DALTX Real EstateDALTX Real EstateDALTX Real Estate
  • Home
  • Guest Post
  • Agents
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise With Us
Reading: Dallas Public Schools Change the Script on Budget Meetings
Share
Font ResizerAa
DALTX Real EstateDALTX Real Estate
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Guest Post
  • Agents
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise With Us
  • Home
  • Guest Post
  • Agents
  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise With Us
Follow US
© DALTX. All Rights Reserved.
DALTX Real Estate > School Finance > Dallas Public Schools Change the Script on Budget Meetings
School Finance

Dallas Public Schools Change the Script on Budget Meetings

0 Min Read
SHARE
IMG_7043
This budget meeting isn’t like a regular budget meeting. It’s a cool budget meeting.                              Photo: Bethany Erickson

I’m going to make a confession: I’ve been to more school finance and budget meetings in my career than I can count. And they’re boring. I mean, stronger-than-Ambien, potentially effective as a torture device boring. And I am one of those weird people that like budgets and reading budgets. If I was going to color code a budget meeting, however, in my calendar, it would be greige – that weird midway between gray and beige that isn’t exactly soothing but isn’t offensive either.

Have I given you enough hyperbole yet?

Suffice it to say, I wasn’t exactly expecting what I got when I went to Cigarroa Elementary to attend one of Dallas Independent School District’s public budget meetings designed to explain where the district’s money is allocated, and how hard it is to make those choices. I was expecting a Power Point and awkward silences, like normal.

Instead, I find myself writing about the phenomenal meeting the finance folks at Dallas ISD ran. It was quite possibly the most fun public meeting I’ve been to that didn’t include booze. “How,” you may ask, “did they do this?”

Well, I’m glad you did. It all centered around three games that forced people to get out of their seats and work together and talk about their strategy. The first was a game called “Show Me The Money,” which forced players to take $100 in fake one dollar bills and allocate them for items in the budget based on how they think the district allocates them. Each $1 equaled 1 percent of the budget.

How did we fare? Well, we were very close on some items, and wildly off on others. I’ll share what our answers were (along with the correct answers) in a minute, but I wanted to give Candy’s Dirt readers a chance to try, too. So click here to try your hand at guessing where the money goes (don’t look it up – go with your gut!), and then click here and here to see how our group did (the correct answers are in the colored boxes).

The second and third games were more about hypotheticals. I should reiterate – the budget is not facing a $50 million shortfall, nor does it suddenly have a massive surplus to spend. Both games were designed to show people how hard it is to decide what has to be cut to make up a shortfall, and how (surprisingly) hard it is to decide where to allocate surplus funds, too.

IMG_7047-150x150
It’s a lot harder to pick what to cut. A lot – even if it’s hypothetically.

The second game gave us a stack of programs, and the tasks of deciding what would be cut, what would stay, and what would be cut first, and what would come back first. It was hard. Some things were easy decisions (sorry hypothetical district catering budget, RIP), while others were much harder (like cutting upgrades to software and electronics for a year or increasing class sizes by one student). We emerged with a little better appreciation of what it takes to tighten a belt in the district.

And the last game allowed us to spend a surplus. Again we were handed 100 fake $1 bills, and the bills once again represented 1 percent of the surplus each. It was actually fairly hard to decide what programs needed more money, and one of the suggestions most agreed on was that maybe information on how fully funded each program already is would be helpful when deciding who needs more money.

Overall, the meeting was so much better than the boring slide shows of years past, and was also a great opportunity to ask a lot of informal questions of the district staff in a format not frequently afforded to people. There are two more meetings on March 29 – so if you have time, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Hardwoods And Natural Light Abound in This East Dallas Midcentury Modern
Educating Dallas: Project Transformation Looks for Holistic Approach
Insight Realty Network: The Smartest Agents In The World
Getting Schooled on North Texas Giving Day
Election Day 101: Three Running for District 4
TAGGED:budget meetingsCigarroa ElementaryDallas ISDeducation
Share This Article
Facebook Email Copy Link Print
Previous Article Monster 2 Acre Lot in Oak Cliff Gateway With Downtown Views Hits Market
Next Article Magnolia Market in Waco Beckons Dallas Buyers with ‘Silo Chic’ Decor Pieces
Popular News
Hoebeke Builders

Don’t Sweat The Change Order: The Detours During a Custom Home Build And How to Handle Them

When I Say This Is a Can’t-Miss Furniture Sale, IT IS! Global Views
Dallas Builders Association’s ARC Awards: Part 2, Saving The Best For Last
The Off-Market Seller Mindset: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Skipping the MLS
Villas of Lake Highlands To Be Second David Weekley Development in East Dallas
about us

DaltxRealEstate.com is the largest real estate blog and the only one in North Texas.

Links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Contact Us
  • Paid Guest Post Submission
  • Real Estate Glossary

Categories

  • Commercial Real Estate
  • Home Inspection
  • East Dallas
  • Monday Morning Millionaire

Get Involved

  • Advertise With Us
  • Write for Us: Submit Guest Post

Find Us on Socials

© DALTX. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?