Cannot comment yet. less people at the top and more people in the classroom Not enough information to evaluate. Work with principals to understand the building needs. More money focussed at the classroom level to lower class sizes. Put effective, qualified and forward thinking people in charge of it. Involved the community earlier in the decision-making pr ocess beyond budget work sessions and BLTs. Again, the district needs to find alternative ways of reaching parents, particularly parents with language barriers. Translating a document or survey is not enough, you need to go out into the community. Make it a priority education first support all of the staff at district headquarters second. From the perspective of a community member only, I can think of no instances in which I've heard of this process. Ask parents and businesses to participate. better auditing and ownership of internal controls. SPS seems to always find fiscal controversy.

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1224 1225 1226 1227 From Community member Community member Community member Community member Community member 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 Community member Community member Community member Community member Community member Community member Community member 1235 1236 1237 1238 Community member Community member Community member Community member 1239 Response Text Let me see the options and maybe I could offer an opinion. it must be pretty ineffective - I have lived in Seattle for years and have volunteered in two schools for 10 years and haven't got a clue how you budgeting process works. Don't know. transparency is key Set benchmarks and goals for administrators to meet financial goals. Have real CFO manage finances for district. Someone who has managed a P&L, even though this is a government organization. There is absolutely no transparency. Make administrators publicly accountable for how funds are spent. I have no education in this ! if I knew what I thought I was talking about, I would ansewer! Get a real idea from community than just school district again close work with communty organization and community and parents. Hire administrators that are experienced. Look at successful districts and investagate how they are able to achieve success with their budgets. Ensure projections are as accurate as possible Our students education is the most important investment our government cam make. Make it first priority to receive funds. Invest more and more tax dollars into educating students and parents. Ask principals what they need, not what they want and start there. I think the WSF was a better model then the WSS, but that being said a hybrid version would be good. The weights in WSS are not transparent, and schools have very limited discretionary dollars...then the district holds back dollars to roll out performance management. The system needs to understand that self-determination leads to innovation. Set the problem of the achievement gap at the center of the table and let shared responsibility work. make it more transparent - the decisions, the regulations, the process Use true salaries for teachers and compare school-to-school Put someone ethical in charge of Facilities and BEX. Keep public schools out of public parks, utilize land owned by the school district. It may not be intentional, but it is very difficult for concerned citizens to track allocation proposals and decisions because of multiple fund titles and project labels, and the reallocation of funds from one committed purpose to another purpose that "emerges." Regionalize the city and keep close/tight tabs on the allocations and spending. After tracking it for 6 months it should show a pattern of expenses that can be used for the future expenditures...make families accountable for their fair share (fines) and assist them in doing so by giving them options and resources. (There is nothing wrong with the good old fashion car wash or fundraising together! Who knows? It might stengthen your community both in the neighborhood and at school!) Get community partners involved concentrate on hiring best teachers and letting them teach. Get rid of top heavy expenditures Reduce the salaries and positions of your management at the Central Office. The curriculum people there are not providing value anyway with their promotion of discovery math. Many staff are kept on without reason, such as semi retired principals. Put them in the classrooms as team teachers so more effort is spent there. Buy better textbooks such as Singapore math instead of Everyday math textbooks that are ineffective and expensive. Stop ties with textbook publishers so you are more objective. Focus less on testing and more on content knowledge. Preparing students for tests is less important than what they learn in class every day. Stop funding ADMIN at the expense of the classroom - your admin salaries are astronomical - start paying teachers that kind of money and you'd be surprised how much "better" things are in the the evaluation side of the equation. Hold Weighted Staffing Standards meetings, rather than allowing this committee to "fail to meet" as it has most of the year. Support CTE classes which have their own funding stream and offer a wide variety of classes to students that keep them in school, as opposed to dropping out. Open and honest communication publish an annual shareholder report like any corporation with income and expenditures detailed and in graphs. publish the salaries of the top department heads and the superintendent. publish the mission and budget for each department in the central office and the budget per student of each school. Decrease Specialist positions - increase in-classroom instructors and reduce teacher/student ratios Remove some of the control that individual principals have to dismantle programs that are proven to be effective, but that they do not support because of higher costs. Cannot comment: do not know enough about the current process. Forensic audit of the district first. Cut admin salaries by percentage of failing students. Tie all admin salaries to student success. Use the funds for basics - books, paper, pencils. All else is frosting and waste. Computers are only turning the students into button pushers, not thinkers and creators. Not to mention the cancer risk (WHO study this week) and damage to the developing brain.

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Community member 1252 1253 1254 Community member Community member Response Text The high level administrators are making very high salaries while teacher's pay is cut - that is unfair and demoralizing. When allocating funds for schools there should be a transparent way that additional funds are allotted to support schools in teaching kids who didn't get early ed, and who have special needs. You most certainly can & should eliminate the 6% of the budget allocated for principals' offices! Please publish whose idea that was so the public can demand their resignation. Transparency would be good. Go ahead and release preliminary data so that citizens can see how resources are allotted and what causes movement in resources. Start giving extra funding to the under performing schools so they can institute programs that will help students perform better. Give more funding to the south end schools who's PTA's are not as well funded by outside sources as those north of the Ship Canal. I think that this pyramid of education is far too top heavy. Raise taxes so there is more money to go around Make sure that the schools which do not have strong family financial backing get more support from the district. Currently the schools with the least family financial backing, which probably need much more funding than the other schools, are surviving on less funding. A few years ago, my school got a brand new football field that cost over a million dollars. Meanwhile, teachers are getting cut and class sizes have sky rocketed due to budget issues. The priorities are horrible. Improve outreach and education regarding the budget process to immigrant and refugee communities. Take the highest offer on school buildings for sale! And set aside extra funds for 'failing' schools. Provide extra support for the schools that don't have effective PTSAs take pay cuts for yourselves, more school fundraisers. I don't know the answer, but as a business person, I know that money has to be allocated to successful ventures. If a school is succeeding, take time to figure out what they're doing by spending timeat the school and observing classrooms and PTA meetings, then work with failing schools to implement some of the working strategies. Continue getting parents involved to brainstorm alternative funding sources - keep communication lines open if funding is being decreased for any reason transparency Improve communication and outreach More neighborhood meetings that are better publicized. Have neighborhood meetings where people prioritize what services they want most. Where you live in this city can determine your child's chances for success, why is it that fundraising can be targeted for an individual school that may have parents with higher incomes and SAH parents. As I answer this survey, a lot is about making information more public. Marketing, if you will. The process will improve if it's more widely known. make it fair Involve the principals more Start working with the State Legislature and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, instead of ignoring them or dismissing them by saying "Seattle is different." That position is wrong and unhelpful. Again, the issue is relationships. The District has gone its own way for years, and now is hurting because the State finds it easy to reduce funding for annoying supplicants. Publish everything. Be more transparent. Focus every dollar on educating CHILDREN Open up the teacher contract negotiation process to the public. Also, the Madison Valley fiasco must be understood and never repeated. This cost the taxpayers $5.4Million we can't afford. Awful. Fewer administrators Partner with large orgs. Start at the bottom - have teachers identify best practices and saving opportunities Hire people who can do their job! Communicate more to the public. Be transparent. Stop allowing the lowest bidder with support of our tax money to be the one to acquire school district property. You all should be ashamed!

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Teacher or school staff Schools should have more voice in their budgets. Resources should be allocated to classrooms as a first priority, rather than to administrative staff, expensive MAPS testing, Teacher or school staff performance management and a new district website. 1283 Teacher or school staff Too many goals that are started then vanish then something new comes out of the wood work. WAY too much money spent on CAdmin. You should be ashamed of yourselves for the millions of dollars that have been wasted over the last years.

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Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Teacher or school staff 1285 1286 Response Text Far too many dollars are being spent on consultants and mid level management. Why send two people who make 120k a piece to tell us we need to lose teachers when they themselves aren't losing their jobs? I don't need most district personnel to do my job. Make sure the lights are on and payroll and benefits go out on time and send the rest of the budgets to the buildings.

Teacher or school staff Reduce District expenses downtown at JSCEE. Reduce coaches. 1) Make the weighted staffing standards formula actually be standard, instead of hacking a little bit off it every year to balance the budget on the backs of the schools. Teacher or school staff 2) Stop letting the demographer low-ball the schools projected enrollments. This demoralizes staffs by putting them through the stress of unnecessary RIFs 1287 The people allocating the funds do not have empathy with what is happening in reality and just look at numbers. We need buget personnel who have been in the trenches, as a school administrator or teacher and really need to get to speak with the SPS Teacher or school staff teachers and faculty drafting the budget. Also, eliminating art and music is a big mistake since these subjects help boost student learning as they provide more connections in learning. 1288 Teacher or school staff I don't know, but there aren't enough funds. need to drop the Teacher or school staff WSF formula 1290 figure out how all schools can get a basic core of staff that stays permanent so people know they have jobs and don't have to Teacher or school staff worry every year, 1291 I do like Susan Enfield's focus on transparency and openess around a variety of things, including finances (and her use of her Teacher or school staff first name when signing letters). 1292 1289 1293 Teacher or school staff Keep track of real equity that looks beyond money only but effective teachers as well Eliminate non-teachining positions to only essential ones. In this time of budget tightness, we do not need all those "coaches"-Teacher or school staff literacy, math, science, data, PLC, etc. They are the sprinkles on the sundaes--nice, but we need the ice cream (the general education teachers) and some toppings (specialists who actually work with students). Don't allow for "hidden" principal $$$. (Teachers aren't dummies about that.) Teacher or school staff Also, do not allow principals to influence staff to support spending academic $$$ to support administration. $$$ should directly impact student learning, not administrators doing their personal job. Making sure it is allocated by need not just by building. Making sure that need is determined for each school not by only a Teacher or school staff formula for often if you put more than one specialized program in a building the overall needs are greater and need to be looked at in terms of funding. Share with staff the buget, share in a way that is open as to what we need to do, how we can use our money, what money we Teacher or school staff can get. Standardization and centralization in such a diverse District has been a DISASTER. Centralize monitoring, but leave schools Teacher or school staff with as much autonomy as possible. I can't speak to this... which means that your method of communicating about the budget is not that effective. I have no sense Teacher or school staff of what money the district has and how it should be allocated. I feel like it is a struggle for the schools to work with the constraints of the budget. However, much of this I lay at the feet of the legislature. The funds should directly match the needs of the students. With staff VOTING on what is best, the students needs are not Teacher or school staff always a match. These decisions should be made at the district level. Teacher or school staff just turn over more funds to schools. Our district is apparently very top-heavy compared to other districts in Washington. Keep the great programs; those with a proven track record (like Elaine Woo's elementary inquiry science). Toss the rest. Teacher or school staff Give some % to each school to allocate for themselves Teacher or school staff ASK THE TEACHERS WHAT THEY NEED.

