Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process

At this current time, it was difficult on short notice to meet with our superintendent, however, the Assistant Superintended of Business Operations is full of knowledge. She is the primary source and staff member involved in the budget preparation.

In our district the goals and vision are set forth by the Board of Trustees through a series of collaborative meetings.  Once this is set, the goals are shared with central office, administrators and staff.  The district administration and their departments and campuses each prepare their goals that align to the Board’s goals. From these goals, department and campus improvement plans, processes and action plans are developed.  This ensures alignment which creates successes in moving towards or reaching the goals. It is also the responsibility of the leaders of these groups (Executive Directors and principals) to designate budget implications for their plans. These budget implications include Title money, general operating costs, grants, etc.  For example, our Parents as Teachers Program reaches student groups 3 and 6 and comes from fund 3. 

The district starts early in the school year with Site Based Decision Making Committees and District Advisory Committees in order to gather input from a variety of stakeholders. The district committees have representatives from each campus (administrator, teacher and community member).  During these meetings the goals and processes for the district plan are shared.  This is one of the district’s opportunities to educate key stakeholders and create support for the district’s operations. The campus level goal development and improvement plan development follow similar processes. Campus Site Based Teams are key in developing campus goals and campus improvement plans.  A side note, but a very important consideration, is when building goals, the campus must build in short and long term goals.  It is vital for the emotional health of all involved in the process to have opportunities to celebrate the small successes.  This maintains morale, increases motivation, and keeps momentum as campuses continue to strive for improvement.

In addition to the local school community, teacher organizations provide excellent resources for district planning.  They are knowledgeable in the latest trends and desires of the education world.

Superintendent's Roles and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process

The successful operation of a local school district is largely dependent upon effective planning and preparation of the system budget, successful administration of the budget, and optimizing funding. This responsibility falls on the superintendent as he/she is the chief budget officer for the district and must prepare or cause the budget to be prepared. To begin the budget preparation phase, the superintendent must lead the board in developing a vision and goals for the district.  Once these goals are developed, the budget process can begin with the focus on allocating funds to support these goals.  The superintendent and his staff must work together to project expenditures and revenues. To do this they must first consider the previous year’s budget and expenditures, and review the coming year’s revenue which are the Certified Taxable Values of the district and the WADA from the PEIMS report from the previous year. One of the most challenging parts for the superintendent and his staff of budget preparation is financial forecasting.  Their predictions must be as accurate as possible, especially pertaining to staffing projections as personnel is the primary cost in education.  Projecting enrollments, property tax base and revenues, new construction, grants, and fund balance forecasting are also important factors the superintendent must consider. The superintendent should develop a framework that creates opportunities for school board discussion and stakeholder involvement and input. A strong partnership of school board trustees, school administration, staff, parents and community members will create support for the budget, its process and success. It is important that a time-line be established to ensure all state deadlines are met.  In Ronald D. Valenti’s article from the Harris book, he suggests that to build a sound budget that will withstand unexpected situations, superintendents should pay attention to what he calls the “Budget Trinity” of revenues, expenditures and fund balances. He says the superintendent should underestimate revenue and estimate expenditures liberally.

In my opinion, the keys for a superintendent to developing a sound and supported budget are:

·         Unified district vision and goals

·         Alignment of budget with the vision and goals

·         A framework for discussions with the board, administration, staff, and community members

·         Clearly defined time-line and responsibilities

·         Accurate forecasting

·         Shared understanding of state laws and requirements

·         Transparency and full disclosure

In reflecting on the things I have learned as I study the role of the superintendent in budget preparation…this is a huge job and the superintendent must hire exceptionally qualified staff to support him/her throughout the process. Creating a strong unification in the school board and a trusting relationship is valuable first step. It is important to develop a plan to work through the process one step at a time otherwise it would be extremely overwhelming.  The amount of time that must be put into the development of a supported budget is remarkable.  Communication, education, and transparency throughout the process is vital. Studying this has also spurred a curiosity about small district and large district superintendencies and their differences.

TEA Budgeting Guidelines Reflection

What I learned in reviewing the TEA Budgeting Guidelines is that this is an incredible undertaking and I certainly want to be a superintendent in a district where they have some type of finance director! 

Although there are many formats that budgets may take, ultimately it is the process of allocating resources to the prioritized needs of the school district. There are three major processes in developing a budget: planning, preparation and evaluation. Planning should include all stakeholders in some manner.  Planning defines goals and objectives of the district and then budgetary resources should be allocated to support these goals. When you begin working on allocations, you move to the preparation phase of budgeting.

I was surprised at the number of different processes that may be used to develop a budget.  I have only been involved in preparing line-item budgets where individual schools and central administration departments submit requests for expenditures. Then the budget director submits a summary to the board in a line-item format, followed by school board review, revisions, appropriations and approval. 

In reviewing the legal requirements, it is very important to adhere to the deadlines set forth by SBEC.  It seems that the most important and challenging part of preparing a budget is accurate financial forecasting. This is currently where we are in our budget planning.  This year, more than previous years, it is crucial to have as accurate predictions as possible, especially pertaining to staffing projections as personnel is the primary cost in education.  Projecting enrollments, property tax base and revenues, new construction, grants and fund balance forecasting are also important considerations.

Reading the TEA Budgeting Guidelines is almost overwhelming. I am glad that there are specific guidelines and examples to follow.

State Formula Insights and reflections

First, school funding/finance will always have issues.  The goal is to balance funding to create equity between districts. Currently Texas distributes funding to school districts through formulas.  These are known as the Foundation School Program.  This is divided into two Tiers.  One for adjustments, weights, and allotments and the other is to provide equal access to funds.  

The three basic issues I think we have in the school funding system are ADA, Taxes and WADA.  Although the goal of each of these is to create equity, each of these areas still lacks a true balance.  Schools depend greatly on ADA, however, the reality of getting students to school in an inner-city, low socio-economic district is quite different than those in middle to high income areas.  Often families in poverty ridden areas do not value education and do not have concerns when children miss school.  Thus, resulting in a lower ADA for the school.  The state has attempted to balance funding by controlling more of the taxes, there are still issues in how state aid is distributed.  WADA is pretty straight forward, but still provides opportunities for discrepancies in the funding.