Goal Driven Budget

A goal driven budget is very important to the district planning process.  All districts implement goal driven budgeting to some degree; however, many districts are probably not implementing this process to its fullest degree.  According to the lecture the purpose of the goal driven budget is to, “assist in the attainment of a shared vision for the school district and each campus.  Goal driven budgeting is implemented in any district to the point that a common goal is shared and funds are allocated towards that goal.  This process many times fails to take into account input from various stakeholders.  Input from all stakeholders should lead to a definite connection between the Board of Trustees and the district and campus goals stated in the improvement plans.  When this level of connection occurs, it is evident of a goal driven budget. 
    In Rice ISD I know our budget is goal driven up to the point I have been involved with the process.  On each campus site based committees work with the principal and other campus level stakeholders to develop goals for the campus along with budget requirements.  Principals meet with the superintendent to make sure the campus goals are in line with the district goals.  In late August the board approves the budget for the upcoming year after several budget reviews.  Because of the involvement of the board in this process, I assume the goals and budget reflects the Board’s goals, but I do not know exactly to what degree.  The Rice ISD district improvement plan is specific with goals; however, it is very non-specific with money amounts.  It simply states if the funds are locally or federally provided. 
    Our deputy superintendent is the one who oversees the budget.  His primary job responsibility is to work with the Summary of finance Template that is provided by the Texas Education Agency.  He also is responsible for making sure the goals of each campus and district are aligned.  Our deputy superintendent makes sure there is open communication to all budget stakeholders.