Budget Committee

The Committee shall be a standing committee of the Faculty Senate.

It shall consist of the Faculty Senate President and six faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Terms shall be for three years and shall be staggered. Ideally, the members of the Committee should conform to broad based college/school and Cowles Library representation and include at least two of the most recent Faculty Senate Presidents and the faculty representatives on the Board of Trustees’ Business, Finance and Investments Committee and on the Institutional Advancement Committee. (updated May 2018)

The Charge
In the spirit of shared governance, the task of the Senate Budget Committee is to help ensure that academic concerns are the central focus of Drake University’s strategic planning as translated and implemented via the University’s budget.

Advisory role
The Committee shall function as an advisory body for the President, his or her Cabinet, and the Faculty Senate. Every spring, in time for the Drake University Faculty Senate’s April meeting, the Senate Budget Committee should submit to the President and Faculty Senate, a report of its findings and activities. At the discretion of the Faculty Senate President, the chairperson of the SBC shall present its report to the Senate. When requested, the SBC shall also advise the Faculty Senate on budget-related Senate actions. Finally, given its faculty constituency and diverse perspectives, the Committee should be able to provide the Vice-President of Finance with useful input for financial planning purposes.

Analysis of historical enrollment, inflation, and financial data
It is difficult to evaluate current or future budget forecasts without having a historical perspective on enrollment, inflation, and selected financial data. Therefore, the Committee shall obtain financial data from the University’s publicly available audited financial statements and enrollment data from the University’s data book. Inflation data is available from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The financial statements include the following: statement of financial position (balance sheet), statement of activities (income statement), and statement of cash flows. The financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30 are typically available late in the fall semester. The Committee should analyze at least five years of historical data, although ten years of data is preferable. A ten-year time frame would span a typical business or educational cycle. If appropriate, the Committee could consider a comparative analysis using the University’s peer institutions or perform other analysis as deemed appropriate. The Committee should consider examining trends for the items listed in Exhibit 1.

Recommended Analysis Tasks

Recommended items for analysis by the Senate Budget Committee.

In order to put the investments trend in perspective, we recommend that investments be compared to the inflation measures and to some measure of stock market performance (e.g., S&P 500 index). (The SBC is aware that the University’s investments consist of more than equity investments (stocks). Furthermore, it also reflects both inflows and outflows.)

Involvement in the formulation of the budget
The Senate Budget Committee should be involved and have significant input into the development of the next year’s budget. (At a minimum, the entire SBC should be part of the Budget Advisory Committee.) A significant amount of time is required to understand, discuss, and debate the forecasts and associated assumptions. Therefore, the Committee should be involved in the budget planning process no later than September and preferably sooner. It would then be in a position to provide meaningful comments in March-April, before the budget is sent to the Board of Trustees. (April 2015)

Membership