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Teacher or school staff Put funds back in the schools. Cut administration. Support ALO schools with funding. Allow schools to have more control and decentralize some of the process. The school staff and principal have a better idea Teacher or school staff about what is needed than a centralized decision. 1305 1306 1307 Teacher or school staff Be 100% transparent

Teacher or school staff Listen to the community (parents/teachers from all educational groups)! Then, listen, listen, and listen some more. I still have not seen the budget for all the monies allotted the school I work in. There is no transparency or site-based Teacher or school staff management of creating and following an agreed on budget. Money is "shuffled" and "tweaked" by admin and it is not clear to staff how much there is or what it can be spent on. 1308 Don't do things like cut the amount of students allowed to attend a high school to just below the numbers that assign more Teacher or school staff funded admin/counselors, etc. 1309

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Title 1 schools should be funded equally irrespective of AYP status to ensure all students in poverty get access to needed Teacher or school staff resources. 1310 Teacher or school staff Keep better track of the money. I sometimes wonder if those that determine school budgets have any working knowledge on the impact on schools. I have been an involved teacher for years, working on budget committees in my schools. So often, the changes in a school budget makes teaching even harder, larger class sizes, SPED students that teachers are expected to manage and teach without Teacher or school staff SPED teacher skills and classroom management of students that need more than one teacher can give. SPS expects schools to reach goals with minimum support. The best model I have seen is where a 'float' teacher supports teachers where needed co-teaching, small group instruction, Kindergarten at beginning of the year and more. Get more money, pass levies, look at the actual impact on smaller schools when their budgets are cut. 1312 1311 1313 1314 1315 1316 Teacher or school staff Reviewing aspects such as the need for assistive technology, augmentative communication needs, etc. Teacher or school staff There is no room for innovation with such a tight budget; however, with this economy, I have no suggestions. Teacher or school staff Not sure about the details. I am hopeful that part of this includes need of the school community? From

Teacher or school staff True transparency! Not just rhetoric. It's very important to put more money and time in the classroom so teachers can TEACH. Fewer tests. More instruction days. Teacher or school staff Fewer downtown administrators. Lower teacher to student ratio in the buildings. 1317 1318 1319 Teacher or school staff Communication directly to teach regarding school funds

Teacher or school staff Less $ for administrators, particularly district level admin Stop wasting money and get the money into the classroom so kids have a chance to learn! We need more supplies and Teacher or school staff technology--it's the world we are living in 1320 1321 Teacher or school staff Without knowing how the current process works, I'm woefully unqualified to say anything on the matter.

Teacher or school staff Hard to be any more effective when there are so many unknowns during the process - like what the Legislature is doing. I think, given all the parameters, the District does a good job of allocating funds with the information and resources available. All right, I completely understand why Kennedy had to go, but he was THE BEST ever at keeping us informed, giving us Teacher or school staff detailed information without over-whelming us or talking down to us. He is missed. I know nothing about what's going on with the budget since he left, and I knew nothing before he came on-board. The info he provided is missed. 1323 1322 Teacher or school staff no opinion Improve communication at the school level and give staff at the schools some voice in determining how funds are allocated and Teacher or school staff spent. 1325 1324 1326 1327 1328 1329 Teacher or school staff Lobby for our needs and rights at the state level. Teacher or school staff Work with the state to improve funding. Teacher or school staff Ask for, and listen to, teacher input about budget priorities.

Teacher or school staff open more space, schools are becoming overloaded Funds should be first and foremost spent in schools. Teachers who are coaches should not receive additional stipends, and all Teacher or school staff administration (except principals) should take a cut in pay. 1330 Teacher or school staff More transparency school staff retain control of discretionary spending no matter what the vision the Principal has for instructional support. Teacher or school staff Schools are not accountable to spending that supports high standards in instructional practice. Many buildings are thoughtful in their choices but not all. 1332 Special ed funds seem to be a giant secret. I've often wondered if special ed funding has gone to the special education Teacher or school staff students rather than the general fund 1333 1331 1334 1335 Teacher or school staff Take a survey of all school staff prioritizing budgetary needs.

Teacher or school staff transparency Hopefully the mistakes of our past with the public's trust is resolved. We always need to communicate when we see Teacher or school staff mismanagement and focus on our goals in the district. 1336

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Not waste it in the first place by getting bamboozled and paying off administrators to go after they screw up. This is a PR Teacher or school staff problem that is not going to go away. 1337 Get the people in Olympia off their dead butts and fund schools fully instead of using the present cut and paste system. Get the budgets to schools faster but with firmer numbers. It's really tough on schools that have to make decisions on peoples Teacher or school staff jobs. 1339 make it totally transparent. or just take it all away from local schools. how much choice do we really have? we end up deciding Teacher or school staff between a nurse and a secretary when we need both. give us personnel based on enrollment. 1340 1338 Teacher or school staff We need more money. small schools need to either be closed or provided with enough funding to compare to larger schools. Having a small school Teacher or school staff with very little elective options does not help students. 1342 1341 1343 Teacher or school staff lobby the state to fully fund k-12 Teacher or school staff 1344 Increased expectations + increased assessments + increased SPED and ELL in general ed classrooms + less IAs and tutors does NOT = narrowing the achievement gap. We need more IAs and tutors when the level of students with needs increases in general education classes. Higher the need, higher the allocation of funds to pay for classroom support staff. Teacher or school staff From

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Teacher or school staff We need to see actual expense vs. budget from last year and current budget as compared to last year. We are always working from a point of too little information. Cuts in JSCEE salaries as well as well as layoffs should have been implemented this year. Teacher or school staff Allocating funds to schools should not be linked with student performance.

Teacher or school staff More teacher say and less admin control Every school argues over the same basic money every year. There should be NO need for schools to make these tough Teacher or school staff choices. Show us the money earlier and get us more! 1348 1349 1350 Teacher or school staff wage economic and class war with the ruling class --they keep us divided.

Teacher or school staff bring back school based decision making We appreciate that more funds were pushed out to buildings, but schools don't know how challenging it will be next year with Teacher or school staff reduced Central office services. 1351 Tough...get the funds out sooner whne we know a school will have a need--waiting until October 1st isn't good for anyone! Our south end schools continue to perform worse than our north end counterparts, we needd to examine how allocate our Teacher or school staff moneys in effort to close the achievement gap. 1353 1352 1354 Teacher or school staff The top down approach is not working. More decision making should be at the school level. Teacher or school staff Schools with the greatest need should be given staffing priority to ensure that we can retain positions. Every year our funding is decreased, forcing us to give up positions. The work load isn't decreasing, but we have less people to complete it. Teacher or school staff

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Teacher or school staff clearer cleaner budget- too large of a bureaucracy Allowing schools to have more flexibility in the budget process. This year we are losing two exceptional teachers and our class Teacher or school staff sizes are increasing by 4-5 students. At a low income, high needs school, this means we will under perform in standardized tests and fail to prepare our students for middle and high school. 1357 make sure the distric is not wasting any resources (better monitoring system to prevent the past mistakes we learned about this Teacher or school staff year) 1358 Teacher or school staff More transparency in funding More flexibility in how funds are handled. For schools that are on the "bare-bones" budget (enough money to open the school, Teacher or school staff but no more than that), more flexibility in handling funds that are privately raised. 1360 1359 Teacher or school staff standardize the process and make sure that people are doing their jobs, ie the middle school athletic coordinator is ineffective; the accounting department is paying people two times for some reimbursement or taking 3 months to pay others. Tell us how funds are allocated. Why do some of the schools get money and some not? Why do we have to get funded on the backs of our parent community. Our playground is the worst in the district. Our school is at full capacity and we have two water Teacher or school staff fountains. The gym is about 15 paces wide by 20 paces long. You want me to get a workout with 30 kids in their? Please tell us how we can get an upgrade at Daniel Bagley Elementary. 1362 1361 1363 Teacher or school staff Look beyond numbers. Same number of students at different schools doesn't always equal to the same resources.

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1364 1365 1366 1367 From Response Text

Teacher or school staff Let the schools have enough budget to function. Teacher or school staff I mean...You can't squeeze blood from a turnip. Teacher or school staff Allocation transparency

Teacher or school staff Fewer adminstrators, more teachers. Increase the per capita dollar amount for each student and then allow individual schools spend the extra dollars as they deem Teacher or school staff fit. Too much paperwork and time to get building dollars to the students...especially Pay-for-K dollars. 1368 1369 1370 Teacher or school staff 250:1 baseline ratio for School Counselors or better

Teacher or school staff look at #'s. Some middle schools get less funding and are larger than some high schools. $ for summer programs at high needs schools, $ for the BEST possible after school programs at high needs schools, $ for ALO Teacher or school staff opportunities at high needs schools 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 Teacher or school staff release more funds to school buildings. Increase baseline budgets to buildings Teacher or school staff too much power to schools Teacher or school staff district and school budgets need to be more transparent.

Teacher or school staff advocate for congressional reform Real change should start in the legislature, by pushing for a state income tax to assure greater consistency in funding year to Teacher or school staff year. 1376 In a time of recession and deep cuts at the state and district level, it only makes sense that building budgets are cut BUT we Teacher or school staff cannot staff our school at a level that provides students with the courses that they are requesting. The staffing formula is just inadequat to accomplish this goal. 1377 1378 1379 1380 1381 Teacher or school staff Stop the squandering of the overall funds- reevaluate your total expernditures by tiotal auditing of all departments Teacher or school staff Find money for more psychologists and drug and alcohol specialists for our students. Teacher or school staff Principals should have total say in budget with Super. office having veto power.

Teacher or school staff I'm not sure. First all all, getting rid of the previous thief was a big step. Families are outraged by many of the decisions being made downtown by people, we feel, that are in no way connected to the everyday life of the classrooms and the challenges presented Teacher or school staff by socio-economic influences (poverty, poor brain development, abuse of children at home, diseases, cultural expectations not being met or ignored, etc.). 1382 Teacher or school staff Ask teachers what they need, buy textbooks without a bunch of crazy committees organized by the JSCEE. the district says they are in a budget crisis, but then spends money like they have it. If the district is short on money, then it Teacher or school staff needs to scale back it's spending, cut back salaries of administration, cut administration personnel that don't do anything and hide all day long in the district offices. 1384 1383 1385 1386 Teacher or school staff Cut out all the money spent on legal fees.

