Week 5 Final Relections on School Finance

     School finance is such a large and important component of public education that it is extremely important for school administrative leaders to have a thorough understanding of the entire system.  Effective management and leadership of a school district revolve around school finance.  Investigating and completing many of the activities and assignments throughout this course has helped me understand the magnitude of what our school finance system entails.  Examining the Competency 8 at the beginning and end of this course, listening to the lectures, interviewing school leaders, reading the materials and resources to complete the assignments have help to learn more about how the overall process of school finance affects our public educational system.  The activities involving the group wiki and blogs have also helped to develop contacts and view insights from other prospective school leaders.

      The ability to compare our pre and post self-assessment on Competency 8 show areas of definite growth and areas that I need more exposure and investigation. I went from 1 to 3 indicators as strengths, 6 to 7 indicators as competent, and 4 to 1 indicator as an area needing improvement.  The overall improvement in competency 8 is a result of what I have learned throughout this course.  I will continue to learn more about our school finance system and will pay particular attention on how to facilitate and evaluate effective account auditing and monitoring that comply with legal requirements and local district policy.

     The lectures, interviews, readings, and resources have provided valuable information to help in understanding the complexities of our school finance system.  The insight provided by our professors from their experiences operating a school district provided a real and practical view of how district operate.  The acquisition of knowledge and a greater understanding of school finances will continue as we become more involved in the school budgeting process for our campuses and districts.  The ability to see more of the greater picture of the broad reaching affects of how revenue is created and where expenditures occur will help to evaluate all of our financial procedures and there effects on the education of our students.

     I have enjoyed the ability to read other students reflections and group experiences through the wiki and blogs.  It is comforting to realize that many districts are facing the same difficult issues in Texas.  At times it was difficult to get organized with my particular group due to our different positions in our respective districts.  The overall experience and networking was very beneficial throughout this course.  I found the ethical violations to be very interesting and made me think of how I would react in similar situations.

    Although there is a lot more I need to learn about school finance, I now have the ability to ask questions and collaborate with others in finding answers.  I feel much more confident in my own ability to develop my campus budget to get the most out of our limited available funding.