Once the Board passes the annual budget, in conformity with the strategic financial plan numbers on Line 6 (hard income profit and loss)and Line 7 (the percent of operating expense covered by total hard income), the Head controls Line 5 (operating expense). He or she determines the best ways to spend those funds. Typical Line 5 headings include compensation, instructional expenses, advancement, technology, administration, operations and maintenance, and athletics and student services. Discussion of these lines is never a Board agenda item. They are undoubtedly part of the conversation for the Finance Committee where the details of the budget are hashed out. But, even then, the conversation is far more about the realism behind numbers (e.g., the inevitable increase in health costs or increase in faculty compensation) than it is about whether this or that should be done. That is an operations responsibility.