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The Life of a Budget

What is a Budget?
A budget is a plan for how you will spend your money. The state of Kentucky’s government has to make a budget to plan how to spend their money just like your mom and dad do. Your mom and dad make a plan for how much they will spend on food, clothes and gas for the car. The state of Kentucky plans for how much they will pay your teacher and how much they will spend on lunches and gas for the school buses.
The Governor
The Governor makes a plan for how to spend state money. Then he gives his plan to the General Assembly.
The General Assembly
The General Assembly is a group of men and women who make laws. They are chosen by your moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. The General Assembly looks at the budget and makes changes to it. When they all agree on the changes they have made, they vote on it and then send it back to the Governor.
The Budget Becomes a Law
The Governor signs the budget to make it a law.
Using the Budget
After the budget has been made into a law, sometimes it will need more changes. Sometimes, the state does not get as much money as they thought they would. When this happens, they have to spend less money. Sometimes, they get more money than they thought they would. When this happens, they can change the budget to spend the extra money. Your mom and dad look at how much they spend on the electric bill every year. That helps them to plan for how much they will spend the next year. The Governor looks at how much is spent on things every year too. That helps him plan how to spend the money the next year.
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