Teacher or school staff get rid of the central office and give schools the ability to control their own budgets, etc. Put money where it is needed. If there is an underperforming school, then it needs more funds and attention. Cutting staff and Teacher or school staff programs only makes it worse. 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 Teacher or school staff reduce waste at a district level Teacher or school staff We need adequate budget to staff for the numbers of students that we are receiving Teacher or school staff ? Teacher or school staff more $$ to teachers and classrooms Teacher or school staff Close or significantly reduce the size of the John Stanford Center. Put the money in schools. Teacher or school staff Staff building to support, maintain and complete all laws and standards for our students educations

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1394 From Teacher or school staff Teacher or school staff 1395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 Teacher or school staff Teacher or school staff Response Text eliminate more centrally spent budgets and positions. Focus on basic teaching and supporting it directtly, not from a desk downtown. Students attending Level 1 schools need more assistance! Students do not receive the same education in various parts of Seattle AND it's NOT the teachers or the teaching that's better! IT'S THE MONEY spent in some schools that provides opportunities and extra staff! The principal gets whatever they want. Even though there is a budget committee and teacher input, it is discounted ideas are not shared, so no input for ideas is ever heard. I don't know but what has happened so far is inexcusable. Schools depend on PTA monies for basic needs and if you are from a poor school you are at a huge disadvantage.

Teacher or school staff not sure Teacher or school staff 85% of budget to schools, 15% central office Teacher or school staff Divide the district in to smaller districts. We are just to big. Teacher or school staff Provide incentives for allocating funds to school who have met their academic goals.

Teacher or school staff transparency Individually look at each school. Lowell and Thurgood Marshall need to be considered as two different schools when allocating resources. The first year of the APP split we were considered two separate schools and received Title money. This year we Teacher or school staff did not and our services were reduced for our most needy students. We need to be considered a title school ofr half of our population. 1403 1404 1405 1406 Teacher or school staff Not sure. Teacher or school staff More money for special needs students who do require more personnel.

Teacher or school staff not sure. Quit spending money over analysing things. Spend money on books and supplies to run the buildings and support the staff. Teacher or school staff Keep buildings cleaner and keep them warmer. 1407 1408 1409 1410 1411 1412 Teacher or school staff Allow principals, teachers, parents to have input into the WSS formula. Teacher or school staff Less spent on admin toys and put back into the supplies for the schools and students. Teacher or school staff Quit moving programs around so much which changes the school budgets. Teacher or school staff More attention to South End

Teacher or school staff less consultants Identify what the needs are and fund the needs. Save the extra money for a rainy day fund. Don't fund illegal programs. Make Teacher or school staff sure the allocations are fair. 1413 the districts goal of differentiating and meeting every students needs is made nearly very difficult by continuing to allocate funds Teacher or school staff to schools in the blanket method currently imployed. Funds should be allocated to schools based on the needs of that school. Just as students differ individually so do entire schools. 1414 There needs to be a CFO assigned to each area of the district. One whose sole job is to work within that area to allocate, audit and assess funds. Taking away some of the Principal power but also finding ways to better use and move money freely to Teacher or school staff those schools whose resources are more severely needed to those who don't. Having an open transparent record of where money is, how its spent and clear audit trails will help. Having individuals who are trained Accountants doing such work and are in the open about what they are doing and how they are doing should stop the strange ways schools fund themselves and allocate resources say for a sub to teach 3 athletes or another to defraud the district. 1415 Since that is not my job, I'm not sure how to advise. The quarterly updates we used to receive through indistrict email to explain decisions seemed to give us some information and was an attempt to provide transparency, but then they were coming from Teacher or school staff the group that helped to hide the money that was allocated inappropriately and they were terminated. I think there needs to be a base funding allocation per school, then schools with greater need, somehow need ways to acquire additional funding. I believe this already occurs in some way. It's hard to have an understanding of the entire district when I'm in one building everyday and don't have the perspective of another school or the entire district. 1416 1417 Teacher or school staff more power to indiv. schhols

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Schools basically are expected to do the budget, but not allowed to make decisions as to where money can best be used for Teacher or school staff their school. It use to be so much more collaborative and whether is was good news or not so good news, staff were able to feel some ownership for their schools. 1418 1419 Teacher or school staff N/A Teacher or school staff 1420 1421 1422 If we are all the same then we should have the same budget. We are absolutely bare bones with almost no support for our teachers. What happened to reading support money, what happened to that chunk of money that we could choose to suppot the programs that are important to our school. We should have ample supervision and full time librarian and support for ALo. From

Teacher or school staff Don't give us so little that we fight over it.

Teacher or school staff No idea. Budget process needs to be a one time thing after the real enrollment numbers. Fund the schools that you are overcrowding in Teacher or school staff the spring so they will be ready for school in the fall, stop waiting until after school starts to react. 1423 Teacher or school staff work with ptas to have a more balance in actual funds school have Keep the big picture in mind and do not scrimp on students and taxpayers - use the resources wisely by investing in the proven Teacher or school staff programs and funding the care of our infrastructure. 1425 1424 1426 1427 Teacher or school staff ASK TEACHERS and Principals what they need

Teacher or school staff NA give the impression to the public that the school board looked into every possible solution in balancing a budget that won't hurt Teacher or school staff kids and families. Succumbing to a RIF is cowardly and unethical. Asking tough questions and a firm understanding on what the public deems to be necessary would be a steop int he right direction. 1428 Teacher or school staff listen to the staff Start sooner by giving schools their budgets and empowering them to come up with a plan that best allocates their resources. Teacher or school staff The short timeline we are given prevents time for thought and careful consideration. 1430 1429 Teacher or school staff pay attention to what staff is saying, less on principal recommendations advocate a state income tax, especially for the highest wage earners. I think SPS is doing an admirable job budget wise, under Teacher or school staff the current economic circumstances. 1432 1431 1433 1434 1435 Teacher or school staff listen to the the people in the war zone, not those focused on the budget only Teacher or school staff quit spending on the MAP, etc Teacher or school staff Be fair not equal. Provide support for all and make budget decisions based on what is in the best interest of all sutdents.

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Teacher or school staff get more help educate people as to why we need income tax on the wealthiest. I know this district voted for that so maybe we need more funds just from this district. I think the leadership should put major effort into finding more money.

Stop using grant money to drive professional development, curriculum, district-level policy. It leads us to regularly change what we do every 3-5 years based on the grant money available. It's no way to build true, long-lasting efficacy into our schools, and Teacher or school staff further, it allows narrowly interested groups to drive our policy decisions, despite contributing only a small fraction of our budget through their grants. We're a public school system, not a system driven by private money to serve private interests; it doesn't matter that those private interests have the best interest of education at heart; we're the experts (we're education professionals and we're Seattlites) and we ought to be driving policy in our school district. 1437 Teacher or school staff Allocate more funds to schools and less to the central office. We all need money, even schools with strong parental support. We need money to buy books, etc. Sometimes it seems like Teacher or school staff the schools from more affluent neighborhoods get less and the poorer schools get so much more. 1439 1438 Teacher or school staff Hire people who are good in writing letters for companies and assign them some some shools.... Don Kennedy let us know what was going on. Now we know nothing. Money needs to be available for the kids not the Teacher or school staff administration. 1441 1440 Teacher or school staff unknown We could save a lot of money by not administering the MAP test. This test is not accurate and not useful and uses hours and Teacher or school staff hours of class and library time. It was implemented under dubious circumstances and should be stopped. 1443 1442

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 From Response Text

Teacher or school staff stop mis-managing funds with both academic and athletic funds. Teacher or school staff More to the buildings less to the Admin, more to resources that serve students and staff, for student success. Teacher or school staff District should understand the programs and culture of a school and what is being offered before cutting funds out. Teacher or school staff More transparency Teacher or school staff more school based decision making regarding budget Teacher or school staff I truly do not know anything about ths process. Teacher or school staff Let everyone know where to find details about this kind of info from the day the set foot in the school. Teacher or school staff better communication with all stake hoders Teacher or school staff Continue to share budget information with all staff, as the previos CFO tried to do at the end of his tenure.

Teacher or school staff Less money spent at district office and more directly to the principals. State should seriously look at funding issues and address those courageously. Unions also need to understand fighting with the Teacher or school staff school district is misdirected. 1454 The legislature should not be allowed to wait so long to decide their budget for education. The lag on their part seriously Teacher or school staff jeopardizes planning for next year which takes the wind out of everyone's sails. 1455 1456 1457 Teacher or school staff Why are we spending millions for technology for testing but we are laying off teachers? And counselors?

Teacher or school staff k-8 schools are a different model and tend to be underfunded. Continue to provide funds to under performing schools so that they can keep the adults they have in the classroom, i.e. Teacher or school staff intervention specialists and the like. 1458 Trim down staff at the district office. Stop wasting money on MAPs testing. Spend more on counselling, librarians IA's and Teacher or school staff reducing class size. 1459 We always seem to find that there is money left to spend at the last minute. I don't know if this is because of our principal or Teacher or school staff lack of communication. It makes it very difficult to use the money effectively when it is last minute. 1460 1461 1462 Teacher or school staff I don't know.

Teacher or school staff What are your goals? How can you allocate funds when there are so many directions you are going. With the budget cuts, it has been difficult to have a strong program at the building level. How are we to provide an effective Teacher or school staff program if staff and programs eliminated 1463 Teacher or school staff More building-based decisions about funding Some schools have huge PTA budgets!!! Seems unfair they get all that money granted back. It is like we have "private" public Teacher or school staff schools. 1465 Each schools needs to receive money per student based on the number of students in the school (not the projected number of Teacher or school staff students). 1466 Less money on central based testing. More money down to the schools and students. Listen to teachers when making changes and be willing to realize that one solution does not fit all in a diverse district like Teacher or school staff seattle. You need to have different solutions at different schools, this will require more on the ground work. Less dictating from a central office or outside consultant who is never in the schools. We have the expertise in the district already. You do not need to hire expensive consultants from abroad. 1467 1464 Teacher or school staff More professional development opportunities; hire real specialists The process of allocating funds to the schools seems pretty straight forward; what schools do with the money is another Teacher or school staff question. I don't understand this enough to give any ideas . . . 1469 Eliminate many of the non-teaching staff. I'm not sure if, for example, counseling should be part of 'educating the child'. Education occurs when you put a teacher in front of children. Seems like there are just too many non-teaching staff, both in the Teacher or school staff building and at JSCEE. Also, just your basic 'systems'. For example, if the dumpster is full the custodian cannot call the garbage company and request an early pick up. He must call someone downton (or somewhere) to make the call for him. Too many layers of management/supervision. 1470 1468

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Why is there only a week or two to determine budget allocations within the schools. Perhaps registration should be done in Teacher or school staff January for all grades so that federal, district funding and student projections for the schools can be determined sooner. Schools and principals need more than a week to thoughtfully allocate the projected funds. 1471 Teacher or school staff 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 Project accurately for the next year's numbers. It is challenging to staff the needed areas when we get last minute money in the summer or fall. The projections have been significantly off for most of the years I have been at my school, so we budget and staff for fewer students than we find ourselves with in the fall. It makes for a messy start to the school year. From

Teacher or school staff - Provide more resources/money to meet needs of gifted learners Teacher or school staff Do not allow planning for useless , outdated things. Teacher or school staff no opinion Teacher or school staff I don't know.

