“There’s a lot of things that go into our school budgets and choices that have to be made. Everybody is going to make some probably different choices.”
That’s Grand Rapids Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Rhonda Kribs speaking to community members at the district’s first School Budget 101 Workshop. The series is designed to increase transparency and deepen understanding of the district’s budgeting process, a request made by the Grand Rapids Education Association representing district teachers during last year’s contract negotiations.
By building a sample school budget together, participants experience firsthand how difficult financial decisions are made.
“As we first started trying to build this activity, we had a whole lot in there, and we’re like, ‘Wait a minute. That is way too much to try to do in 20-30 minutes,’ so we kept paring it back. So, this was just to kind of give you a little taste, ideas, maybe work through what it looks like.”
Resources include district revenues, statewide and local enrollment trends, and past GRPS budgets and fund balances.
Additional workshops are planned for the 2026-27 school year.
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