After
reviewing the TEA resource guide to planning and creating a school budget, I was
enlightened and surprised at all that I didn’t know about a budget. It seems
that planning and communication is the key to creating a successful budget that
will benefit the school district as a whole.
That doesn’t really surprise me, because that is a common sense
factor among success in any aspect.
The
first thing that interested me in the guide was the laws and what is required of
a Superintendent when preparing a budget for the upcoming school year. The August 31 deadline is the first law that
I had heard, and was assured that the budget must be completed and approved by
the school board. I was aware of the 10
day posting period in the local newspaper to inform any taxpayer that may want
to attend and participate in the amending of the budget. I think this law could have both positive and negative outcomes. It helps to allow the community to
have a say and see what the school district is spending money on, but it can
also create a bad situation for the board and school Superintendent. Some tax payers would take this opportunity to
bring negative press to the board and Superintendent and create a negative
situation. I understand in most cases
this doesn’t happen ,and in most instances this keeps everyone honest and helps
to create that positive school-community relationship.
That
leads me to the next topic: communication and input from all
stakeholders. I have seen many cases
where the Superintendent creates the budget and has the board approve it, and no
other stakeholders have a say in it whatsoever.
This particular situation also created some negative conflicts and
really hurt the morale of the whole district and community. Still to this day many community members and
school employees question what could have happened to all the fund balance that
the school had accumulated over the years.
That is why having as many as possible participate and plan for the
budgetary process is so important. When all
stakeholders are involved and know where the expenditures are going, then there
can be no questions about integrity or excuses of not being funded enough for
their area of concern.
The
next area that I learned about was that of the FSP and the local taxes, and how
most of the district's revenue is generated.
Basic allotment of the FSP Tier 1 is generated by a school district's ADA
and is formulated to create the majority of the district's revenue. The next means of revenue comes from the
local tax base and is extremely important for school districts. Schools generate revenue from these local
property taxes and the state matches with a certain percentage.
Much
of this basic information was knowledge that I was somewhat familiar with, but
didn’t know the details of. I can now
take this information and utilize it in the future in helping to create a
budget or when I actually create one.
The knowledge that I have gained so far in this particular finance class
give me the foundation to be able to lead the budgetary process in the
future. I think that it is so important
to not only learn about the process and the suggested mean of doing a budget,
but also the laws. Being within the law
and keeping all things legal within the school district is imperative for an
administrator to be successful. I hope
to take this learning and utilize it as I begin my journey as a school
Superintendent.
No comments:
Post a Comment