Budget Process Update for March 12th, 2024

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As we embark on another year of community support, our budget committee is excited to share an update on our budgeting process for the 2024-2025 school year. Our budget was approximately $80,000 last year, and we're aiming for a similarly sized budget for the upcoming year. 

Key Budget Changes for 2024-2025

One key change is removing 4th-grade instrumental music from our budget. This $17,000 line item has only benefited a small number of our students over the last several years, and we believe reallocating these funds will allow us to serve our community more equitably.

Additionally, for the upcoming year, we've decided to allocate $25,000 from our surplus funds to reduce our fundraising requirements. In previous years, we relied solely on in-year fundraising and the prior year's carryover. This year, we're choosing to invest surplus funds generated more than a year ago back into our community rather than allowing them to accumulate.

Current Expenditures We’re Considering Funding in 2024-2025

Each year, part of our process is considering whether we should maintain/increase/decrease current line items. The biggest three areas of spending this year are as follows (see the next page for more details).

  • Staffing: $24,000 annually, covering hourly staffing, tutors, volunteer coordination, and family support.

  • Staff and Community Support: $23,500 annually for staff support, including teacher stipends, art and library funds, teacher appreciation, and family support.

  • Events: $5,100 annually for events, including the Spring Arts Festival, Equity Team events, back-to-school/year-of-year parties, and more.

Proposals for New Expenditures in 2024-2025

This year, the committee is discussing several proposals from our membership for new expenditures in the upcoming year. We have eight proposals that have been submitted by our community so far, including from teachers, staff, and PTA members. Please see the next page for more information on the eight proposals.

Our PTA Budgeting Process

Our budgeting process works through a series of committee meetings, board deliberations, and board/membership votes.

Committee members: Jessi Friedrichs, Heather Platisha, Karen Murphy, Julie Letchner, Seth Bridges, Katie Klumpp, Megan Callow, Justin Pritchett, Tiffany Elliott, and Liz Riggs Meder

  • In March, the budget committee presents a working draft at the PTA board meeting and refines it throughout the month.

  • April sees the completion of the draft, with a presentation of the proposed budget to the board for review and feedback.

  • By May’s board meeting, the board votes to approve the proposed budget, which then goes to the membership for approval at the June PTA meeting.

Current Year Budget Summary

For the current (2023-2024) school year, the PTA has a budget of approximately $82,000. That budget is broken down into the following categories (the full budget is available on the SacPTA website).

Complete List of Proposals for New Expenditures

Our community submitted the following list of proposals for consideration by the budget committee. We’re currently working to review their materials and work to prioritize them in our 2024-2025 budget.

  • Increasing family support (from $2,000 to $10,000 annually), providing discreet aid to families enrolled in our Packs for Kids program.

  • Purchasing school supplies ($11,000) to alleviate the financial burden on families and ensure all students have access to necessary materials.

  • Providing yearbooks for all staff members ($300) at the end of the year.

  • Introducing recess equipment bins ($1,500, one time)  for each classroom, enhancing student playtime experiences.

  • Ukelele focus for 4th-grade music  ($3350, one time with small recurring cost). This program would introduce an instrumental music focus for our 4th-grade students, giving them a soft introduction to the optional 5th-grade instrumental music program. This program could potentially extend beyond 4th grade, reaching more students and building a more consistent and competent program.

  • Full funding for one field trip per student ($4,000 annually). This program would provide a $20/child budget to fund one field trip per class. This amount would stack on top of our existing $2500 field-trip bus line item.

  • Jump Start for Kindergarten ($5,000 annually). Seattle Public School has stopped funding Jump Start, a crucial program for easing the transition for students and families into school. This proposal would fund a full (5-day) Jump Start experience for Sacajawea.

  • Providing for mid-year teacher/community grants (Variable amount each year. First year suggested amount $10,000). This proposal suggests creating a fund and new rules/processes formalizing how community members (including teachers/staff) could make mid-year requests for money from the PTA.