Percentage of total Outgo and total Expenditures are used to talk about how much total money is spent in a budget. How much a district spends on various budget areas indicates how important that area is to a district. Simply put, if a larger percentage of the total Expenditures is dedicated to one budget category over another, it must be a higher priority. This allows a comparison of budget priorities from year-to-year even though the total spent may change.

To better understand the concept of Percent of Total Outgo, imagine the total spent for one year in the District was $1,000,000. Now, imagine that one year the District spent $424,000 on a category called "Educator Salaries" and $167,000 on a category called "Reserve Savings." It's easy to see that the Educator Salaries are definitely a priority with a Percentage of the Total Outgo at 42.4% for salaries versus 16.7% for savings.

Now, imagine 5 years later and the amount spent in the District was still $1,000,000. Now the amount spent for "Educator Salaries" is $368,000 and the "Reserve Savings is $297,000. While the Total Outgo for salaries is still more, it's glaringly apparent that the District's Reserve savings is much more of a priority than educators and classrooms.

Did you know that actually happened? Check out the GUSD actuals in the chart below.