School district budgets are often nearly incomprehensible, even to the people who run the district. But some are better done than others, and that's the potential mischief of a new provision in the School Finance Act, Senate Bill 199.

It would require the state Board of Education, no later than July 1, 2008, to establish a single "standard budget report format" mandatory for every district in the state.

First, there cannot be a single format that is universally best. Districts are just too different. And second, what if they pick one that is nearly universally worst? Such things have been known to happen in government bureaucracies, even those with good intentions.

Undoubtedly some districts like things the way they are, either because they don't want to be bothered with change or because deliberate obfuscation sometimes serves a political purpose. If the wishes of any such districts prevail, we could end up with something very similar to the unsatisfactory status quo, only without any district allowed to be better than average.

You could ask Denver Superintendent Michael Bennet. It's been among his highest priorities to make the DPS budget more transparent, at both the district and the school levels, and he has made enormous progress. Besides greater transparency, he said, his aim is creating "a budget that is a significant management tool (as it should be) rather than a compliance document."

He adds, "We worry that these gains might be lost if budgeting is confused with compliance again."

Districts are already required to submit audited financial statements to the state treasurer, the state auditor and the Department of Education.

Of course, if Bennet got to design the format, we'd bet it would be excellent - but it still might not meet the needs of all districts in a state where district enrollments range from a few hundred to tens of thousands, and district areas from less than 4 square miles to more than 4,000.