Sometimes schools will stage Backward Day, where kids can show up with pants turned inside out, sweatshirts reversed and socks worn over shoes. It’s a lighthearted and healthy way to break the tension and routine for students they serve.

The Spokane Regional Health District just wrapped up Backward Week, where budget cuts were proposed and adopted – and then the public was informed. It was an unhealthy move designed to make things easier for the district and the board.

Let’s not make this a tradition.

For a better example of how government should do the public’s business in public, let’s return to the schools. Almost a year before cutting $10.8 million, Spokane Public Schools publicized the possibility. Several months before the final vote, the district released a list of budget-reduction options. It held public meetings, where defenders of those options could hold forth.

Not so at the health district. On Thursday, the board approved $200,000 in service cuts without any public warning that the funding in peril was for AIDS education and testing of men for sexually transmitted diseases. So, there was no chance to sway decision makers.

That was the whole point, Administrator Torney Smith said when he announced impending cuts in four programs on Tuesday but declined to specify which ones.

“I don’t want to put public information out that could put pressure on the board. The budget is not built on a popularity contest,” Smith said.

Oh, that pesky public – always standing in the way of order and efficiency and daring to question those who work for them.

While Smith and the board may be patting themselves on the back for making the tough choices, the public has no way of evaluating the wisdom of those decisions. What were the other options?

On Thursday, board members Brad Stark, a Spokane city councilman, and Todd Mielke, a Spokane County commissioner, said the budget process could include a public hearing next time. That’s hardly a novel idea since most government entities already do that.

In fact, it’s strange to see such a closed process in an era when public officials purport to embrace transparency. It’s even stranger when you consider that these same leaders dumped Kim Thorburn as public health officer for, among other things, poor communication skills.

Well, she did have a habit of talking to the public before talking to the board. Apparently, communicating with the board and hiding public information is the preferred method.

That’s backward, and there’s nothing amusing or productive about it.