5342+Week+2

 As I discussed in my assignment relating to Austin ISD’s District improvement plan, your campus budget should be a goal driven budget and not a superintendent driven budget. Dr. Arterbury states, “The purpose of a goal driven budget is to assist in the attainment of a shared vision for the school district at every campus.” Communication is always key in your dealings with stakeholders and it holds the same value when dealing with their money. The challenge arises when you take into account that everyone may have a different vision or idea for what the district should be or become. That is where you, the change agent, should come in and unite those visions into one.  How do you unite all of those different ideas into one shared goal? Well it will not happen overnight, but it must start with your relationship with the board. Those board members are elected to represent the community and are given the assignment by their fellow community members to make sure the district is making progress toward the community’s goals. Therefore you must harbor their relationship to find a shared vision between the eight of you and develop some shared goals. Those shared goals should be disseminated throughout the district using the district improvement plan and then campus improvement plan. Those goals should be echoed in every improvement plan meeting and also have a beginning and ending along with being measurable. Did I mention that goal driven is just as good as data driven? Your goals should be data driven as well as community driven.  Now, with our goals being identified and measurable, now we can collaborate with our administrative team on how to get those goals accomplished and that is where budget comes into play. Each team member should look at last year’s budget and look at this year’s goals and ask themselves, “Does this budget meet our goals?” Budget concerns can be a wide array of topics but each team member should examine each budget item and see if the item is goal and data driven toward the districts vision. Some district’s administrative team members must present their budgets directly to the board and inform the board members why items or money in certain areas are needed.  Having a goal driven budget is being able to explain every dollar that is being spent and why spending that dollar helps the children of that district. If you can do this year in and year out, you will be making a difference in a student’s life.  ** Five Most Important Dates in the Budget Process **  November - District Improvement Plan is presented to the Board – This plan should be goal and data driven and should be developed using stakeholders from different aspects of the community.  March - Budgets due from campus principals, directors and coordinators – These budgets should be developed using the campus improvement plan as well as speaking with the personnel at your campus.  May - Budget Retreat – This is the meeting where we are given the final projections using previous year’s data on how much money we will have to spend next year. After that is done, the admin team, consisting of principals and directors, use the money the best they can to attain those campus goals. These meetings are useful because it allows for other administrators to see your budget and how you are planning to attain the district goals.  June - Budgets are presented to the Board by the principals, directors and coordinators – Each person responsible for a budget must present to the board and be prepared to answer questions if needed.  August - Budget is approved by the Board – The most important part of approving a budget is that fact that it is not a deficit budget. Boards are happy to approve a budget that is balanced.  ** Understanding the TEA Budgeting Guidelines Summary ** Funding for public schools is broken down into three areas from which revenue is generated, federal, state and local. Your federal funds are generated by your WADA and the students associated with your special populations. Those funds, on average, account for five percent of your districts funding. Your state funds are generated by your WADA and the special populations but those funds, on average, make up 35 to 40 percent of your districts funding. Local funds are based off of the local taxable value of the property in your district. This taxable value will have a tax rate that is associated with it. That tax is rated on a per $100 value and is usually around $1.00 to $1.50. This is very dependent upon where you live and the decision of the voters in that district.  This information is very hard to understand because so many needs are being addressed in our public school systems. The complexity of the funding system is built to address those needs and produce equality in the funding system. It is very evident that the financial coordinator and the superintendent must work together and stay up to date on changes in the legislature. Not being stagnant in your education and professional development plays a large role in understanding the funding of your school district and making correct decisions in tax rates and budget constraints. For example, raising your tax rate could be a good way to generate revenue for the district, but raising your tax rate only to have it recaptured by the state would not be a smart move for any superintendent or board. ** Superintendent’s Roles and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our interim superintendent is Dr. Robert Denton of Salado. He has served as superintendent in many districts but with most of his tenure coming at Sherman ISD. I am lucky enough to pull information from Dr. Denton as well as Mr. Wiggins who accepted his superintendent position at Port Lavaca Calhoun at the end of last year. We did not have a formal sit down interview but all week I have been calling and asking them questions that pertain to this class. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> In both cases, the superintendent leads but does not dictate the budget process. Many times the superintendent does feel the need to lead the discussions but must intervene when needed. The superintendent should have in mind the board of trustees at all times and what the vision of the district is during the budget process. He or she should have, in sight, the goals of the district and when any decision is made, it must be made with those in mind. The superintendent has the final say when it comes to developing the budget but it must be a collaborative decision where to cut and where to add and all must understand the reasons to do so. Transparency is the key to a budget that is goal, data and stakeholder driven. ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To best understand the different types of input for the budget process, a list will be the best example for each section to describe what they would request from the budget. Some of the request will be redundant but most of these areas have some of the same needs. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Central Office, Administrators and Staff: staffing, technology for records, travel, office supplies <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Principals: Staffing, technology for teachers, travel, funds for departments and new programs, technology for students <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Site Based Decision Making Committees: Any budgetary concern that would be used to achieve a goal set by the committee. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">District Improvement Committees: These committees are used for facilities, teachers, policy, etc. Some of these committees could be formed for only one purpose, a bond, for example. This bond would be debt that the voters would assume but raising awareness for that bond could be costly and that would have to come out of budget. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Teacher Organizations: Some teacher organizations would prefer to make request for certain benefits towards teachers, for example, better copiers or high pay. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Key Stakeholders: Businesses in the area may request more after school programs that focus on the field or expertise of their company so that the community becomes better trained to work in that companies field. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Board of Trustees: The board does not get paid for the work that they do, but these members did get elected to make changes or improvements. Board members, from time to time, may see needs that can be addressed by a budget allotment and you and the board would make those decisions to add to the budget. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Goal Driven Budgets **