Ken Hicks: Transparency, accountability key to school budgets

There is a long history of the community wanting and needing transparency in schools for many reasons.

Sometimes that reason hovers around what is being taught in the classroom or what curriculum the school is teaching, and often there is discussion about wanting to see what the school is spending taxpayer funds on.

Whatever the topic, people have an opinion and normally tend to want as much information as possible to consider and evaluate. This is good, especially when it comes to taxpayer funds, as everyone should be as informed as possible when it comes to this topic. 

All schools, regardless of whether they are district or public charter schools, receive most of their funding from either the local, state or federal taxpayers. As a result, information about their budgets and financial reports should be readily available for the public to view.

Most public schools, charter and district, will post adopted and revised budgets, annual financial reports, comprehensive annual financial reports, Arizona auditor general reports and average teacher salaries on their website. If you’re not sure where to look, or can’t find it, you should contact the organization’s business or finance department and ask about it.

You are a taxpayer and deserve access to that information, and you will likely find that everyone is happy to provide it to you.

Oftentimes after reviewing their local school information, some people will want to learn even more about state funding for education. There are great resources available on the Arizona Department of Education’s school finance site at azed.gov/finance.

If you want to see student demographic data, achievement data and financial data by school or district, you can find that information at azreportcards.azed.gov. The Arizona Auditor General website, found at azauditor.gov, also allows taxpayers to review financial information on school districts, but charter schools are not included on this website.

Additionally, individuals can go to schoolsup.org and look at the Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools website for even more resources and information. 

Finally, I would recommend www.azleg.gov/jlbc.htm website, which is the home of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which provides fiscal policy analysis for the Arizona Legislature. This website has an enormous amount of information and analysis.

Personally, I typically review the monthly fiscal highlights to see the latest updates on the state budget, projections and surpluses. It can be very interesting to see how the state allocates money.

As you can see, the Internet and many websites can be used to your advantage to educate yourself on where your taxpayer funds are being spent. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with them, bookmark them and visit them frequently.

Ask questions when you need to and arm yourself with facts. You never know when you’ll need them.

Editor’s Note: Ken Hicks is the assistant superintendent of business services for the Dysart Unified School District.