Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process

     The overall budgeting process involves several groups and individuals that have a significant impact on the final budget product for all school districts.  The more stakeholders involved the greater the budget reflects the vision, mission, and goals of the district.  Each group and individual provides unique ideas during the development process.  Central office staff and administrators provide the beginning stages of the development process.  They help to start the process by following the budget calendar and soliciting other groups for their input.  The principals examine their campus budgets and incorporate their Campus Improvement Committee for recommendations for programs at their campus.  These committees are made up of campus staff, parents and community members.  Information is examined to help make/suggest budget allocation determinations.  The District Education Improvement Committee provides a similar function as the campus committees but at the district level.  Once all the data is collected and campus budgets are submitted, the superintendent reviews all budget allocations for the campuses and the overall district.  The superintendent works closely with the Board of Trustees and follows the TEA budget timelines for the adoption of the new budget by the deadline.

Reflection

     The superintendent, the chief executive officer, though ultimately responsible for the district’s budget, relies on several groups and individuals to help develop a budget that supports the vision, mission, and goals of the district.  The budgeting process is much more complicated than I imagined and without everyone’s input the process would extremely difficult and more time consuming.       

Superintendent's Role and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process

     After reviewing the different readings and my superintendent interview there were several points I learned about and found interesting.  The superintendent has an extensive role in the budgeting process for a school district.  There are several key aspects of the budgeting process a superintendent must understand and are key to becoming a successful superintendent.  The ability to work closely with the school board early in the budget building process is an important skill every superintendent needs.  A well-developed budget mirrors a school district’s vision, mission, and goals.  The superintendent must pay critical attention to revenue and expenditure projections during the process.  The budgeting process should include full disclosure and transparency for all stakeholders involved in their district’s annual budget development.  Also understanding the details and dynamics of a school district are important for a superintendent to consider when helping to prepare their budget.  Another key factor a superintendent should evaluate is the neighboring school districts tax rate before deciding/determining the tax rate of his or her own district.  These are just a few of the many areas a superintendent examines and understands for an effective budget building process in a school district.

     The superintendent is ultimately responsible for the budget of a school district.  They are to see to its planning, preparation and passage by the school board.  It is critical that the superintendent involve everyone in the budgeting process from all district employees to students to parents and community members.  The school superintendent is key to developing a budget that is goal-directed and supports fiscal responsibility.  The superintendent must relay to his entire staff the importance of living within the confines of a budget and be prepared for unexpected and unforeseen budget issues.  They must be well versed in the law and understand the legal requirements involved with budget planning for a school district.  A solid understanding of the budgeting process will allow for superintendents to maintain a sound financial environment within their school district.

Reflection    

     I found that there is a lot more to the budgeting process that a superintendent must know and understand to be an effective district leader.  I have a greater appreciation for individuals that are involved in the budget building process and have a greater respect for the enormous responsibility the superintendent has for their school district.  My superintendent stressed many of the same points I found in the readings.  In the current way schools receive funding, bottom line, the more students the more money a district receives.  Property tax values impact the whole state and school funding.  When property values are up tax revenues are up and every district is in a better financial situation.          

TEA Budget Guidelines

     I found the information in the TEA Budgeting Financial Accountability System Resource Guide, January 2010 very informative.  This document is a valuable resource for everyone involved with school finances and school budgeting.  The information provided emphasizes the importance of understanding the workings of the budgeting process.  It is something that should be provided to all aspiring and new school administrators.  I learned multiple points about the budget process.  Several aspects of the budgeting process provided insight to the methods used in my district for developing our campuses and district budgets.

     The budget process for a school district is an ongoing evolutionary aspect of school business.  Sound planning is a continuous cycle of preparation and evaluation to achieve district goals.  There are five basic budgetary approaches school districts utilize in their budget developments.  Each approach has advantages and disadvantages and hybridized versions of these are developed to help the best approach for the school district based on each districts unique circumstance.  The Port Neches-Groves ISD has a budget approach that resembles a combination of Site-Based Budgeting and Outcome-Focused Budgeting.

