We’ve been working on our department budget over the last few weeks. Regional education service agencies, like our BOCES, tend to put together their budgets earlier than districts. Since a portion of our budgets are paid for by our districts (we don’t have a real estate tax base), we need to let them know what we’re looking at before they put their own budgets together.
So, on Friday, we were presenting our budget to our central administrative team, and in looking at one of the budgets in our department, the question “What do the numbers say?” came up.
We explained those numbers in more detail, and answered the questions our administrative team had.
But, it made me consider the question, and the importance of relying on the data when making decisions.
Data, despite becoming an overly used “buzzword,” is a necessity in all the work we do. We can’t make excellent decisions without reliable evidence, and it is important that our gut feelings don’t always rule the day. We need to be able to base our actions on information that all see in the same way.
By focusing on the numbers themselves, we make it that much easier for us to work toward a common goal, and we make it that much easier to make difficult decisions.
While opinion can be argued with, data cannot. So, relying on what the numbers say is one of the best ways for us to truly be transparent in our work.