TEA Budgeting Guidlines

The TEA Budgeting Guidelines are very informative and really helped me realize just how complex the whole budgeting process is.  It is very comprehensive as it gave a great overview of what a budget is and how the process works. 
    I liked the descriptions it gave about site-based budgeting and zero-based budgeting.  When I met with out chief financial officer, he told me that our budget was a combination of the two.  However, I believe most of the budgeting decisions for the district are still site-based.  When I read TEA’s description of site-based budgeting, I realized that this is exactly what I am asked to do every year as a campus principal. 
    The section on TEA legal requirements would be very beneficial when preparing a budget.  There are a lot of legalities involved and so it is important to make sure the district is in compliance.  This is where the TEA Budgeting Guidelines would be beneficial.  It would be easy to forget one of these important steps without these guidelines in place. 
    The TEA Guidelines also listed all the stakeholders as well as their roles and responsibilities.  This would be invaluable information to help ensure that you do not leave important stakeholders out of the loop.  This information also serves to make sure that the groups are operating in their correct capacity.  For example, this section lists the campus improvement committee.  Using this chart would ensure that you do not leave the CIC out of the process while at the same time serves as a reminder that they are to review the preliminary budget and non-allocated fund requests.  This would be important information to have on hand while preparing the year’s budget.  As a principal, this section lists all of my duties involved with budget preparation. 
    I would also rely heavily on the budget calendar when preparing a budget.  Our class assignment of listing the top five dates helped me really understand these dates better.  Many of these dates serve as guidelines to help the budget process stay on track.  These dates would be key in helping meet the mandatory dates.  The dates would serve to help meet the end of August deadline to have the budget adopted.  No one would have all these dates and actions memorized, so having them listed in one place is a great resource. 
    I found this document to be very thorough but also gave me a little information overload.  I found appendix I, School-Based Budgeting Guidelines Sample to be helpful.  This document took all the important parts from the TEA Guidelines and synthesized it into a budget plan.  The appendix gave a simple five step process to budget planning.  I would find this information very helpful to reference when planning a budget. 

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. 
   

Deputy Superintendent Interview

I was only able to speak with our deputy superintendent briefly about this assignment.  In our district the superintendent is primarily over things dealing with curriculum and instruction while our deputy superintendent serves as the chief financial officer for the district.
    The first thing he wanted me to know was that our budget planning is primarily site-based; however there is no official site based team.  The district is small with only three schools.  Principals and program directors are asked for input into the budget.  Some items are zero-based as well.  Knowing your ADA and WADA is very important when planning the budget.  These must be taken into account.  ADA is basically how much money the school will get based on attendance.  WADA takes into account that is cost more to educate some students than others.  These numbers determine your funding.  Out ADA last year was 738, but our WADA was 1149.  We also get money from free and reduced lunch students of about 120,000 and title I money is about 119,000. 
    Requests for budget proposals go out in March to principals and program directors.  They meet with faculty and staff to determine needs.  These are returned by the end of April.  The proposals are returned and discussed.  A preliminary budget is drafted by mid June.  The final budget is approved by the board in late August after 2-3 budget studies.  Funds do not roll over from one year to the next.  The budget is approved at the August board meeting. 
    With everything going on in our district right now, I appreciate his willingness to give me this information, especially with some actual numbers. 

Superintendent Interview: Five Responses

Five Paraphrases

1.     What does ethical leadership look like?

A superintendent must model the highest level of standards and hold ones self accountable.  A superintendent must acknowledge that she is superintendent 24 hours a day.  Integrity must be modeled at the office, football game, and community restaurant, etc without exception.  A superintendent needs to know and understand policy so that it can be followed appropriately.  I like the fact that she focused on integrity extending beyond just the school walls. 

