The Budget Committee

The budget law requires a local budget committee to recommend a district’s budget to the school board, which has final approval authority. The committee is made up of the district’s board of directors and an equal number of registered voters appointed by the board.

The school board appoints citizen members of a budget committee. Members of the budget committee receive no compensation for their services. A budget committee member may not be a district employee.

The only districts not required to have citizen members in addition to board members on a budget committee are those districts with 100,000 or more population in counties with a tax supervising and conservation commission. Since Multnomah County is the only county that has a tax supervising and conservation commission, Portland Public Schools, Multnomah Education Service District, Portland and Mt. Hood community colleges are the only districts that do not have budget committees. These districts’ budgets are subject to review by the Multnomah County Tax Supervising and Conservation Commission. (ORS 294.341, 294.411 and 294.610)

More detailed information about budget committee duties and responsibilities is available in OSBA’s Budget Committee Handbook.

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