Understanding the Budget

Most money for public education in California comes from the State. Berkeley taxpayers have recognized the value of public education and provide a significant amount of additional resources through the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP) and Measure BB. BSEP allows Berkeley schools to maintain small class sizes and to support libraries, music and funds for each school. Measure BB maintains school buildings and grounds.
The Berkeley Unified School District maintains a General Fund and thirteen other District Funds. Within the Combined General Fund are both unrestricted and restricted monies.  Unrestricted money can be spent on any expense. Restricted money can be only spent on the designated category, for instance on teacher professional development or instructional materials like textbooks. Additional District Funds include revenue and expenditures for facilities, early childhood education, nutritional services, other capital items, and the special reserve maintained by the district.

The District is fiscally solvent and meets the 3% reserve required by the State of California. The District uses an independent auditing firm and conducts separate audits for the General Fund, Berkeley’s special taxes BSEP and Measure BB and H as well as the bond fund, Measure  I.

Graph of General Fund Revenue Overview 2007-2013

Where our money comes from

Combined General Fund for 2010-2011 – $116.2 M
Revenue Limit  from State based on student attendance (ADA) $49.4 million
Local Parcel Tax Measure A – BSEP $23.4 million
Local Parcel Tax  Measure BB $5.6 million
Restricted Revenue from State, Federal & Local $21.2 million
Unrestricted State & Local Revenue $16.6 million

How our money is spent

Combined General Fund expenditures for 2010-2011
Teacher, Principal, and other certificated staff salaries 41%
Classified (non-teaching staff salaries) 18%
Employee Benefits 18%
Service and Operating costs 17%
Transfers out 3%
Books and Supplies 3%

Budget Calendar

Each year before June 30 the School Board is required by law to pass a balanced budget. Before that happens, there is a six-month process to develop the district’s budget.

The annual budget process begins in January, after the Governor has released his proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning the next July 1.  The district begins to develop a budget based on this proposal, knowing that the Governor will release a May Revise — essentially a revision to this January proposal but based on several more months of economic data.

For the past four years, a Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) has been responsible for creating budget recommendations for the Superintendent.  The SBAC starts with a staff recommendation for the budget, created by department heads as a starting point for its deliberations. It is free to recommend changes to the budget, keeping in mind the necessity to pass a balanced budget.

The Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee consists of 17 voting members, 8 of which are BUSD staff, including representatives of all 5 unions, and 8 community members, and a student representative. The Deputy Superintendent (CBO) chairs the meetings, which are also attended by the Superintendent, two School Board members and a staff liaison who takes meeting notes.

2013-14 Budget Calendar

January Governor releases budget proposal
February Staff presents a recommendation to the Superintendent
February – April SBAC meets every 2 weeks
End of April SBAC creates recommendation
May Superintendent distills staff and SBAC recommendations into a final recommendation for the School Board.
May State Budget revision from Governor
End of May Budget recommendation to School Board
End of June Approval by School Board

Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC)

For information regarding this committee, click here.

Financial Documents

Download the PDF files of district financial documents by clicking on the appropriate link below. Documents will be added as they are scanned in.

District Audits, including Special Taxes (BSEP and BB) and Facilities Bonds

Download the PDF files of district audits by clicking on the appropriate year below:

The District requested its independent audit firm, Vavrinek, Trine, Day (VTD) and Company to perform a special audit of the use of Measure AA of 2000 proceeds for the years ended June 30, 2001 through June 30, 2008. Click here to download the PDF.

Annual Audits of BSEP Funds will be found below as they are scanned in.