2.    How does the Superintendent accomplish such wide ranging strategic planning?

The superintendent needs to understand budgeting; however, the state has this so regulated now that there is not a whole lot of room for playing with the numbers.  The superintendent must understand curriculum, scope and sequence, research based programs.  Our superintendent looks at every single PO that comes through to check that what is being purchased is research based and is in line with the vision of the district.  She assess what tools and technology are required to get the job done and then makes sure that the appropriate people have access to these tools.  I thought her comments on budgeting were interesting.  She said that today it is mostly a matter of plugging numbers into the right boxes because of how heavily the money is regulated.  I would like to see this process for myself. 

3.    How do Superintendents address these issues aimed at improving the performance of all staff members?

When our superintendent decided that the school was going to adopt C-Scope, she knew this was going to be a struggle for much of her staff.  She understood the importance of staff development, so she provided the training required before she had the teachers implement the new curriculum.  She knew it would cost a lot of money to make the necessary changes so she put the money where her mouth was so the teachers would have the needed tools.  There is no change without proper training and tools.  It can take some time to put the proper steps in place, but in the end, it is worth it.  Then you need to create a process for continual evaluation.  This resonated with me because I was here on the ground floor of implementing C-Scope so I know first hand the difficulties that were involved.  I liked seeing her though process as she planned how to introduce this to the staff.  Putting the money on the line is so true and I enjoyed seeing her perspective. 

4.    How should Superintendents approach the management of everything from budgets to technology applications?

Procedures must be in place to carry out the vision.  Years ago the district was only a k-8 campus.  It remained so for many years and things were done very loosely.  Then the district began to grow rapidly and many things changed with the inclusion of 9-12.  Accounting, policy, personnel, certification, book keeping, etc all had to be approached differently.  The right people and procedures had to be put in place to manage everything and make sure the school’s accountability remained where it needed to be in relation to the state.  All of this took knowledge, skills, time, and change.  The superintendent has to be able to initiate change in these areas when needed.  She mentioned the right people for the job, and I think that this is very important.  Part of leadership is being able to delegate responsibilities to the right people.  Our superintendent has done a good job with this. 

5.    Please discuss the importance of organizational leadership, as well as decision-making and problem-solving skills in addressing these compliance areas and maintaining positive change.

The organizational leadership and problem solving skills come through knowledge.  It takes a lot to keep current in today’s ever changing educational system.  Educational trends are always changing and evolving.  There are demands at the local, state, and federal levels.  A superintendent must network with county and regional superintendents, TEA, associations, etc to stay current and have a pool of resources to meet the challenges faced in these varied contexts.  Staying current is a huge task that she repeated many times.  A good leader must be knowledgeable in his or her field to lead effectively. 

Summary:  I was encouraged as I study the different competencies, to keep in mind that they are inter-woven concepts.  Pulling them apart can be difficult.  Decision making will require a superintendent to draw from all the different competencies.  All through the interview the superintendent kept hammering on knowledge and skills.  A superintendent must be a committed life-long learner.  Always ask how the decision is going to impact kids and never lose sight of the students.  The last thing she wanted me to know that was instrumental to her was, prayer. 

Education Leaders and Modern Blogging

One benefit I see to blogging is that it allow educators to collaborate on a much larger scale than what was once possible.  One's sphere of influence was once limited to the campus building and perhaps to the district for a few leaders.  Every once in a while you could break out of that sphere in a conference setting, etc.  With blogging, the sphere of influence and information is now limitless.

Action Research

Action research refers to a group of people who collaborate together to solve a problem.  The group decides on certain action steps and puts them into effect, usually quickly.  There is a certain amount of trial and error involved because of the quickness of the action, but also allows for changes in the action steps to take place.  Action research should be based on scientific practices, so problem solving should take place in a systematic way and should be based on data.  This type of problem solving can be quite beneficial in the educational system.  Obviously in a large organization such as an educational system, there are many problems that arise.  Many of these problems are outside the expertise and knowledge of any one individual.  This is where an action research team can be of value.  The group can look at the problem by identifying what the related data says about the problem, and then produce a set of action steps to address the problem.  Again, one of the benefits to this method of problem solving is quickness, and the ability to make changes while the action steps are being carried out.  Reflection should always be built into the process to analyze if the solution is working and if changes need to be made.  Action research can be of great benefit to any leader in any organization.