Teacher or school staff Schools who are not meeting standards need more resources and training on how to use them effectively. Schools with high poverty rates need more counselors, more administrators, and more nurses. Poverty creates special needs Teacher or school staff that take a lot of work and time to deal with. 1478 1479 1480 Teacher or school staff Give schools more of an opinion! Allow principals, staff and parents to decide what is best for students.

Teacher or school staff get more money Continue to support high poverty schools with extra funds/support; give schools more power and say in how they allocate their Teacher or school staff funds 1481 Take into account that all populations are different. We have more ELL students and free and reduced lunch kids than most of Teacher or school staff the schools in the district. We don't seem to be funded fairly quite often in light of the needs of our students. It's not all black and white, people have to examine populations and discern what they require to thrive. 1482 Quit putting anything above the needs of the kids as they are today and not based on years ago when family dynamics were completely different. These kids need smaller class sizes and a more holisitic approach to meet their needs in order to get them to be able to learn in a classroom environment. THAT is what will close the achievement gap and nothing short of that. Teacher or school staff You are heading in the wrong direction and towards higher dropout rates and more behavior issues by cutting back on teachers and counselors and support programs for kids and by raising the number of students in a classroom. It is a recipe for disaster, just watch and see what the results are. In the end, it will cost much more money to try to reverse the resulting problems from the cuts that are going on today. 1483 Teacher or school staff increase funding via tax increases For once, learn from past mistakes. Our reputation so far is highly damage with what happened with our prior superintendent Teacher or school staff and the finance director. Audit, investigate, and make them pay when frauds are proven. 1485 Site based management does not work in all areas. Teacher or school staff There are some things that should be decided by the districe as a whole such as music and art. 1486 1484 1487 1488 1489 1490 1491 Teacher or school staff Drop the student weighted formula Teacher or school staff Have the new 'super' sub in a behavior school in the south east side...than ask this question! Teacher or school staff allow some school-based decision-making. Teacher or school staff Don't penalize poor performing schools-help them with more funding.

Teacher or school staff Educate the general public to advocate to their legislators for more funding and less cuts in education As previously stated, use the money currently spent on outside scripted curriculums to support efforts to build curriculum from Teacher or school staff the most effective teachers' practices across the district. 1492 Teacher or school staff No idea. Having a year long process for adopting new textbooks and then not adopt them because of funding issues is a huge waste to time, energy and money. In the future I hope you will consider this. I don't think it was a surprize to anyone that teachers Teacher or school staff where RIFed this year and therefore the district should not have been planning to buy new text books if they knew they were not going to be able to purchase them. 1494 We need to reduce money on useless. I think that we should get some people to really go over the budget and look at ways we Teacher or school staff can maximize teacher-student ratios. 1495 1493

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

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Teacher or school staff improve your student projections tools so schools can be better prepared about the enrollment realities. Review how recent changes to student staffing formula have actually decreased support for students with special needs, such as SPED and ELL. Teacher or school staff Maintain academic, truancy, drug/alcohol support staff in high needs schools Teacher or school staff Allocating funds more fairly needs to happen. Let principals make a case for extra funds, don't just say it does fit a formula.

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Teacher or school staff I think it is probably very difficult because it is based on factors beyond your control (particularly the legislature) The schools that are highly impacted by ELL studen should have first priority for additional money/ Teacher or school staff support in order to meet the adacemic needs of their students. A tutoring program to help students in reading and math skills is vital for school success. Let the BLTs together with teachers decide to list their needs and options and perhaps provide more flexibility for duts and alternatives they think are appropriate for their particular constitutency. Encourage alternative ways or organizing and use of Teacher or school staff staff. As a substitute, I have no idea how the budget process works. As a sub rep to the union, I try to stay on top of what I hear there and I listen to the school board meetings and am always baffled as to what issues come up and why. Sometimes one or another venue clarifies things but sometimes not. Fund certain schools at a base rate instead of a student weighted formula. Especially the ones that serve the whole district Teacher or school staff such as interagency and South Lake. eliminate the unnecessary and wasteful: i.e. Center house High school, the "Mall" school, and other strange, odd and bizarre and totally unneeded sites. I mean a "seahawks school"?...now that was a concept that flopped! And whatever happened to Teacher or school staff oversight of all these multitudes of programs? We keep hearing about some new thing all the time, that we didn't even know existed.

Teacher or school staff Cut staff at the Stanford Center. Put more staff into our schools. Quit giving the big dogs all they want to the exclusion of the smaller dogs. Compensate for all the years of buildiing up the big Teacher or school staff dogs by focusing on the have nots for a change. Resources are scarce - so practice equitey as opposed to the usual lip service to neighborhod schools. 1505 1506 Teacher or school staff no opinion Teacher or school staff 1507 1508 ASK the schools.. we haven't been asked for years what our needs are. As a result we have endured chronic underfunding because we don't have many "high flyers". That kind of discrimination is not acceptable, and is resulting in harm to the district in the public relations department. Its no secret that the public in general has little confidence in Seattle Public Schools.

Teacher or school staff I think that funds should be used for paying effective teachers extra if they move to a troubled, low-performing school Give more to the low income schools-lower class sizes, more supply budget, and lower bus rates. Our children need to go Teacher or school staff places for their parents don't take them or travel with them as much as the affluent school populations. 1509 1510 1511 Teacher or school staff all schools should get the help and support they need not just lower level schools Teacher or school staff make sure that all the funds are divided equally between all SPS.

It's not clear what can be done when their is so little to spread so far. allocation of scarce resources allows little discretion. To suggest that schools have much control over so little can build cynicism and disaffection. So many constraints are placed on the funds, that there is too little to direct in other directions than what is required. Equity and transparency are essential. Do not encourage "fighting" over pennies to destroy unity of purpose in schools or between schools. Education is historically and Teacher or school staff chronicly underfunded. In the chase for additional funds, school districts (SPS included) "chase" funding to increase the resources available. However beneficial in the short run the influx of funds may be, the chase has at times shifted the direction and priorities of school districts in ways that disrupts continuity of building educational programs and instruction. Focusing on sustainable plans and relationships seems key in developing and sustaining successful educational programs. Cooperation between the city and the school district has been beneficial for students, staff and the community at large. 1512 This issue is too complex for me as a teacher to understand. The budget is such a mix of federal dollars, state dollars and local Teacher or school staff dollars that I leave it to budget experts. 1513 Don't use the free lunch numbers to drive any funding. That is a misleading number. Don't expect PTA's to fund basic education or things that are essential. That money is not consistent within the school or across the district. Find sponsors and reducing students' number in the classroom,being selectiv in choosing the teachers not by seniority by Teacher or school staff competence in academical area. 1515 1514 1516 Teacher or school staff Making sure that schools get what they need and follow through with what is said. Teacher or school staff

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

I don't think there's much transparency around the budget and allocation of funds. Some schools get more, some less--I Teacher or school staff assume it's tied to F/R meals? I would like to see some baseline that's fair and equitable--and after that, the enhancements are added as needed. I don't feel that there's an open forum for sharing budget info. And I feel really strongly that there's a lot of shadiness in the Perkins funding for CTE--why isn't more money going directly to student-centered programming? 1517 Teacher or school staff Not sure It would be nice to see more pie charts. How much do we pay for books? Photocopies? Field trips? Benefits? The Teacher or school staff employees and the community might be surprised at how the pie chart divides up. 1519 I think a lot of funding has been spent on attending to the mess than our last superintendent let go on. I also think too much Teacher or school staff money is spent on administering tests, and that a lot of money has been wasted on trying to get Everyday Math to work for our teachers. 1520 1518 Teacher or school staff more transparency Take into account F/R % when assigning $. More stability in $ so programs can be stable within a building. Decisions earlier so Teacher or school staff we are not making, revisiting (Jan, Mar, May, Aug) 1522 1521 1523 1524 1525 1526 Teacher or school staff Put money back in the classrooms. Get rid of LID days, and contractors and other waste systems! Teacher or school staff keep trying Teacher or school staff Not sure, what it really comes down to is that we need more money. Find a way to get more money?

Teacher or school staff LISTEN to administrators! Staff us for the students we really have. Our school is continuously under-staffed until October or November and sometimes Teacher or school staff we can't get someone to do the job at that late date 1527 Teacher or school staff Set up individual buget lines for different self-help (not dumping them all into one self-help account.) To me, it seems like the first question that should be asked with EVERY budget decision (even in establishing timelines) is how will this impact students? Why can't doing everything possible to avoid RIFs and program cutting be the first priority...instead of Teacher or school staff making admin salary raises, seeking the "latest and greatest" curricula and research, and creating strange Central Office programs about neck-stretching and wellness? 1529 1528 Teacher or school staff Clean house in central office. If teachers are taking a pay cut, then central office staff need to do the same. allocation should be based on filling the gap between the districts strategic plan and a building's needs in order to meet the Teacher or school staff district's strategic plan goals. 1531 Redirect funds to classrooms and less to high middle administration and replication of jobs without communication between Teacher or school staff departments. (that's not my job mentality) 1532 1530 Teacher or school staff give more money to those schools that need it most -- large schools continue to receive disproportionate funding I suspect there are more resources available to north-end schools given the needs of student populations - that may be an Teacher or school staff incorrect assumption 1534 1533 1535 1536 1537 Teacher or school staff Really? Teacher or school staff Stability for alternative programs must be a higher priority and those schools need higher funding.

Teacher or school staff Look at the needs not the head count. No school should have more than 10% total dollars than any other school including funds raised by PTSA. Student enrollment Teacher or school staff should not be a major factor. 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 Teacher or school staff Teacher or school staff Smaller central office, more money to schools. Teacher or school staff More staff input Teacher or school staff Some money should only be used for certain things - full time librarian, full time nurse. Teacher or school staff 1543 Give schools and teachers more money, and spend less on standardized tests and consultants. And give as few mandates as possible. Give us flexibility on how to use the funds. If one school wants to hire math tutors, but another wants writing coaches, and another wants more IA's, all should be able to do it if the funds are available...

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text it feels as thought there are no clear goals up till this point. allocation for schools are inequitable when it comes to some Teacher or school staff buildings getting the same thing as another, but not necessarily keeping in mind the monetary needs of certain socio-economic struggles. 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 Teacher or school staff do borrow from old levies Teacher or school staff Allocate more funds to schools. Teacher or school staff No suggestions Teacher or school staff Base the necessary funds to run a school building on more than head count. Teacher or school staff More teachers for smaller class sizes in high needs school with a very high special ed population The changes made to the WSS this year were positive largely due to the input and hard work of the school based staff who made the changes. Teacher or school staff Every school must be fully funded before central administration. The amount of spending on non-essential administration and administrators is ridiculous. From

The budget must be clear and transparent, and those who develop it must be truthful about it. None of this is the case presently. Administrator salaries are too high, teacher salaries are too low. Many poverty schools have broken equipment while middleTeacher or school staff class schools have functional equipment. The district buys expensive tools and books without proper training for teachers. That wastes money. 1551 1550 1552 1553 1554 Teacher or school staff Put APP in all schools Teacher or school staff Make our dollers count and have more accountability for those that don't perform.

Teacher or school staff Stop cutting out counseling support services Get rid of most personal services and consulting contracts. Teacher or school staff change the consulting teacher and instructional/academic coach positions to direct classroom staff positions. 1555 The process needs to be even more transparent, I still feel I don't understand how our building money is allocated and who Teacher or school staff makes those decisions 1556 Again, offering partial positions is very problematic. Also, making adjustments in October is disruptive (although I do Teacher or school staff understand that this is a State issue.) 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 Teacher or school staff don't know Teacher or school staff be honest about what is going on, tired of district administrators lying and promoting poor practices Teacher or school staff Treat all schools the samr Teacher or school staff Stop cutting funding! Don't wait until student tallies are too high. Anticipate student needs and get ahead of the game.

Make sure that the school's vision is aligned with the CSIP, and that each school has a theory of action tied to its CSIP. Lastly, SPS CSIP process does not ask for evidence of student understanding, and that should be changed. The allocation of funds Teacher or school staff should tie directly to each school's CSIP. How are the funds used to improve student understanding? How are students proving they understand the skills and concepts? What's the evidence to show that? It's not student growth as measure by standardized testing for those tests don't reflect what they've learned, only how they compare with other students. An honest reassessment of evidence of student learning is essential to determine funding. 1562 1563 1564 Teacher or school staff unknown

Teacher or school staff better communication and earlier budget More advocacy to the state. We're the biggest district - I'd love to see SPS start to bully the state into fully funding education. Teacher or school staff My friend is the lead bargainer for Stanwood and she said that the ENTIRE STATE watches us when we act. Perhaps we should be acting out in Olympia, setting the tone for the other districts. 1565 Teacher or school staff i am not informed to answer. more transparency Teacher or school staff equal access to all schools Possibly work with PTA to create an all district fund that could help all schools. 1567 1566

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1568 From Response Text

Teacher or school staff NA Quit creating a WSS formula and then eliminating from it. Quit underestimating enrollment. Send way more money to schools Teacher or school staff and stop relying on PTAs to fund basics which only reinforces inequity. 1569 Funds are tied to the priorities of voters, federal and state budgets, administrative and teacher agendas. Until we make compromises and prioritsize the needs of children and support their teachers, funding issues will continue. Teachers are not paid well or respected for the job they do. Salaries should start at the same level of a Registered Nurse with a 4-year degree. 1570 There is very little fairness across the board for the funds being allocated, make it so each school gets the same amount of Teacher or school staff revenue instead of the ineffective process that we go by now 1571 Think carefully about the impact of only funding south end teachers for professional dev. and evaluation work. This impacts all Teacher or school staff teachers abilities to pursue the career ladders. 1572 Teacher or school staff Teacher or school staff Cut the waste by eliminating the practice of farming-out P.D. outside the district forstarters. there isn't much money at the end of the process one way or another. we have to cut Peter to save Paul...funding needs to be Teacher or school staff more for the schools with needy populations o(over 50% free lunch) 1574 1573 1575 1576 Teacher or school staff I know it is a hard time with the economy and I think you have done what you can.

Teacher or school staff more transparency and consistency give very school funds based on enrollment and the types of students they have. post all spending online so we can see how all Teacher or school staff the money is used. put all cost centers online for the public. 1577 Get real about what you asking schools, staffs and principals are doing. Give the money they need without dictating guidelines Teacher or school staff so tightly they can not meet the needs of the students 1578 Make the building's BLT a bigger part of the process. BLTs are spoon fed what the district wants them to know when the district Teacher or school staff wants them to know it. The BLT is given almost no time for collaboration regarding budgeting, and is likely to receive additional information just as the budget is due. The situation is so time consuming and stressful, that nobody in our building wants to be on the BLT. The BLT then does not attract new members, and does not have time to work on other responsibilities. 1579 1580 1581 1582 Teacher or school staff don't lose money. Teacher or school staff Have the choice of drop-down menus for fund allocation to streamline budgeting.

Teacher or school staff There is not enough turn around time for buildings to make descisions about budgets. Um ... increase the tax base, tax the uber-wealthy more, and fund schools appropriately so that you don't have to ask this sad Teacher or school staff question. In other words, I don't know. 1583 Balance the school demographics. Then support schools with high free & reduced lunch populations with volunteer tutors; Teacher or school staff extra IA's, wellness centers & counselors in each school. 1584 1585 Teacher or school staff Is the school districts budget available to look at? I am not aware of it being easily accessible. 1. Communication: Stop sending a budget update to staff just before the winter break. It makes for a very stressful vacation in Teacher or school staff years where there is a deficit. 2. Tighten up even more at JSCEE. Put more money into the schools and classrooms. Fewer centralized services (eg teaching coaches). Put more of the dollars directly into classrooms, as close to the students as Teacher or school staff possible. It has to be more equitable, this may not mean equal amounts of money per school, lower income area schools may need more Teacher or school staff funds. I'm not sure how to do this, this is your job. Improve timeline or communication: our staff was told only about 2 weeks before the deadline for submission, and principals Teacher or school staff often control the process rather than guide it.

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Teacher or school staff Equity. Equity. Equity. Schools in poorer neighborhoods need funds more than affluent communities. We must increase our funding for low performing schools and integrate the community in helping us reach and serve all students. 1. Funds must respond to needs. Our number one goal should be acasdemic excellence for all. This means narrowing the academic achievement gap. Every child is important. We should also find a way to not herd our kids forward when clearly Teacher or school staff some could be retained to their own advantage. For example if I am in the 8th grade and going to high school with all E grades, this may not serve me well. 1591 1590 Teacher or school staff Don Kennedy sent out regular e-mails explaining the budget. Will his successor continue this? 1) Allocation of funds based on student needs vs. pooling $ with district allocating $ based on their agenda. Teacher or school staff 2) Using federal guidelines for Title I/high poverty funds to drive money into schools, vs. the district adjusting the thresshold to meet district's agenda 1593 1592

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Get a comptroller (Is that the right term?) to figure out where the money is going & set a pack of wild accountants on anyone, any dept, any program, to audit them if the paperwork isn't right or someone is not staying on budget. HOW the HELL did Teacher or school staff someone steal so much money & no one noticed???? Also once you catch someone stealing money call the cops immediately. 1594 The timeline for turning around a budget is very short. It is difficult to work collaboratively to make these decisions Teacher or school staff collaboratively as a staff. 1595 Teacher or school staff Close small schools that are not likely to grow in the next 2-3 years. Maybe a BLT member can go to budget meetings with administrators or a districat person can come to the school site during Teacher or school staff budget talks. 1597 Quuit wasting it on every new idea that comes down the pike only to discard it the next school year. Give the money to the Teacher or school staff schools that need it. 1598 1596 Teacher or school staff PTA donations and community support Give explicit written instructions to principals and dept heads and how each budget is to be used, what materials can be Teacher or school staff purchased with those funds and what can not be purchased. Training would be most helpful also. 1600 1599 Teacher or school staff Real numbers to staff when it comes to contemplating and completing building budgets. I am not sure. This is a very difficult time fiscally for everyone. Education continued to be punished for lack of funds. It is an Teacher or school staff unfortunate situation. 1602 1601 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 Teacher or school staff I don't know what the process has been to comment on improving the process. Teacher or school staff We have to make sure that Special Ed classroom are getting their fair share of the pot. Teacher or school staff Let employee representatives contribute in a meaningful way. Teacher or school staff I don't know, but it seems to me we shouldn't be running out of money every year. That is just heartbreaking. Teacher or school staff Have in school assessments done by central staff instead of making blind decisions. Teacher or school staff The state needs to help with money!!! Teacher or school staff stop wasting money on unnecessary bureaucracy Teacher or school staff Allow schools lump sums to distribute as needed From

Teacher or school staff Look at the needs levels in the schools. Some schools have high needs student populations. Have the School Board stop "okaying" every proposal the Superintendent puts forth. There is no oversight--about programs, or Teacher or school staff construction, etc. contracts. Most of the programs brought in are obviously "greasing the pockets" of some institution or publisher. 1612 1613 1614 Teacher or school staff more staff to help with at risk schools and students Teacher or school staff equality of programming offerings Teacher or school staff look at academic and social needs.provide real wrap-around services to all students in need. Keep family support workers they do a very good job of working with family and community as partners to meet the needs of students and families. Teacher or school staff Again, visiting the schools that you are going to make decisions for (or, just listen to the principal/teachers at that school).

1615 1616 1617

Teacher or school staff Dollars follow the kids; within a building, special needs funds allocated first This year we had to produce a budget that everyone knew was not the real budget because of the timing with other things like the state legislature, enrollment, etc. It also seems like the district is not being honest about enrollment because at our school, Teacher or school staff we got a double wide portable delivered to accomodate our growth while on paper the enrollment office only projected us having 20 or so more kids next year. 1618 1619 1620 Teacher or school staff more, more, more Teacher or school staff

I don't think schools are fairly funded. Some schools have four times the amount as others. It just doesn't seem to be working. Cut out the people and "stuff" downtown and put it into the schools, the classrooms and more support in the classrooms with Teacher or school staff students. 1621

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Provide workable timelines to schools and be sure they have all the information they need prior to deadlines. i.e. # of assigned Teacher or school staff students 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 Teacher or school staff I'm not sure. Teacher or school staff Take into consideration who the school is educating and what it is that population is interested in. Teacher or school staff Accountability Teacher or school staff No opinion Teacher or school staff give less decision making to buildings Be more open with the communications between school and the budget directores. I f you say the budget will be out on a certain date, make sure it is. If you want us to teach accountability and accountability to the students, make sure it is coming from the super's office on down. Teacher or school staff If you want people to understand and be on the same thought process, you have to talk with us, keekp us informed as to what is going on. Money is the MOST important part of all the teaching tools. Teacher or school staff Take more money from the central office and give it to the schools. From

1628 1629 1630

Teacher or school staff N/A allocate more to busing so that poorer kids have the chance to go to school with richer kids and get the chance to network & Teacher or school staff take advanced classes. 1631 1632 1633 1634 Teacher or school staff Keep the free and reduced a factor for adding funding for high poverty schools. Teacher or school staff Work more closely with building principals and LISTEN to their input.

Teacher or school staff Through budget committee. Split the district into 2-3 districts. Current roles of superintendent should be divided between two individuals--1 overseeing Teacher or school staff district finances and 1 overseeing academics 1635 1636 1637 Teacher or school staff I served on a budget team and felt that we had some say in how money would be spent in our building and I appreciate that.

Teacher or school staff Let us know where all the money is going so that when we are audited it's all accounted for. As a long term sub, I feel I have little say in the process. I do feel Jon Halfaker does a great job conveying information to the Teacher or school staff staff at Washington MS, though. 1638 Stop yanking the students in and out of schools to the point where staffing and money slosh around like water at the bottom of Teacher or school staff the Titanic an hour after the iceberg hit. 1639 1640 1641 Teacher or school staff If we will all have data projectors, be able to replace light bulbs....simple things like that

Teacher or school staff assist school's in the grant applications process I am new to the district, but the question of whether or not the budget development process is effective in allocating resources Teacher or school staff to meet the districts goals is a really big, nuanced question which requires more transparency about the budget itself and clearer definitions about what goals. 1642 Teacher or school staff Better predictions so we are not cutting staff and then trying to rehire them in October. Stop balancing the budget on the backs of those most vulnerable! How about less pay at the highest, district office levels so Teacher or school staff that class sizes could be lower? 1644 1643 1645 Teacher or school staff 0

The kids are the future and it's looking pretty scary. Teacher or school staff Decision should be made on all students being successful. I think all classrooms could use IA to help. 1646 1647 1648 Teacher or school staff Make sure all understand what the process is. Some schools are horribly under allocated.

Teacher or school staff Transperency in funding allocation. Be sure the funds follow the students and get to the classroom to buy materials. There has been an erosion of trust over the past few years. It's really difficult for me to trust that the district will actually do what Teacher or school staff it says it will do, because that has not always been my personal experience with this district. 1649 1650 Teacher or school staff not spend money on buying out contracts, or losing money or paying lawyers so that there are more funds to allocate

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1651 1652 1653 From Response Text

Teacher or school staff Make sure the funds reach the students that need it most! Students at risk! Teacher or school staff Have a state income tax.

Teacher or school staff Reduce considerably the size of Stanford Center. Support the state's need for an income tax. Allow video crews to see what schools are like - how crowded they are an the level Teacher or school staff of disrepair of many schools. 1654 Teacher or school staff There's not enough money, but you already know that. Far, far more importantly, the timeline is too short. The initial budget Teacher or school staff numbers came out the day before mid-Winter Break, and initial ideas about it were due right after Winter Break. That doesn't make sense and does not allow for teachers to have input into the budget. 1656 1655 Teacher or school staff ? too many middle managers - ie, central staff that don't directly effect the day to day work/struggle of a neighborhood Teacher or school staff school/classroom 1658 1657 1659 1660 1661 Teacher or school staff Hire a business manager from the business world and follow his/her instructions Teacher or school staff I believe the priorities should shift to more localized control of funds that reflect the needs of real students in real schools.

Teacher or school staff Funds, particularly for the elementary music program, should be given based on school size, not 1 size fits all. Give appropriate monies for large schools. ie school nurse who has 1200+ students should be full time. Some schools with 1/2 Teacher or school staff the population are allocated the same as large schools. Same with secretaries, librarians etc. 1662 Why let schools decide when we really have no choice at all? Schools should all be funded for what they need, and BEFORE Teacher or school staff the central office is funded. 1663 Teacher or school staff Clarity and honesty. More money should be allocated to schools with a higher free & reduce lunch population; more money should follow special Teacher or school staff programs 1665 1664 1666 Teacher or school staff Give buildings more say in ancillary staffing decisions (academic dean, librarian, etc)

I work at a small school - but we aren't funded adequately for our student needs. We don't have sports or a library - so less financial drain there. But we have class sizes of 38 and 40 sometimes because we cannot offer enough electives for kids each Teacher or school staff period. Many of our staff are part time. After this year's cuts, we are barely able to offer a graduate of our school the minimum credits to get into Univ of Washington. If SPS is about excellence for all, then all kids should graduate with minimum credits to get into UW. I think the allocations for our school need to be reexamined. 1667 Teacher or school staff Stop hiring expensive JSCEE administrators. Respond to the state audit. I don't know. I am a class room teacher not a budget anelist9 I know that is spelled wrong) I get up set when I hear that the Teacher or school staff intrum super. is hiring more people to help her. Where is the money coming from?? There is a bunch of things like this that we all wonder about. 1669 I always vote for people over products; in other words, I think it's more important to find people who help our students than to Teacher or school staff find "things" that our students use. 1670 1668 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 Teacher or school staff ask the schools what they need Remember that high needs school populations have tiny PTAs and fewer resources to draw upon outside of the district Teacher or school staff allocations. Are you asking how we allocate or to what areas we allocate? I believe we can do a much better job of recycling - reduce Teacher or school staff garbage bill and teach children at the same time. Use real data and not projected data where possible. Let schools that save money roll it over to the next school year so that Teacher or school staff they can use it. Transparency. Publish the district's organiztional chart with dollar amounts attached for each level and department. Most people Teacher or school staff believe the district is too, way too top heavy. If that is not true, show us. Teacher or school staff More school (teacher, Principal) input. Teacher or school staff get more money from the state Teacher or school staff Don Kennedy's emails were the best yet. Understandable, easy to read, etc. Sorry to see those go.

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text I don't know enough about the subject. I do know that our school always seems to need more money for what seems to be Teacher or school staff basic needs type items. We are lucky to have a great PTA and a handful of very generous classroom parents. 1679 Give more support to schools who might not have the resources from within their population. Some schools have a PTA that Teacher or school staff can fundraise thousands of dollars and others don't, which isn't fair and it widens the achievement gap, especially the rich students get more opportunities to learn through doing by go on field trips, etc. 1680 Teachers that have been questioned by parents year after year, should be placed in another setting, subject. Why should the Teacher or school staff students have to put up with them year after year when little is done to make changes. Prinicipals that can't handle the programs that are at their school, should be placed somewhere else. 1681 Teacher or school staff Put the money into the schools! I am not sure how to make it better, but I do know that budgets and resources for North End schools with the more affluent population the kids have greater oppurtunities to get an enriched curriculum. The classes are smaller, than some of the south Teacher or school staff end low income schools and they have more enrichment. This is not fair to the south end, yet the north end schools are just squeezing by in terms of adequate funding. Not sure the answer but we are going back to the 60's with segregated schools and resources. 1683 1682 1684 1685 Teacher or school staff Put as much money into lowering class sizes Teacher or school staff From

Those that can fund raise well can deduct it from their budget so all sites can receive equal funding in this public school district It seems difficult to know how the funds are being allocated, beyond the student weighted formula. Perhaps more allocation Teacher or school staff based on school need and more funds for struggling schools. 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 Teacher or school staff Equality and equity should be the criteria to alocate funds for schools. Teacher or school staff restrictions on how certain funding can be spent contributes to the deficit Teacher or school staff No opinion Teacher or school staff Not equitable that high-needs schools aren't receiving more of the share.

Teacher or school staff Find out exactly what each school needs. We are not the same. Money should follow students, including when they exit schools for disciplinary or other reasons. I believe the drop out, Teacher or school staff discipline rate would decrease if the comprehensive high schools lost money whenever they suspended a student, or allowed one to fail. 1692 Teacher or school staff Allow schools more freedom to use their allocated funds as they need. It never seems like schools are given all of the information in a timely fashion. Every year cuts are made and then reinstated at Teacher or school staff the last minute. This does not help in planning for the coming year. Also, cutting school counselors in the elementary programs is a detriment to meeting student academic achievement goals. 1694 1693 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 Teacher or school staff Be more transparent Teacher or school staff Not quite sure. Don Kennedy communicated this process well in past years but there is now now communication, it seems.

Teacher or school staff Allocate more funds Teacher or school staff Make it fair.

Teacher or school staff equal funding no matter what region Equal resources for all schools. Think everything through before making changes. It seems that there is still a "silo effect" going on downtown. Changes are made without all departments knowledge or a truly functioning plan in place to keep the work moving. Stop accepting tests and new processes without funding to accomplish them. We're already picking up extra work Teacher or school staff from staff that have been RIF'ed. We can't take on more tests, steps and processes. Streamline the processes, get the tests done to only what is necessary and, whenever possible, find a way for corporations to help. Taking the soda machines out of the schools is one example of a loss of revenue that has not been recovered. The kids just go across the street to the store now instead. 1700 Teacher or school staff no idea I have worked in the south end and the north end of the district. The south end get so much more funding for basics like Teacher or school staff services and coaches, not to mention things like supplies and nicer buildings. Yes, the north end can raise more money in some cases but basics should be divided more evenly. 1702 1701 1703 Teacher or school staff I have no idea on that

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Every elementary school should have at least a half time counselor. Kids succeed when they can delay their life's harshness Teacher or school staff during school. 1704 Get out from under the need for school levies. have dedicated funding stream for schools! Taxes for schools are a good thing! The BLT should not be in charge of a school's budget. The current BLT/staff vote system on the budget allows one dept to take the money of another. School counselors, a minority in the voting process are given short shrift in this process and money Teacher or school staff allocated for counseling is often used for others things- because a majority (teachers) control the vote. How would the vote go if it was 25 school counselors and 1 teacher- who would be getting layed off then? 1706 1705 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 Teacher or school staff You need to support existing programs as well as developing new ones Teacher or school staff letting people know what funds you are trying to get. Teacher or school staff don't penalize good schools Teacher or school staff Improve the communication process. Teacher or school staff More direct communication via email about process that includes links to source data and upcoming board agendas. Teacher or school staff From

Teacher or school staff Hold people in high positions accountable I think the process is fine. I wish there was more money for luxuries like a Library Assistant and a Career Center Specialist or a Teacher or school staff Volunteer Coordinator. 1713 Teacher or school staff Stop letting the district offices skim funds and put it in the classrooms instead. more transparency and specificity in letting district staff know exacly where all the money is being allocated. Teacher or school staff There are too many unknowns when it come to deciding our staffing based on the budget. What will our student population be? How much will we get from the state? etc 1715 1714 Teacher or school staff see above In all the reading I've done on successful districts, the allocation for central office is limited to 10% with most of the funding Teacher or school staff going to the schools. Of course, there are several "piles" of money that are being spent - some from levy's and some from the state. That needs continual clarification. 1717 1716 1718 1719 Teacher or school staff Unknown

Teacher or school staff Re-route money. More money needs to go toward smaller class sizes. It can be done. well lets see, all the people at the district offices that are giving out orders without visiting and teaching in the classrooms should Teacher or school staff take a pay cut! The new SI should not be paid such a high amount of pay untill she proves herself 1720 Reduce expenditures at the JSC. Waaaay too much overhead as compared to other districts our size. Cut pay to overpaid Teacher or school staff consultants and executive directors. 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 Teacher or school staff The school that have the most deversity students that need the most funds because they have the most poverty families .

