2011-2012 CMCSS Budget - Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools

Navigating the Budget
INTRODUCTION
The District would like to thank the taxpayers of Montgomery County for
taking a moment to review the Clarksville‐Montgomery County School
System’s 2011‐12 Budget Document. Stakeholders will notice that the
budget document is organized into “service areas” and includes
Performance Based Budgeting. It is the District’s hope that this format
more closely links goals and objectives to financial performance and
fosters the overall transparency of the budgeting process.
SERVICE AREAS
Traditionally, the CMCSS budget document has been organized by Fund,
and then by function code within each fund. While this method provides a
lot of detailed information, it does not allow CMCSS to clearly connect
money spent to outcomes accomplished. With this issue in mind, the
District has established seven fundamental service areas of work and
connected all of the function codes to one of the seven Service Areas. The
seven areas are:
1. Academics–Instruction 5. Child Nutrition
2. Academics–Support 6. Transportation
3. Administrative Services 7. Capital Projects
4. Operations
The first six service areas are operational, with the Capital Projects area
being dedicated to building construction and renovation.
The Consolidated Budget Summary section, which encompasses all funds,
is categorized into each of the various service areas identified above and
also shows the information by fund. The General Purpose Fund Budget, on
the other hand, is categorized into one of the first four Service Areas only.
In either case taxpayers can see at a glance how much money is being
spent on Academics, both in Instruction and Support. Taxpayers can also
see how much is being spent on Administration and Operations.
Stakeholders will also notice some new terminology, “50,000 foot view”,
“25,000 foot view”, and “Ground level”. The “50,000 foot view” is a very
high level overview. If the stakeholder is interested in a little more detail,
the “25,000 foot view” may be preferred. If looking for all the details, then
“Ground level” is the view to select.
PERFORMANCE BASED BUDGETING
What does success look like and how does the District know when it has
been achieved In Performance Based Budgeting, CMCSS seeks to not only
answer these questions, but more importantly align financial resources to
successful outcomes. This is done by establishing Key Performance
Indicators (KPI’s) so that it is known what success looks like, and what
taxpayers are getting for their investment. As the taxpayer browses
through the KPI’s, it will be noticed that CMCSS not only describes the
measure and its targets, but also answers some very important questions,
like: “Why is this important”, “What are the budget implications”, and
“Can you tell me more” To put the information in context, the District Per
Pupil Expenditure (PPE) data is provided, which is a standard benchmark
for school districts across the nation. The Clarksville‐Montgomery County
School System is committed to being responsible stewards of the
resources provided and believes that Performance Based Budgeting not
only helps maintain this commitment, but also increases the transparency
of the budget process. Performance Based Budgeting will keep CMCSS on
the road to improving efficiency and effectiveness, by knowing what
success looks like, and always driving toward it!
CONCLUSION
It is the District’s hope that this format is useful. All the details are still
here, but arranged in a fashion that allows the taxpayer to review the
information that is of most interest, at the level of detail desired.
Comments regarding this format are welcomed and may be sent to:
budgetfeedback@cmcss.net
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