District 11 updates board on rollout of site-based budgeting, central safeguards retained

Colorado Springs School District No. 11 district staff updated the board at a work session on the district's multi-year rollout of site-based budgeting, a model that shifts more staffing and discretionary spending decisions to individual school leaders while keeping key positions and protections under central control.

The presentation, led by district budget staff member Brandon and supported by central-office teams, outlined how the district established this year as a baseline so every school starts the transition with at least as much staffing as the board's existing formula would have provided. Brandon said the change is intended to increase local autonomy without producing sudden budget shortfalls: "We treated this year as the baseline year," he said, and "every single school in this district has more FTE than what board formula requires."

District staff said the move aims to let principals align staffing and program spending to school priorities and to increase leaders' budget awareness by showing the full cost of positions, including benefits. The district is using the Allaview budgeting tool (now part of PowerSchool) so principals can build positions and program budgets, tag expenses to district priorities and see how staffing choices change a school's available discretionary dollars.

Brandon described how staff presented a staffing allocation and projection to each…