Greater Baltimore Committee - Presidents' Roundtable

Review Team of the Baltimore City Public School System's
Fiscal Management Practices and Budget Process

V. FINDINGS OF THE REVIEW TEAM BY ISSUE CATEGORY

C. Role of the Board of School Commissioners in the Budget Process

The BCPSS needs the school board to be stewards of the financial strength of the BCPSS and to demonstrate strong fiscal management leadership. The board should clearly communicate that the budget must be adhered to, and must partner with senior management to ensure that this happens.

As the board has striven to construct budgets to accommodate programs and policies, it has done so without asking where appropriate cuts could be made in order to finance new or expanded programs. Although it is the school board's role to advocate for funding, its members must also realize fiscal limitations and help the system find the right balance between beneficial and innovative programs and financial prudence.

As the finance officers of the system report to the finance committee of the board, that committee must assume responsibility for communicating problems, successes, changes and pressing budgetary issues to the entire board. To date this level of communication does not seem to have occurred.

Recommendations:

• Have board adopt position of helping to enforce budget compliance.
  
  Board members need to understand and appreciate the importance of creating a culture of compliance and play a major role in effecting this change. Having the board back the senior finance officers will be a tremendous step in setting and enforcing budget policies.
  
  
• Ask board to reconsider "program-driven" budgeting.
  
  Although the master plan must continue to drive education priorities, without a fully costed out master plan, it is difficult to tell what the total costs will be for any given program. The board has striven to extend time spans for certain programs in order to contain costs as it did for both the arts and the library programs, but trying to bring new programs on line in a climate of zero budget growth may prove to be burdensome and problematic at best.
  
  
• Set up clear lines of communication between the board and the legislature.
  
  Both the board and the legislature would reap benefits from a formal communications process that ensures a lively and robust exchange of information with the state legislature on a timely basis. The board recognizes this and has made a commitment to work toward this goal.
  
  
• Review the way in which committees function and report back to the full board.
  
  Currently, committees do not keep minutes or formally report back to the full board. Each committee functions with a degree of autonomy that does not provide the maximum benefit to the school system and that has impeded the free flow of communications with the balance of the board, the legislature and other stakeholders.
  
  
• Allow the CEO of the school system to have input to the agenda.
  
  In the past, board members have decided the agenda items for consideration. The CEO must have input to the agenda so that critical issues are brought before the board for action or informational purposes.
  

Clearly the BCPSS is facing major challenges to get its financial house in order. It has made strides toward improvement and needs to maintain this trajectory while focusing its energy on changing the culture of the system to be one of accountability and adherence to a sound and precise budget process and first-rate fiscal management.

The review team recommends that an accounting firm or other qualified company be engaged soon to start an in-depth study of the BCPSS budget and financial management systems. This type of study is the next logical phase to this financial and budgetary review and would provide BCPSS with a detailed plan and the implementation steps it needs to strengthen its financial base, improve its management accountability, and keep the budget process in line.