     After reading over the budgeting guidelines, I learned that the superintendent is the budget officer of the school district.  The superintendent may delegate the development of the budget to someone else such as the business manager but he/she is ultimately responsible for the budget and operation of the school district.  The superintendent must make sure the budget is legally adopted before the adoption of the tax rate.  The overall budget process and budgeting calendar must be followed to meet all state mandated deadlines and to remain in compliance with all state laws.

     Maximizing the revenues of a school district requires financial forecasting which is an ongoing process.  This should be used throughout the budget making process during each school year.  This type of forecasting facilitates planning, helps to make trends, needs, and issues more clear, and enhances the decision making process for a district.  In order to have valid financial forecasting several projections need to be examined.  These include student enrollment projections, revenue projections and expenditure projections, which are all vital to developing a quality school district budget.  My district does a good job of maximizing revenues but helping PN-G ISD review our budgeting process might help to increase the efficient use of our revenue.

     The TEA Budgeting Financial Accountability System Resource Guide has many sample documents for school district personnel to reference during the budget making process.  It is a valuable resource with many helpful sections for administrators.  The function codes, projection methodology forecasting by analogy, Truth-in-Taxation Principles, and the list of acronyms I found particularly informative and useful.

     There is a wealth of knowledge in the Resource Guide and much more time is needed to help fully digest all of the information in the document.  Understanding more about the budget development process will be helpful during our school district’s budget development this spring.  The campus and district budgets should be accessible all year long and changes to the budget for future years should be made and continue to be ongoing.  I would recommend that school finance be included as one of the components for the principal program.  With the problems facing school districts regarding finance and funding this information is extremely valuable to both new and veteran administrators.   

Goal Driven Budgets

     The definition of a goal driven budget is inherently defined in the terms itself, when reading the words.  Simply put, it is a budget based on a goal.  For school districts it means so much more.  It is the development of the district and campus budgets with the purpose of attaining the district vision and achieving the district’s mission. I agree with Dr. Arterbury’s statement that the budgeting process is a part of the total planning process of the school district.  Clearly defined goals for the district and each campus are the logical starting places for the development of their budgets.  Each goal developed requires careful planning and involves the identification of needed resources to achieve the desired results.  The goal driven budgeting process helps to maintain fiscal responsibility from year to year with the changing dollar amounts received by school districts.  With approaching reported economic hardships for educational funding in Texas it is now more important than ever before for districts to prepare budgets that do not exhaust fund balances yet still maintains the higher standards our communities have come to expect from our school districts. 

     School districts have been building budgets since the beginning of public education.  I am fortunate to be in a school district that supports the idea of a balanced school district budget and promotes fiscal responsibility.  Reviewing the Port Neches-Groves ISD District Improvement Plan we have seven clearly established goals.  Each goal has objectives that are followed by several components describing how to achieve the goal.  The components are initiatives, strategies, or activities, person responsible, timeline, resources, and evaluation.  The plan establishes where the resources are coming from in order to implement the initiatives, strategies, or activities for reaching the goal. In other words, where does the money come from to pay for and to implement the processes outline to attain the district goals.  The funding sources are from local, state, federal, ARRA, Title, and personal funds.  As funding sources are lowered or no longer available, budgets need to be adjusted annually to accommodate for these types of changes.  Through the development of my district and campus improvement plans by the different committees, as our goals change, the allocation of resources correspondingly changes.  Dr. Arterbury stated, “The District Improvement Plan and the Campus Improvement Plans should reflect the goals of the Board of Trustees.”  The Port Neches-Groves District Education Improvement Plan does adhere to the goals of our Board of Trustees.

     The suggestion from Dr. Arterbury that campus plans and goals should be a version of the vision is apparent for PN-G ISD.  Our campus plans reflect the goals established by our School Board.  Our budgeting process is driven to achieve our district vision and accomplish our district mission of a commitment to excellence in education and to provide a learning environment that ensures opportunities for all students to pursue lifelong learning and responsible, productive citizenship.