Week Two Assignments

WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENTS:


Part I:
A school district’s goals and vision should guide all decisions. Specifically, a campus or district budget should be a goal-driven budget. According to our video this week, a goal-driven budget helps attain the shared vision of the district. When district leaders are developing this budget they should be led and steered by the goals of the campuses and district. Many times budgets focus on the essentials and then focus on how to spend what is left. A truly exceptional district will let these goals and areas of focus drive the budget process. When developing priorities of the budget these goals are always at the forefront. 
One way to ensure that your goals influence the budget process is to utilize your campus or district improvement plan. This improvement plan lists all of the areas in need of assistance and usually will tell you what program will be used to address the needs and possibly how much it will cost and from what funding. Many times a campus improvement plan will not specify where the funding comes from and a district-level administrator will ascertain its significance and priority. Sometimes there are grants or federal money available that campus-level administrators may not be aware of. The district can and should utilize all funds available for meeting the budget and also should always keep the goals of the organization as the driving factor.
Our campus and district improvement plans were written with no clear designation to resources available or how the items would be funded. Through this course I have learned the significance of being very specific with your plan and the funding being utilized. I have also seen how there is a big difference between a goal-driven budget and just a list of goals with a separate budget being adopted. These two items should be united. Our district utilizes our goals and builds the budget around it, but it is not an obvious portion of either plan. I think that could be an area of improvement. If stakeholders took the time to analyze and compare the budget and the improvement plans they would see that there are major portions of the budget spent on our weaker areas noted on the improvement plans.

Part II:
Our list is posted on EPIC and Wes's Wiki
Reflection: This portion of the assignment was relatively easy because we all came up with same dates. I felt really good after interviewing our Assistant Superintendent of Business. When I logged on to contribute to my group’s Wiki I was shocked. Donna Fong had already posted and it was almost identical to the list I was given. The only difference was that my list mentioned the template from T.E.A. Our group had no trouble agreeing on a top five since we all had the same ones. I guess we are all in districts that know how to timely plan their budget.

Part III:
Summary of TEA’s Budgeting Guidelines document:
This document has just about everything you need to know in order to create a district budget. It contains general overviews and many specific details that make this document a very valuable tool for any superintendent or chief financial officer of a district. One of the other things that this document offered was some great examples of different ways to develop and implement a budget, as well as, advantages and disadvantages to those methods. The document is very long, but it’s equally beneficial.
Reflection of TEA’s Budgeting Guidelines assignment:
The main thing I learned from this section is how extremely difficult it can be to develop, manage, and evaluate a district’s budget. The document was extremely insightful and I saved the pdf to my files for later use. I knew it was a complicated task, but TEA’s Budgeting Guidelines really opened my eyes. I have always enjoyed working with budgets, but I can see that if I ever get to be a superintendent it may be something that can overwhelm me. I will need to surround myself with a good strong budget team to help me with the budget cycle. I do not know how any one person could do it alone. Even in the smallest of districts, I would assume the Superintendent has help with the massive undertaking.

Part IV:
Summary of our superintendent’s role in the budgeting process:
In our district the Assistant Superintendent for Business takes care of most of the legwork related to developing and managing the budget. Our superintendent does play a role during this process, but it is minimal. It is the superintendent’s job to present it to the board for approval, but even that is a shared task.
Reflection on our superintendent’s role in the budgeting process assignment:
I was a little shocked that the superintendent is not more involved in the development of the budget. Do not get me wrong, he does know what’s going on and does help with the development of the budget, but our assistant superintendent does such a great job he has most of the burden too. Despite the fact that this may seem against my better judgment, I like the way this is done. As a superintendent, you have to surround yourself with capable and competent colleagues. You have to be able to delegate tasks and know that they will get done correctly so that you can expend your time and talents elsewhere. I like the way we are doing it, but I think if I were in that position I would be a little more involved. 

Part V:
Summary of Types of Input Portion of Interview:
Creating, managing, and evaluating the budget can be daunting. It is always a good idea to seek help and input from others on big tasks. The budget may be one of the biggest tasks a superintendent undertakes. In seeking advice or help from others, there are certain areas where each would be better served. For instance: Central Staff might be helpful with salary information, Principals know the needs of their own building and would be better suited to develop their own campus budget (example - status of a copy machine), Site Based Committees may be beneficial for requesting a particular item for their campus (example - new computers), District Improvement Committees would be very helpful in discussions for needs of the district (example - new curriculum, appearance of facilities, staff morale, bonus incentives, etc.), Teacher Organizations could be helpful with discussions related to teacher pay raises, staff morale, teaching tools, etc., Key Stakeholders can have a big influence in the budget (example - transportation routes, facilities, teaching tools, etc.), The Board of Trustees have the final say, as they are the ones that approve the budget. The Board also hears from taxpayers regarding things that not only they want, but also what taxpayers want to see in the district, since it is the taxpayers that elect the Board of Trustees. Remember it is their kids and their money.
Reflection on Types of Input Assignment:
I did not have any big revelations with this portion of the assignment. Most of the information within this section from the interview was things I already knew. I do think it is very important to seek input from these entities and to listen to their concerns. Input from these stakeholders can help you attain the goals and vision you have for the district.