Budget Process

The Stafford Schools Strategic Plan establishes the shared direction by instituting Divisionwide goals, objectives, and measures that are used to direct and monitor the effectiveness of school levels and central office departments. It is the responsibility of the schools and departments to formulate plans and budget using the Division’s Strategic Plan as a guide which is formally adopted by the School Board. This process ensures that the academic goals of the division are a key part of the budget process and are included in the plan of action. Budget requests are tied to the Strategic Plan goals annually during the budget request process. Schools and departments are encouraged to perform root cause analysis to determine gaps between current performance and desired level of performance as outlined in the Strategic Plan and utilize this information in building their budget requests.

The School Board assesses and approves Budget Goals and Priorities annually. The goals and challenges identified will be published at the beginning of each budget cycle and outlined in the budget documents available online.

1. School Board identifies annual budget goals aligned with the strategic plan.
2. Superintendent receives requests from schools and departments and recommends a Proposed Budget to School Board.
3. School Board Approves Budget and requests funding from the Board of Supervisors.
4. School Board Adopts final budget based on Stafford County Budget.