Leading the Public Hearing: From Budget Presentation to Community Conversation
April 4, 2028
Last week I covered the three findings your board needs before adopting the budget: goal alignment, fiscal guardrail compliance, and community alignment. (Read the Budget Adoption Preview post here.) Those findings are your preparation work. They represent the board’s independent judgment about whether the proposed budget is sound.
This week is about the hearing itself — where you present those findings and turn the budget from a document into a community conversation.
The public hearing is not a board meeting. It is a different thing. The purpose is not to deliberate. The purpose is to listen.
Your community has been told all year that their input matters. This is the moment you prove it.
Five-part hearing structure
Part 1: President opens with goals. Three minutes. No slides. “We adopted five goals in January. Every dollar in this budget is attached to one of them.” The board president then reads the three findings — goal alignment, fiscal guardrail compliance, community alignment — as a statement of the board’s independent determination. No mention of tax rate. Goals first, findings second.
Part 2: Superintendent presents the crosswalk. Five minutes. One page. Goals on the left. Allocations in the middle. Percentage on the right. The superintendent’s crosswalk should match the board’s goal alignment finding — if the finding says the budget is aligned, the crosswalk proves it. If the finding says it is not aligned, the crosswalk shows the gap.
Part 3: Progress Monitoring data alongside the budget. A board member presents. Three minutes. One page. “Goal 1 data is trending up. Budget allocation increased by 3%. These two facts are connected.” The connection between data and dollars is what separates a governance hearing from a compliance hearing.
Part 4: Directed questions to the community. The most important part. Not “any questions?” Specific questions:
- “The crosswalk shows 65% of the budget going to reading proficiency. Does that feel like the right priority to this community?”
- “We have proposed a 2% increase in the tax levy. What trade-offs should we consider?”
- “The community identified mental health as a priority. We allocated $1.2 million. Is that what you had in mind?”
The three findings should inform these questions. If the community alignment finding identified a gap between community input and budget allocation, the directed questions should surface that gap for community discussion.
Part 5: Testimony. Three minutes per speaker. The board listens. No cross-examination. No rebuttal. The findings have already been stated — there is nothing to defend.
Three documents at the hearing table
Every board member should have three documents:
- The crosswalk — one page, goals, allocations, percentages
- The Progress Monitoring data summary — one page, goal data, trends
- The community engagement summary — one page, what we heard, what we did
These are the only documents you need. Not the full 200-page budget. Three pages.
Add a fourth if you want to make a statement: the three findings themselves, printed on a single page, signed by the board president. This is the document that says the board governed this budget cycle.
The Adams 14 (CO) model
Adams 14 runs a 45-minute public hearing:
- 5 minutes: President’s opening (goals first, findings stated)
- 5 minutes: Crosswalk presentation
- 3 minutes: PM data summary
- 15 minutes: Directed questions to the community
- 15 minutes: Testimony
- 2 minutes: President closes with next steps (post-hearing board actions, adoption vote date)
45 minutes. Total. The hearing does not need to be two hours to demonstrate the board listens. It needs to be well-structured.
How to handle difficult questions
Community member: “Why are you spending X on administration when the teachers need raises?”
Board president: “That is a fair question. Administration falls under Goal 5 at 8% of the total budget. Teacher salaries are under Goal 2 at 52%. If the question is whether 8% is the right number, that is a policy question we should take up in the June amendment cycle.”
Difficult questions answered with the crosswalk. Never defensive. Never dismissive.
The findings protect you here. When a community member challenges a specific allocation, the board president can answer: “The board found that the budget aligns with our adopted goals. If the allocation needs adjustment, that is a policy decision we will address in the amendment cycle.” The finding is the board’s position. The hearing is where the board explains it, not where it re-litigates it.
Your free CTA: Reply with keyword HearingLead and I will send you the Public Hearing Script and Document Kit — the Adams 14 (CO) 45-minute hearing script, the board president’s question-handling cheat sheet, and the three-document template set.
Your paid CTA: I offer a Public Hearing Coaching Session — a single virtual session with your board president and superintendent to rehearse the five-part structure, practice directed questions, and prepare for difficult questions.
This piece continues the Budget Alignment + Public Hearing Prep arc from last week’s Budget Adoption Preview (view the three-findings post). Next week: Post-Hearing Board Actions — finalizing findings before the adoption vote.