The majority of the Department’s budget development and implementation processes are dictated by numerous statutes, procedures, and policies of several major decision-making bodies, these include:
- State Government Rules, Laws, and Regulations
- Hawaii State Constitution Article X (Section 1 - 4)
- Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS)
- Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR)
- Department of Taxation, Council on Revenues
- Determines the projected state tax revenues which aids the Governor and Legislature in determining budget planning and spending policies for all state agencies including the Department of Education.
- Additional details and reports from the Council of Revenues can be found here.
- The Department of Budget and Finance (B&F)
- https://budget.hawaii.gov/budget/
- The state of Hawaii runs its budget on a two-year fiscal biennium that's submitted by the Governor to the Hawaii State Legislature during odd-numbered years, with course-corrections submitted during the intervening years via a supplemental budget.
- For organizational purposes, all state agencies, including the Department of Education, fall under the Executive branch budget.
- Six-Year Program and Financial Plan (PFP) for biennium budget years.
- Additional background information on state budgeting can be found here.
- The Board of Education (BOE)
- The State Legislature (LEG)
- The Governor (GOV)
- Submits the Executive Branch budget to the Legislature.
- Requires Departments to provide a Comment and Review on the final Budget Appropriations Bill
- Budget line item Vetos (if any)
- Signature or allow to become law without signature
- Determines appropriation restrictions (if any)
- Determines frequency of allotments (e.g. quarterly, annually, etc.)
- The last four entities listed above prescribes their own unique requirements, forms, and instructions.
Budget cycle
This chart provides an overview of the budget cycle.
The Department of Budget and Finance issues budget development policies and instructions around September for the upcoming budget year. Typically, the deadline for budget submission for the Governor’s review is in October.
The Board of Education (BOE) approves the Department's budgetary plan annually around October roughly 8 months prior to the upcoming fiscal year. BOE meeting notices are available here.
The budget is then reviewed and modified by the state Department of Budget and Finance before submission to the Governor and then later to the Legislature when its session begins in January. The Legislature’s website can be found here.
Once the budget is approved, normally late May, and becomes law, the allocation process distributes funds throughout the department. The legislative process can be found here.
Normally in July, the Governor reviews, vetoes, signs, or lets the budget appropriation bill become law.
