Summary of Changes to B-801 (School Based Budgeting)

Principals must consult with their SLT in developing the budget. The SLT must align the budget with the CEP. SLTs can request training and technical support for its budget responsibilities.


SUMMARY OF CHANGES
This regulation updates and supersedes Chancellor’s Regulation B-801 dated June 14, 1999.
Changes:
Reflects structural changes implemented following 2002 and 2009 amendments to the Education Law.
Eliminates those sections of the previous version of B-801 dealing with the budget request process and the process of approving the overall Department budget pursuant to Education Law § 2590-q.
Eliminates deadline for issuance of proposed allocation formulas to CECs and superintendents in order to maximize the time for the formulas to be finalized prior to their release (page 1, § I.A).
Creates process by which school principals, school leadership teams ("SLTs"), and community superintendents ensure that a school’s budget is aligned with its Comprehensive Education Plan ("CEP") in compliance with the requirements imposed by the 2009 amendment to the Education Law.
The revised process begins after the Mayor’s Executive Budget ("MEB") is released. The preliminary total budget set forth in the MEB is allocated among individual schools based on the allocation formulas (pages 1-2, § I.B).
The principal of each school, in consultation with the school’s SLT and school community, creates a school-based budget detailing how the school plans to spend its allocated funds (page 2, § II.A).
Principals also create a written justification demonstrating that the school-based budget is aligned with the school’s CEP. If the other members of the SLT reach a consensus that the budget is not aligned with the CEP, the SLT may submit a rebuttal. The justification and rebuttal (if any) are then given to the community superintendent. The superintendent can either approve the school-based budget, or order it to be modified to bring them into alignment with the CEP (page 3, § II.A).
The school-based budgets are then aggregated at the district level and approved by the Chancellor. The aggregated budgets and the Department’s administrative budget are then submitted to the Panel for Educational Policy for its approval (pages 3-4, § II.B).
Streamlines process by which principals and superintendents comment on proposed changes to the capital plan (page 4, § II.C). Previously, each superintendent was required to submit an annual capital needs assessment to the Chancellor. Under the revised regulation, the School Construction Authority does the initial work of drafting the proposed changes, and principals and community superintendents are invited to submit comments.
Clarifies data to be included in Financial Status Reports and School and District-based Reports (pages 4-5, §§ III.A, III.B). The previous regulation included references to categories of information that were overlapping or unclear. The new regulation clarifies these requirements.

When reasonably requested, the Chancellor or his/her designee shall provide training and technical support to SLT members or members of the school community in order to support their participation in the school-based budget development process.