School Finance Interview (Elementary)



School Finance Interview Paper

ED 730

Danny Janklow

7/10/07

School Finance Interview (budgets)

Danny Janklow

(Elementary)

Lisa Plumb, Knollwood Heights Elementary

What is your role in the budget process for your school?

The building has specific allocations from the district. Knollwood has a total of $21,000 for the 06/07 year. Allocation is given to the school and the principal is responsible for maintaining a healthy and frugal approach to the budget. The principal is responsible for making sure that the materials, supplies and printing are all used in a responsible manner. Most of the supplies for the building are held in a supply closet. Each teacher is asked to be responsible with the amounts of materials used and to not be wasteful. As a teacher in this building we were able to come to the supply closet and gather necessary supplies for activities and multi-modal lessons. Teachers were simply asked to take what you need and replace what you don’t use. Every now and again, you’d have to ask the secretary to order you something tangible like a stapler, hole punch etc. But this approach seemed to work when the staff was very close and supportive, one year this wasn’t the case and some supplies seemed to be hoarded or taken without being returned, for example the clear cover wrap.

How do you prepare the budget for your school?

The budget for our school is prepared by the business manager. The business manager is responsible for allocations to the buildings. The building principal is then responsible for making the money last for all materials, supplies, printing, etc. Almost in a micromanagement philosophy, Knollwood Elementary provides the information regarding the specific allocation and opens the forum to the teachers to discuss which departments, grades, classes or content areas will receive specific funds for specific purposes. Some years, the math department would receive more materials, or other years the literacy department would get additional books, maybe the new teachers would receive more money for classroom setup.

What is your role once the building budget has been developed?

Lisa Plumb puts together a budget packet for all the staff to use as a reference. Once she has this information in place she holds a staff meeting to explain where and how the money can be spent. She asks the staff for input about any priority needs or requirements. Then the staff determines how tight the budget is and plans accordingly. By allowing the staff to have this much input she is able to have all staff members aware of the budget shortcomings without having to explain or argue why, the information is open and shared in a discussion oriented format. Teachers then have their questions asked and answered by the whole group rather than by one person standing up front with a “us vs. them” persona.

How do you determine your budget priorities?

Usually by the absolute needs and the testing results, we try to look at test data provided by the BLT teams and determine which supplies, if any, are needed to achieve our staff determined goals. We show how much past years materials, printing, etc. have cost and try save on bulk items in order to divert some of the funds to much needed supplies. There is always an area of higher need, some years the needs go unmet. Education funding can be tricky when too many people get involved, but when it is taxpayer money being spent everyone is entitled to observe, calculate and criticize any areas they feel are not meeting their own personal expectations.

Sadly enough, principals are faced with the grim reality of dealing with little or no money to provide research based methods to face the current challenges in education today. Modern education cost more than ever, society needs to be aware of the needs and challenges our current student body faces in order to truly change what is happening with education funding. A main challenge for educators today in my opinion is they are not cohesive with their priorities or objectives. Every schools needs and therefore every schools principals will see a different need or priority, just like every teacher in a school may have their own agenda. When this happens, growth is much slower. We need a modern dialog of the benefits and pitfalls of research based learning programs. As educators faced with today’s problems, we don’t need to throw money away, we just need to focus its use and target areas where collective groups identify needs.

Would you prefer to have your budget laid out for you or would you like to have more discretion regarding budgets and purchases for staff needs?

I would rather have the opportunity to discuss with my staff our allocated amount and work within my own discretion to provide the best materials found at the lowest cost to achieve our objectives. By approaching the budget in this fashion Lisa Plumb feels she is better able to control the budget and spending of the building budget. For a principal, control is necessary but authoritarian control is not advised.

Discussing the ideas and examples of an Elementary School Principal in a Title I school, I have come to the conclusion that you must be able to budget your school much like you do your own personal and family finances. One must identify the total amount of money you have to spend on needs vs. desires. After separating the two categories an effective principal then needs to prioritize each of the examples necessary and desired for which is most important and which can the school go without. The Elementary School Principal approaches a budget concern with a “whole staff” approach. She puts together charts and graphs to show spending regarding specific content areas that have been addressed in the past and have been able to show growth. The staff then tries to determine which process or approach along with what materials were able to bridge that specific learning deficiency.

School Finance Interview (Middle School)

Jeanne Burckhard

What is your role in the budget process for your school?

What is my role?  I basically have exclusive role in the supply budget, capital outlay requests and how Title I money is spent.  I of course, include my parent team and the building level team on how this money is spent.

Here I can make the first comparison by each principal actually has discretion over many funds but allows input from parents and building level teams. How much influence the groups may hold is a different matter entirely. Effective administrators will make the final decision with all of the best and most relevant information at hand. Administrators who employ input from as many areas as possible seem to be trying to bring about a level of consensus necessary in a high achieving organization. The effectiveness of modern schools requires input from all areas involved. Education today is no longer a small and simple role in society, it has requirements which have overburdened the current funding system and are causing problems in many areas of public education.

How do you prepare your budget for your school?

How do I prepare the budget?  I actually took the past principal's budget and started with that the first year and adjusted as I saw fit.  I allow first year teachers and teachers who have switched position a little more money than anyone else.

By entering a new position as a freshman principal, I can see the benefits of this approach, especially if the previous principal was in the leadership role for multiple years and the demographics of the neighborhood remained steady. By using past information, one may be able to see discrepancies in prior years that were not apparent to the previous administrator or possibly the priorities have changed. As a freshman administrator one can learn many ideas and necessary protocol requirements from asking others who know. Your peers or fellow administrators.

What is your role once the building budget has been developed?

What is my role once the budget is complete?  My head secretary makes sure that we are not overspending with the supply budget.  I keep track of the Title One budget.

Ms. Burckhard’s answer doesn’t give the Title One responsibilities justice in my opinion. Her succinct response in no way reflects the amount of effort, time, consideration and decision time that accurately represent how much time is truly invested in the schools decisions.

How do you determine the budgeting priorities?

How do I determine priorities?  This really depends on our test scores and what new programs we will be implementing which come from the building level team.

Again this approach, by including numerous entities for information regarding the decision area represents the courage to listen to the people who are most highly involved. Professionals who feel validated will spend as many hours as possible being the best in their profession. When they feel their leader actually listens and internalizes the information, they feel respected. Sadly, chasing test scores doesn’t always lead to feeling respected by the public and media sectors.

Would you prefer to have your budget laid out for you or would you prefer to have more discretion over spending and allocation funds to areas you believe are a priority?

I enjoy using our own discretion to decide how monies are spent.

After working in Ms. Burckhard’s building I believe her statement about her own discretion is very true. She believes in supporting her staff to the fullest extent possible. She has made many decisions that positively impact many families and their student’s lives. I feel she can lead numerous professional toward the same goal. I believe that fiscal responsibility come along with personal and moral responsibility and how we face each situation is based on our character and intent. When school finance is concern there can never be a question of ethical spending. All spending must be ethical.

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