Teacher or school staff fund the staff who work in schools, with students, first Teacher or school staff I think indentifying non-negotiables and allocating budget accordingly. Teacher or school staff Accountability for ALL funds/spending district wide Clear accounting of funds would be a great start- tell us where the money is going. For example, pay for K was taken out of the school and into district hands. Is that working? I know many schools are getting significantly less resources yet the parents are Teacher or school staff paying more.

Less money on central administration and more money to student services. We can access more Safety Net funds for the Special ed. dept. We could write more grants, hire a grant writer. I have many Teacher or school staff ideas-to many to list, but would gladly discuss this further with the board. 1727 1726 1728 1729 1730 Teacher or school staff Not sure, right now. Teacher or school staff Get more of them! Teacher or school staff electing officials who demand full funding for education

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Recommit to the true mission of a school district--to educate, not care for , not train small businesses , not support families but Teacher or school staff to educate children to be successful. 1731 Teacher or school staff Provide a break down of administrative costs compared to education costs. Put most of the money towards "the front line" of classroom teachers. Middle management (coaches, mentors, and every label that does not involve facing students on a daily basis and being responsible for their report cards, etc.) is EXTRA expense that takes away from the direct services to students. Good counselors that keep the same assignment year after year (building community and family relationships can be a REAL support, as well as any teacher who works with the same kids day in and day out (Special Ed., LAP, etc.). Teacher or school staff Let the experienced teachers in a building be the mentors (mutual mentors) NOT people who are OUT of the classroom and can stop for coffee as they rove about, dropping in here and there once in a great while. The "career ladder" goal should be to keep the great teachers IN THE CLASSROOM, not to move them OUT into middle management ! CLASSROOM TEACHERS MAKE GREAT SCHOOLS! 1733 1732 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 Teacher or school staff Give staffs more flexibility in allocating funds for the needs of their students. Teacher or school staff Again, schools need to decided what they need and then we can allocate the resources more effectively Teacher or school staff Use the weighted student formula, and stop hiring Superintendent cronies to manage our district budget. Teacher or school staff cut from the top and eliminate planning committees From

Teacher or school staff Need more money at school level. Teachers need to access budget sooner than end of Oct. or Nov. If schools are not going to be allowed autonomy, provide an appeal process for some spending decisions so a school may Teacher or school staff address financial needs specific to the school. 1739 Get final budget numbers earlier in the process. We must do a dozen budgets with changing numbers before we arrive at the Teacher or school staff actual dollars we have to work with. 1740 Teacher or school staff keep track of funds for starters. Hire people who teach and know first hand what is necessary for educating children, not the guy who does not cook but designs Teacher or school staff kitchens. 1742 I think that communication is a huge issue. Principals need better information at their planning meetings so that they can provide this to staff. Important info should not be left to emails alone. There needs to be a feedback session during staff Teacher or school staff meetings so that teachers can discuss district changes so that principals can bring questions and comments back to principal planning meetings. 1743 1741 Eliminate highly paid central office positions, eliminate ALL consultants, eliminate coaches. All funds should go to those directly working with students. Eliminate the MAP-at 4.3 million plus , it a financial and educational disaster. It is not aligned with Teacher or school staff curriculm, wastes valuable instructional time and, and limits library use. Why not make sure all schools have adequate bathrooms, playgrounds, etc., before funding the computer upsgrade for MAP? How about more teachers and instructional assistants and smaller class sizes? This is what we need to help our underserved and struggling students-not the MAP!!! 1744 get rid of map, personal service contracts. More funds to schools and less to central admin. follow the WSS and don't cut out Teacher or school staff counselors creating great inequity and schools without safety nets. 1745 Teacher or school staff give the schools enough money to actually do a budget and not just ax classes and programs which work well. Allocate enough money for every student to take 6 classes a day, not 4 or 5. We're going for academic excellence, remember? Teacher or school staff Allow more control at building level, particularly where existing control has been proven to be well done. Teacher or school staff Get rid of MAP

1746 1747 1748 1749

Teacher or school staff Reward good teachers with a more commensurate pay scale...By salary scales, teachers are not valued. Get more input from schools, families and the community. Do research and find national proven-effective programs to increase Teacher or school staff student achievement and fund them 1750 1751 1752 1753 Teacher or school staff Stop rewarding failure with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Teacher or school staff Give individual schools more say so in how they allocate their money Teacher or school staff Listen to the students. Really. I mean it.

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # Response Text Recognize that some schools receive nuerous dollars from parent community and other sources Teacher or school staff Other schools recive nthing Therefore, District allocations should be balanced 1754 1755 1756 Teacher or school staff Funds should be allocated in a way that improves student learning and teacher's efficacy by providing smaller classroom sizes From

Teacher or school staff NA Why do prinicpals at a small school and a large school make the same? Why do AD's/AC's/Fiscal, etc make the same at a large Teacher or school staff or small school- allocations should be different- Why is Rainier Beach staying open with 14 teachers? Not effective use of money... 1757 Teacher or school staff prinicipals have the power to allocate the set funds Start by taking a close look at how schools develop their individual ASB budgets for the following school year. We need to stop Teacher or school staff making things up and hold people accountable for the money that exists in this district. 1759 1758 Cut programs that do not DIRECTLY impact student learning - recent debacle with small business training program is a perfect Teacher or school staff example. 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 We don't need to send people to conferences or pay caoches when we need people in classrooms working with kids. Teacher or school staff school need more funds Teacher or school staff Take a closer look at the CTE office. Teacher or school staff Better communication with schools. Teacher or school staff no idea Teacher or school staff Hire someone or multiple people to oversee spending at the District level. Including by subject area, custodial, and anyone else who gets paid by the district. Don't throw money down the toilet by paying people who aren't even doing their jobs.

1765 1766

Teacher or school staff use this thing called the internet Quit being among the lowest per pupil spending in the nation and among the highest administration costs for an urban district. Central Office is ridiculously bloated and money is kept from the classroom because of it. Let the money follow the mission. Teacher or school staff Fully fund the best classroom experiences first and create a lean and efficient administration with what is left. Seattle schools administration has always done this backwards. 1767 Teacher or school staff no comment A school wanted to use money allocated for one position to be used for hiring other staff to meet their local needs but were Teacher or school staff denied those funds. Allow local schools more flexibility in making their own staffing decisions. 1769 Be more responsive to the individual schools. Some sites have more reliable data than the District. One size fits none should Teacher or school staff be the rule - Top Down does not work very well. 1770 1768 1771 1772 Teacher or school staff Enrollment planning is the hall of mysteries.

Teacher or school staff Not sure on this one either, but we need to have smaller class sizes.....32 in K is crazy. have administrators come to staff and PTA meetings Teacher or school staff and get input from the people your decisions impact, quit relying exclusively on computer surveys 1773 I don't have enough info about other schools' funds allocations to address this. I do know that some of the funding seems Teacher or school staff capricious, e.g., the cutoff numbers for additional administrative positions. 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 Teacher or school staff See earlier statement Teacher or school staff percentage of money raised by schools needs to be put into a general pool to benefit all schools. Teacher or school staff to cut down staff who are not committed. Teacher or school staff don't allocate funds to programs that having nothing to do with the school- ie small businesses Teacher or school staff I don't know Teacher or school staff more alki a thon Teacher or school staff Make sure it is all done honestly.

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1782 1783 From Response Text

Teacher or school staff Stop shifting materials every 2-3 years.

Teacher or school staff find more money Re-organize how the money flows so that money can flow to the students who need it RATHER than what "program" they are Teacher or school staff in. 1784 1785 1786 1787 Teacher or school staff Give Parents more input to the process. Hold schoolboard members and administrators accountable Teacher or school staff more levies for school dollars keep the dollars in schools not downtown.

Teacher or school staff Stay with the orginal plan that was given for that year. instead of sepnding all that money testing students ad nauseam, use the money on extra staffing and materials to help Teacher or school staff struggling students. 1788 TAKE IN MORE PARENT INPUT AND THEN MAYBE PARENTS WOULD GET MORE INVOLVED WITH WHAT GOES ON Go back to the Weighted Student formula as this gave lower/poverty schools more funds which equaled more teachers and Teacher or school staff support staff to help the students be successful. 1790 It's becoming better. I'm curious to see how the neighborhood schools will affect the budget. I also think it's important to offer teachers incentives for working at AYP schools. I also think that if we look in-house for training and fund teacher-led Teacher or school staff research/encourage teacher curriculum publishing, rather than relying on outside resources, we'd save a bundle and possibly even make some money. 1791 1789 1792 1793 1794 Teacher or school staff son't expect a school budget until said school knows what funding it will be receiving Teacher or school staff Make sure that those schools with higher poverty levels are given more than those schools in higher income neighborhoods. Teacher or school staff

Teacher or school staff Get schools solid information earlier capital improvement funds, computer tech funds, staffing funds, building maintenance funds, admin funds... it seems that there Teacher or school staff is money here and there but not everywhere. Be more transparent? 1795 1796 1797 1798 Teacher or school staff transparency Teacher or school staff Not sure

Teacher or school staff Spend less money administration and corporate reforms that lack evidence they work. There should be a short list of choices, i.e. every high school needs a Career Center specialist, librarian, nurse, drug and alcohol counselor. Elementary and middle schools need counselors. Without these (and other services) less learning will and does take place. The roles fall to teachers Teacher or school staff to pick up the gaps in these areas, and in areas where teachers are not so expert. Budgeting: The budget process is a 'rubber stamp' process of whomever (the principal) designates or desires, and whatever is on the list of choices. 1799

No matter the number, each school should have a 1.0 FTE librarian, and if over 700 students they should have 1.5 FTE. Teacher or school staff There should be an ET, IT and NA at every school. The NA and IT should have few schools, so that they may assist at their schools often. THE IT and ET should work together to provide tech training to teachers (especially around the Fusion site). The NA should be available to troubleshoot the VDI labs, MAP's inherent tech issues, networking problems, etc. 1800 If we really are in a fiscal crisis, why are you opening and running so many schools (6) elementary with under 100 students? Why are you opening 2 elementary schools with under 100 students? Why are you hiring so many consultants centrally? You Principal/ School Leader talk about funding shortfalls but you behave as if there are no budget problems. School allocations are TOTALLY inequitable. Enrollment projections are unfair and the administration cannot define or explain the formula. Southend schools again lose out. It's unbelieveable that this blatant inequity is ignored. 1801 Schools with a higher F/R percentage were hit hard due to budget cuts. This will directly impact a school's ability to close the Principal/ School Leader achievement gap. 1802 Principal/ School Leader Align resources with the programs that schools offer to ensure adequate funding to support programs that work The process for determining the enrollment for budgetary issues (AAFTE) is complex and misterious. There is no way to trust Principal/ School Leader it, because there is no process that can be seen in how it is developed. 1804 1803

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Principal/ School Leader 1805 1806 Response Text The allocation for librarian time and instrumental music time is not based on data--everyone gets the same. A school that has 10 instrumental music students gets the same allocation as schools with 100. How does this make any sense? Likewise with librarian time. A school of 250 gets the same librarian allocation as a school of 550. It leaves one scratchig one's head.

