JeffCo Public School Budget - Citizens' Budget Academy

Have any of you heard about this? The deadline to apply is August 28.

The "district" will select citizens to participate on a "Citizens' Budget Academy". Here are the website pages from the JeffCo Public Schools website.

2012 - 2014 Budget Development Process

The Citizens' Budget Academy

What is it?
The Jefferson County Board of Education and district leadership are inviting members of the community to join the Citizens’ Budget Academy (CBA). This innovative approach to the budget development process aligns with the district’s spirit of financial transparency; it will provide factual information about the district’s budget and overall operations. All citizens are encouraged to attend, but attendees must register in advance and must be committed to the time requirements — six courses, one per week for six weeks.

How to Apply

The Citizens’ Budget Academy (CBA) is an opportunity for the Jeffco community to learn about how the district's budget works and participate in the development of the 2012 -2014 budget.

I have a zillion questions.

1. Who is the "district"? The county commissioners?

2. How are the people setting up the CBA informing ALL of the county members that this is available? I did a search and did not find a single newspaper or any article announcing this citizen board.

3. These quotes are from the above website pages:

Admittance into the CBA will be based on several factors including the number of applicants, composition of the applicant pool, and space constraints. If you are accepted into the Academy, you will receive a welcome letter via e-mail with additional information by Thursday, Sept 1, 2011.

The district also requires that attendees register in advance to ensure there are adequate resources and representative participation across the district.

Who will decide which applicants are chosen? There does not seem to be a way to dispute who is chosen. Is this an example of croneyism - only hand picked, "district" approved people will be chosen? Do these two quotes contradict the above quote "all citizens are invited to attend"?

4. Are members of the teachers union eligible to be on the CBA? If they are, would this reflect a conflict of interest on their part as the teachers salary and benefits are part of the budget decisions.

5. How much influence or power will the CBA have over the school budget?

Citizens’ Budget Advisory Council – first three weeks of Nov.

* This group will help review and consolidate the list of budget reductions.
* The council will include 10 graduates from the CBA along with district employees and will be one to two sessions lasting several hours.

6. Did the JeffCo Board of Education agree to this or did the "district" make the decision to have the CBA? Is this what the "special meeting" of the JeffCo BoE is discussing on Aug. 18? The public may attend this meeting but not give input.

7. Is the CBA the same as the "Jefferson County Citizens Review Panel"?

8. Is the "budget" just the school budget or the whole county budget?

This is supposed to be a way to get citizens involved and allow for "informed community input process." If the CBA is not publicized so the "public" knows about the program, how are these goals going to be met?

Thank you for the post.

I will bring this up at this Week's
[center:22duk2qp]285 Corridor Tea Party Meeting
Beaver Ranch
7:00 pm[/center:22duk2qp]

Hi 285CorridorTeaPartyGroup, what day is your meeting?

The 18'th.

"Beaver Ranch
Gather 18:30 meeting starts 19:00

We are featuring this Month.

David K. Williams. attorney, advocate and very outspoken Conservative.
David K. Williams, Jr., along with Lenina Close, is a co-founder of the Gadsden Society. Dave attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a prestigious Morehead Scholarship, where he obtained his B.A. in Economics in 1989. He stayed in Chapel Hill and earned his Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1992.
The Gadsden Society is a non-partisan, non-profit, public advocacy group, fighting for the preservation and expansion of individual liberty throughout Colorado.
We monitor bills pending in the state legislature and advocate on behalf of legislation that expands individual liberty and fight against legislation that contracts it


http://gadsdensoc.com/

Bring your friends it ought to be fun