Document text
http://www.omniture.com --> Email Story to a Friend June 6, 2006 Your tax dollars at work: new site outlines budgets By Paris Achen Mail Tribune During two years of seeking opinions about how to improve Oregon's public school system, a nonpartisan coalition of philanthropic foundations noticed a trend: confusion about how school districts spend money. Seeking to give Oregonians a clearer view of how their tax dollars are used in the public schools system, the Chalkboard Project coalition and five other organizations launched the Open Books Project Web site today at openbooksproject.org. "School district budgets are not a secret; they are public documents," said Shirley Skidmore, Chalkboard Project spokeswoman. "But there hasn't been a resource available until now that presents the information in an understandable way." The Web site shows the most recent data reported to the state about school district spending and divides expenditures into five major categories: teaching and student resources; buses, buildings and food; business services and technology; central administration and principals' offices. The Oregon Department of Education, one of the Open Books Project partners, publishes each district's raw financial data on its Web site annually and assigns a code to each item. However, the codes make it difficult for most people to get an overview of spending, Skidmore said. The Open Books Project Web site puts each code under one of five headings, such as teacher and student resources, to give people a "big picture" snapshot of spending, she said. Visitors to the Web site can also compare a school district to the state average or to districts of comparable size. Spending by Jackson County districts generally followed the average for each one's respective size. Small, rural districts tend to spend more on busing than larger districts. In all cases, teaching and student resources took up the majority of each Jackson County district's budget, and in most cases, central administration was the smallest portion of the budget. "There is a misconception out there that school districts spend up to a third of taxpayer money on administration," said Craig Hawkins, spokesman for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, one of the Open Books Project partners. "Our belief is districts spend money well but usually aren't armed with a simple way to communicate it to the public." Other Open Books Project partners include the former Citizens for Oregon's Future and the Oregon School Boards Association. The Medford district's spending was in line with those of five other school districts of comparable size: Bend-La Pine, Gresham-Barlow, Reynolds, Springfield and Tigard. About $60.4 million, 71 percent of the Medford district's budget, went toward teaching and student resources, slightly higher than the state average and third among its five comparison districts. About $37.4 million of that amount paid teaching salaries, $15.7 million covered benefits and $7.3 million was spent on other items, such as instructional materials, staff training, librarians, counselors, health services, staff training and assessment. Some $13.3 million, 16 percent of the Medford budget, funded food, busing and building maintenance. About $5.6 million, or 7 percent, supported the administrators at principals' offices at each of Medford's 19 schools, including Medford Opportunity High School housed within North Medford High School. Another $4.8 million, or 6 percent, kept up the district's business services and technology, including business and financial management, purchasing, printing and warehousing. The last $1.5 million, accounting for 2 percent of the overall budget, paid for the Medford district's central administration, consisting of the school board, superintendent, administrators not assigned to a school building and support staff. Reach reporter Paris Achen by calling 541-776-4459 or [email protected] . Advertisement s Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations --> online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Entertainment Guide --> Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy