I told the Administration Board that I would like to see budget discussions include the public and go beyond the 10 minutes they spent last year and that they should have study sessions open to the public. I even gave them a link to an example of the budget process in a community college. That link can be found here:XXXXXXXX
In the board packet for the 9-18-25 meeting they even reference changes to the budget process. If you didn’t request a meeting packet you would not know that this existed. You can see that discussion here, but we have no idea whether the process will be followed unless they tell the Board about it or the Board asks about it. These discussions should be publicly disclosed.
In looking at the questions I’ve asked and hope to have answered in the future I hope I try to focus on the largest items, most controllable items and clarification of ambiguous items. You’ll notice that the absence of hairsplitting where I don’t chase after insignificant items while letting the bigger items go unnoticed. I ask myself:
What do we need to know?
Why do we need to know it?
How significant is it?
What do we know so far?
What more do we need to know?
On that last point. I’ve tried to organize in such a way as when new information is available, I can update it in the appropriate place.
In addition, I’ve tried to bunch these items by Balance Sheet or Expense categories. I also asked whether they could break down costs by online-vs onsite or by campus and was told that they don’t know. If this is the case, then it should be a simple matter to embed these distinctions in the account structure in the budget year beginning 7-1-26.
CAC Monitor 