Principal/ School Leader study different cases and meet the needs Go get more money!.... And spend less on assessment and administrative staff in the elementary schools. The Asst. Principals Principal/ School Leader are NOT really needed. 1807 Principal/ School Leader Stop funding unnecessary initiatives such as MAP and hire more teachers. More attentention should be paid to the schools south of the ship canal where PTA's aren't as strong. All schools don't require Principal/ School Leader the same amount of resources, resourses must be based on student need. 1809 1808 Principal/ School Leader Start with the student and fund the wrap around services needed to fully educate a child. We continue to cut services to schools and continue to increase the hierarchy in the upper eschalon. These funds could be used better at the school level. Partial FTE's to schools are make it difficult to attract the most competent teachers, but if there are resources to form a Principal/ School Leader cushion, then the current staffing allocations are at least preceived as fair 1811 1810 Principal/ School Leader It is just going to be bleak for awhile. We have to accept this. We send out allocations prior to know how many children are enrolled. Then, everyone is scurring to hire or allocations that Principal/ School Leader were counted on, are taken away. It doesn't make sense to build budgets in February. 1813 1812 1814 1815 Principal/ School Leader Increase total dolaars from state

Principal/ School Leader Give more discretionary $$$ decision making to schools. Given the national and state deficit, I feel the central office has done a good job. Don Kennedy was the most transparent COO Principal/ School Leader that I've experienced in SPS. I've based my responses to question 1 & 2 on his leadership. Since he has left, we have received minimal information on budget, resources, etc 1816 We need to stay consistent around providing support around the content areas. We are not actually encouraging collaboration by relying on PLCs to do all the work - there needs to be leadership around PLCs and that requires someone with a bigger Principal/ School Leader perspective guiding the focus. Someone beyond even the school, but someone with a district perspective of initiatives. Otherwise we will return to the period of all schools doing their own thing and having no widespread consistentancy and accountability to instructional quality. 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 Principal/ School Leader Competence Principal/ School Leader I like how Enfield is communicating and surveying the community in times of a budget deficit. Continue to do this! Principal/ School Leader don't have enought information about this process Principal/ School Leader nothing I feel schools are adequately funding Central Office employee Make the budget development process more transparent so that the community can weigh in. Central Office employee I don't know about the process except that the central based staff who work in the schools are not being supported fairly.

Central Office employee Talk with employees who are familiar with cost savings to the District, not just management. Central Office employee

Understand that some of the people in the central office provide direct services to schools, and should not be cut top the bone. I can't speak for schools, but central office departments make suggestions for savings and improvements every year and it is very rare that we hear back even to confirm that the suggestions were reviewed. The past four years, I have done a detailed activity based budget identifying what it would take to achieve our strategic objectives. Months later, I have gotten back a Central Office employee budget that doesn't show any indication that my ABB was considered in the process. Last year, I never even saw my finalized budget until we were three months into the new fiscal year. If the disconnect is equally great for schools, there would be a lot of room for improvement. 1826 1827 1828 Central Office employee It is hard to have strong central processes and support while saving all resources in schools.

Central Office employee Increase the amount of funds available at the state level. RECOGNITION OF ALL SCHOOLS THAT SHOW ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENT. THE SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT SHOW Central Office employee ACADEMIC IMPROVEMENT: NEEDS TO BE REASSESSED WHY THERE IS NO IMPROVEMENT & IF ALLOCATING NORE FUNDS TO THESE SCHOOLS WOULD ACTUALLY HELP THE SCHOOL. 1829

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # From Response Text

1830 1831 1832

Central Office employee Determine essential and non essential programs Districtwide. Stop taking from central and focus on minimizing the waste in the schools such as hourly employees. Look at how much extra time and overtime employees in the schools are making. Central Office employee When deep cuts are made, it is impossible to avoid harming the system. It is a matter of picking one's poison.

Central Office employee Add the elementary counselors back to the WSS and do not hire any more education directors. The budget building process needs to be transparent. There is no communication, leaving staff in the dark about what steps Central Office employee have been taken and what needs to be accomplished. 1833 Central Office employee More funding from state and federal. communication has been ok, but there is still room for improvement. i feel like there are also opportunities to use these cuts as a way to together re-vision where we're headed as a district and what we need to get there, rather than being entirely reactive to the budget. as for the budget development process, i would make the same point - rather than cutting a bit here and there, why Central Office employee not develop a strategic plan that uses these cuts as an opportunity to build a stronger, more cohesive district. i also feel that morale is quite low - we could use a strong internal branding campaign to reconnect staff to why they work here and what they're contributing to. 1835 1834 Central Office employee Include all stakeholders including classified employees. Look to those depts/schools that have implemented measurable cost saving programs and learn from those experiences. Don't Central Office employee reward good performance with same cuts/RIFs/% as marginal performers 1837 1836 1838 1839 Central Office employee metrics

Central Office employee during the budget crisis - could have held off the 10% principal bonus for a year. Explain why there needs to be a weighted student formula. why not have just a student formula. Also explain the difference Central Office employee between how the state funds the district vs. how the district funds the schools there are a lot people how still do not understand the difference. 1840 1841 1842 Central Office employee Walk the talk

Central Office employee Stop hiring middle management at a cost that is 3X greater than line staff who are more effective! Meet the needs of schools first. Meet the needs of central operatrions that are critical to schools second. Then look at funding Central Office employee centrally-mandated changes and initiatives. SSD operates in reverse. 1843 1844 Central Office employee Try and acquire more grants for schools. Central Office employee

Contrary to popular perception Central Office is NOT the problem. There is at least one ineffective administrative staff person at nearly every school. Student files are mismanaged, not secure; attendance records are not up to date; families with language issues are not well-served. More accountability at the schools is necessary - not more funding 1845 FAIR allocation based on need. ALL money goes into one pot. Poor schools in poor neighborhoods need more resources than Central Office employee schools with PTA's with BIG budgets and controling parents. 1846 The people who are making these decisions need to be completely aware and educated as to what is actually going on in all Central Office employee departments. I agree education comes first. This is what we do. However, there seems to be a lack of understanding in their sense of what is done in central office to support our schools. 1847 Donald did an excellent job keeping us informed as to both the process and where we were in that process. I could be as Central Office employee involved as I chose to be. 1848 1849 1850 1851 Central Office employee Force PTA raised monies used in ALL schools. Central Office employee get budgeting linked up with enrollment and assignment. Make things happen earlier

Central Office employee No Opinion Be more transparent as to what composes the Central Office Staff. Make schools aware of services that will no longer exist Central Office employee once Central Office staff are rif'd. 1852 I've missed the emails we used to get about where we are in the budget process. We haven't received any since losing CFO Central Office employee and hiring an interim CFO. 1853 1854 1855 1856 Central Office employee maintaine consistency through out the whole year. don't change things mid stream. Central Office employee fund on an equity model Central Office employee I believe there are still areas where more spending could be cut -- travel is one area

Q20. What can be done to improve the process for allocating funds for schools? # 1857 From Response Text

Central Office employee Communication planning. STOP making it so damn complicated! Since Stanford died, this school district has consistently been in the RED and consistently CANNOT budget what REAL monies they receive. STOP SPENDING MONEY BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY HAVE IT! Start LEARNING from other SUCCESSFUL districts - how is it they are "budgetarily successful"? It is almost a given that each year this district will have a "budget shortfall" - well, if that is the kind of thinking running the budget office, then maybe it's Central Office employee time to CHANGE that kind of thinking? Your "process" is TOO COMPLICATED and less-than-transparent. STOP paying sixfigure salaries to those who "manage the money" until such a time they can ABSOLUTELY prove that their method of budgeting will bring the district "into the BLACK" in less than two years - STARTING FROM NOW! - and KEEP it "in the black" going forward! 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 Central Office employee Involve the principals in the process - or at least someone from each building! Central Office employee Focus on the academics. Focus, focus, focus. Central Office employee I don't know

Central Office employee Put funds at schools that need them the most, along with most experienced teachers and support staff. The district needs a better understanding of what functions are best provided at the district level, that each school benefits from Central Office employee vs. what's provided at the schools. 1863 Central Office employee We have a segmentation process that identifys schools that are underperforming. Funds need to follow the data. Realize what you are taking away from our students first before you decide to cut funding...we need to keep our student (and Central Office employee teachers) inspired and motivated to learn. 1865 1864 1866 1867 Central Office employee don't know

Central Office employee Listen to what the teachers want... what the parents want, and do it... A true budget system needs to be implemented. Too much manual and rework is done in order to complete the budget Central Office employee process. 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 Central Office employee Make sure all finance managers have degrees in finance. Central Office employee Show clearly how the budget allocations support stated goals Central Office employee No opinion

Central Office employee Examine through the lens of equity and allocate based on the findings. If people who both work for the district and are parents of students in the district, and have been for years, and have limited Central Office employee knowledge of the budget development process, then perhaps the communication and education about the budget development process needs to be made more accessible to the average person in general. 1873 Central Office employee Increase the reach of staffing standards cut out the middle man in providing funds for special ed materials/supplies. Only the assertive, brave teacher can stand up to Central Office employee their principal to assure they can spend dollars on their students. 1875 Maintain funding for those continue providing improved progresses, change leaderships to those with no sign of improvement Central Office employee after 3 years. 1876 1874 1877 1878 1879 Central Office employee A staffing standard is a "standard" that has to be met. Decide on a standard and keep to it. Central Office employee the first area to to build easy to understand and communicate models that distribute equity

Central Office employee I think selling property of building no longer in use and not opening up new schools Each school has different needs from the stand point of parent involment, student participation and physical enviroment Central Office employee 'building condition' so that question is a mine field. 1880 1881 1882 Central Office employee ?

Central Office employee Schools should get what the need, no wasteful spending, same for central office. Don't know about the process. When Don Kennedy was here he sent out weekly emails about budget updates and held open meetings to ask questions and Central Office employee had an open door policy. He was very transparent in his work at managing the budget. I have not heard much from the new budget person and fell completely in the dark from what is going on budget-wise 1883 1884 Central Office employee Higher accountability for funds spent and the purpose of those funds.