Budget Development

Students are at the heart of our work and our decision making. While planning for this budget, we continue to be fiscally responsible and committed to student success. 

Our principles for budget development:

• Prioritize student-focused activities and supports that allow us to hold true to our Core Values of Service, Excellence, and Equity as well as our priority areas of Family and Community Engagement, Excellence in Learning and Teaching, and Removing Barriers.
• Consider the long-term academic and fiscal impacts of budget decisions.
• Provide adequate resources for operational support for our students, staffs, and schools.

Parameters:

The greatest share of a school district’s budget is devoted to personnel costs for salary and benefits. For our district as much as 85% of our budget goes to staff salary and benefits. Additionally, much of the funding from the state and federal government is designated, by law, to be used only for specific programs. This leaves little wiggle room for where we can make budget adjustments. Given this predicament, any significant changes will impact our staff. We are committed to maximize the educational impact for our students.

Our priority is to ensure equality of opportunity for all students and to continue to provide every student with an equal chance to succeed.

Items impacting the 2023-24 budget development process:

Traditional expenditure patterns continue to return to the District's school operations as we move into this budget development cycle.  While the threat of the pandemic has subsided, it comes with significant Budget implications moving forward.

In this legislative cycle, stakeholders have been focused on enhancing social and emotional resources at schools.  This has the potential to offset some existing services implemented in prior years along with filling a budget imbalance carried forward from prior budget cycles.  Where there is the potential for issues resides with perception of regionalization adjustments in funding formulas.  Some Districts throughout the State see the regionalization system as unfair and the Legislature may try to enact change to equalize funding.  Current proposals position Renton to lose ongoing revenues from the State in the amount of $5 -$10 million range.  Much is to be debated and the Legislative may prove to be interesting this cycle.

Budgets can be complex.  The products and services you see in our schools are recorded and processed in our finances everyday.  The budget tells a story of what is to come illustrating priorities and objectives for the next fiscal year. 

This activity and potential/projected changes are cumulated into budget documents shared with you in the column to the right.  Explore them and ask questions.

Preliminary Budget Summaries

Preliminary budget documents are provided as a high-level preliminary budget assessment for the 2023-24 fiscal year.  The information presented in these documents are preliminary and will be updated with final versions soon.

Annual budgets are developed through a cyclical process involving many steps.  Below is a current document synopsis of the progress of our budget development.

Budget Process Documents Provided for the Community and Board of Directors: