Week 2 Assignment

Week 2 has come and gone in an instant. I don't know about anyone else- but next week will be a bugger- with both classwork and TAKS! Blog boards were closed on EPIC at noon today (instead of the usual midnight time frame) so be sure and check your actual blogs for my comments. Hope everyone has had a nice Easter with friends and family. :)

Part 1: Goal driven budget

A goal driven budget is basically defined by its name- the adoption of a budget that is based, or driven, by the goals that the district has set for itself. In relation, a campus’s budget/plan should also be goal-driven. The district and campus goals should reflect the Board goals and the budgeting process should reflect a commitment to expending funds to achieve those goals (Week 2 lecture, paragraph 5).

Each stakeholder in a district has input in the process of preparing and finalizing a district’s budget that is adopted by August 31^st each year. The budget at Lockhart reflects the districts vision and goals in many different areas. The first goal listed on the district’s improvement plan is that each campus shall strive for the status of recognized or exemplary. The district has earmarked certain amounts of money in its budget to reach this goal. A few of the items are:

1. Funding and maintaining a full-day kindergarten program ($300,000- 7 units)
2. Use of Title I funds at elementary campuses to fund school-wide projects as set forth in their campus improvement plans ($1,206,880)
3. Utilize Federal Title II Class-size Reduction funds to reduce class-size to less than 22:1 in grades K, 1, and 2. All five elementary campuses have 1 additional teacher. ($294,234)                                                       (http://www.lockhartisd.org)

In preparing the individual budget requests for each campus, it is important that campus leaders make sure that the goals of the campus are aligned with the district goals. In addition, throughout its entirety, it is imperative to conduct the budget process with as much transparency as possible, to insure that the best interests of all are being considered.

Part 2: State Budget Development

In working with my group, the following was the consensus of the top five “dates” in preparing and adopting a district budget:

1. Identify Budget Priorities as identified in the DIP (Jan)
2. Input from campuses, departments, and programs presented to district planning committee along with identified budget priorities. (Mar-Apr)
3. During April/May the superintendent should work with the district business manager to forecast revenue for upcoming school year and go over budget proposals from campus administrators and department heads. A draft budget should be ready for budget workshops prior to June 10th.
4. August 20th, Budget must be prepared or June 19th for districts that have a fiscal year start date of July 1^st.
5. Adoption of the final district budget by the Board and Approval of the district tax rate (by August 31)

All districts are working on the same timeline for preparing a budget for adoption. The differences my group originally had with coming up with a top five was generally in the time frame that was given for each portion of the budget preparation process. A possible reason for the differences in the time frames are the amount of input and consideration given to each stakeholder group’s opinions and needs in the budget process as a whole. Larger districts may also have a longer process in order to get all of the input from the various departments and campuses involved.

The reasons we decided on the events that we did was due to the fact that they encompassed the major stepping stones on development of a district budget. You have to decide what you want to accomplish before you start out- that is why we included the input from the various stakeholders in the process. After that is gathered, the superintendent needs to take all of the information and streamline it into a proposed budget to present to the school board. Once the draft is prepared, it is imperative to give time for the superintendent and the school board to conduct numerous workshops to fine tune the proposed budget. Finally, as mandated by the state of Texas, the budget must be adopted and the tax-rate set by September 1^st each year. This is naturally the final date of the yearly budget process.

Part 3: Understanding TEA guidelines

The subject of school finance is a daunting one at its best. The TEA Budgeting Guidelines document is one, at first glance, that is also best described as “daunting”; however, after one gets over the initial shock of a 149 page “guideline” and peruses the document.one sees that it really is user friendly and an excellent tool for novice school administrators.

The guideline not only walks you through the process of developing a budget, it gives detail descriptions of the five different types of budget styles. In addition to the different styles of budget preparation, it also includes the requirements that must be met which include local, state, and federal mandates and legislation.

There are five different models of budget preparation that were detailed in the TEA guideline. Although some districts choose to utilize just one type, I believe that a hybrid model would better serve districts today. The ever-changing template of school finance requires districts to be more creative and more detailed in the use of the money available to them.

The guide also addresses all areas of budget preparation. It includes reports that can be used, estimation of revenues, enrollment projections, and the importance of including input from stakeholders. The information found in this guide is crucial to the planning and adopting of a school district budget. It will be a permanent tool in my library as a school administrator.

Part 4: Superintendent's Role in developing a budget

In meeting with the assistant superintendent to discuss the budget process for Lockhart, I felt very confident that I would be able to participate in the discussion in an educated manner. I felt that the knowledge I had gained from the TEA guideline would allow me to ask intelligent questions and be able to comment effectively on the topic being discussed. The budget that is adopted by a school district is not only a financial document; it too has some political ties attached to it. During the process, the stakeholders involved press their causes with what they believe to be the most important, pressing issues in the district. In developing the budget draft for the school board to work with, a superintendent will have taken the budget requests from the campuses and the departments in the district, and along with the financial officers of the district, and prepared a document that the group feels best meets the important goals and concerns of the district. With this being the case, it is important that the entire process be conducted in a transparent manner.

Each year the district is sent a financial template that helps the superintendent, along with the district’s financial officers, prepare an estimate for the funds that will be available for the upcoming school year. Not all funds that are available to the district are listed on the template.

The superintendent’s role in preparing a budget is determined by the size of the district. Dr. Parra works closely with the financial officer of the district to utilize the finance template and other reports to develop a working budget. It is his job to plan and bring to the board a balanced budget. The school board decides on the final budget. The process for next year’s budget will begin its preliminary stage by October, 2011, and then be completed by August 31, 2012, with its adoption and tax-rate being set.  

Part 5: Stakeholder's participation in budget development

In developing a comprehensive district budget, it is imperative to get input from all stakeholders. In Lockhart, the budget process is ongoing throughout the school year.

Each Wednesday morning, there is a “cabinet” meeting held at central office. The “cabinet” consists of the superintendent, the two assistant superintendents, and all department heads. During these meetings, financial health of the district is discussed along with any pressing needs or concerns. Every other Wednesday, the “cabinet” meeting is expanded to include all campus principals. They continue to discuss the current needs of the district as well as any activities on the individual campuses.  

Once a month, the campus improvement teams meet to discuss the needs and goals of the individual campuses. Twice a semester the district improvement committee meets to discuss information brought to it by the campus and community representatives. This is the beginning formation of implementation of campus and district goals and vision. The district improvement committee also addresses staffing issues. Both committees have representatives from the business community and parents of students.

In Texas, teacher organizations do not play as large a part in the budget process as they do in other states that are more unionized. They mainly indirectly lobby for certain issues that are important to their membership.

The Board of Trustees is the “top dog” in the chain of budget development. They have final say on budget issues. Lockhart sets the goal of having a firm budget by July 1^st each year.

EDLD 5342 School Finance

Welcome back everyone. This course, I feel, is going to be one of the more challenging for me in the program. The subject of school funding is enough to give the most seasoned financial planner apoplexy and the strong desire to retire to a desert island for mental health reasons.

The first week assignment had us jumping in with both feet. It is also going to require more planning and scheduling with our counterparts in the program to meet the requirements of wikigroup assignments. I think an additional hindrance to this might also be the time of year it is (Spring- TAKS, TAKS, TAKS!)

Three key words to focus on for this session- Equality, Equity, and Adequacy!

Site Supervisor meetings

Due to the inclement weather over the past two weeks, my meeting with my supervisor had to be postponed several times. When we were finally able to meet, it was a brief meeting. I met with Janie Wright, assistant superintendent, at 4:30pm on Monday, February 14^th, in her office.

I had emailed her my internship plan a couple of weeks before we met. She had some ideas of extra resources to help flush out some of my activities. Our main topic of discussion was the current financial crisis that is hitting school districts across the state. During our discussion, she felt that the main issue that would be affecting our district would be cuts that would have to be made because of the finance crunch. The exact dialogue that would need to be held to discuss this issue hasn’t been flushed out yet, but I believe I will interview different stakeholders in the education process in Lockhart to get their views on where the cuts need to come from to keep our district solvent. In addition, she suggested that wherever possible in my plan’s activities to discuss the financial impact or processes that are involved with each interviewee’s job responsibilities.

When looking at my cohort members blogs, activities selected deal with most of the areas that we feel comfortable with. Most comments were directed at having people “step out of their comfort zones” and look at activities that were more district-centered as opposed to campus-centered. I think that most of my cohort members plans were tweaked once they had a chance to discuss their plans with their supervisors.

Applications

The first course is winding down. It has been a fast and furious five weeks!! I'm attaching my Internship application and Supervisor agreement plan to my wikispace. I'm also posting my field experience application because I haven't been able to post it to the TK20.

Draft of Internship Plan

Activity # ____ You may  give the number corresponding to the 38 activities from the text to identify one of the activities.	TExES comp.#___ You must have activities that represent each of the 10 Superintendent competencies.	Summary of Activity - Describe the activity you plan on implementing or participating in during your internship – you may use any of the internship activities identified in the School Leader Internship, 2nd edition, pp. 19 – 68.	Resource Person	Projected Date to be Completed
1	2	Review and compare two different school vision statements. (Lockhart High School/Cy-Fair High School)	Myself	April-2011
2	2	Review strategic plan for campus	Myself/ Linda Bertram- LISD Central office	May-2011
3	2	Review Board policy and administrative regulations regarding data collection, assessment, and evaluation	Myself	June-2011
4.	3	Assist in conducting a faculty meeting or staff development. (TAKS training)	Myself/ District Testing Coordinator	March-2011
5	2	Review board policy/administrative regulations. Assess leadership culture of school/district.	Myself, campus administrators	April-2011
6	2	Survey administrators and school teachers to assess the areas in which they believe decisions should be reached collaboratively.	Myself	May-2011
7	5	Interview a person with experience in the textbook selection process.	Myself, David Diaz, Linda Bertram	April-2011
8	5	Meet with the senior counselor to discuss process involved with student schedule changes	Myself, Pam Andrews	June-2011
9	5	Discuss paraprofessional and teacher evaluation process. Discuss strengths and weaknesses, along with recommendations for improvement.	Myself, faculty and staff members	May-2011
10	6	Look at all extra-curricular groups available for student participation. Options available and demographics of those involved.	Myself, staff sponsors, coaching staff	July-2011
11	6 & 8	Technology software assessment.	Campus and district technology personnel	June-2011
12	6	Students’ perception of test preparation and how it can be improved.	Diverse student committee, faculty members, Myself	May-2011
13	5	Student perception of co- curricular activities and their suggestions to improve them.	Student committee, myself	May-2011
14	7	Teacher recommendation for professional development that is effective and relevant.	Faculty	June-2011
15	10	Review board policy regarding innovations and change in the district/school.	Myself, Linda Bertram	July-2011
16	6	Review discipline referrals for a certain time period and compile data with regard to the demographics of students involved.	Myself, PEIMS coordi- nator  for campus	July-2011
17	10	Interview school nurse to discuss the major requirements, concerns, and goals for the school health program.	Marianne Morris, RN	May-2011
18	8	Review the TSSA technology standards and assess the level of compliance with the standards by the leadership of Lockhart High School.	Deb Hilton, TIMS, HS administrative team	April-2011
19	8	Review the procedures for the district/school opening and closing of the school year. Critique the effectiveness and the major concerns of these procedures.	Myself, HS administrative team	June-2011
20	9	Meet with head custodian to review job responsibilities and schedules of staff. Report on observation	Juan Ramirez, head custodian	April-2011
21	9	Interview director of transportation to discuss current issues and needs for transportation	STS director, Cliff Gardner, Asst. Superintendent	June-2011
22	9	Observe food service worker in the preparation and delivery of lunch. Prepare a summary of observation	Nancy Woolridge, HS cafeteria manager	May-2011
23	7	Interview HR manager on districts hiring processes, and retention of quality staff. Prepare a summary.	Jessica Neiman, JD	July-2011
24	8	Complete a PO for a service or supply item from a budgeted account. Comment on completion of process.	Brittany Nolte, campus secretary	March-2011
25	3	Interview public relations personnel to discuss strategies of effective communication and district policies concerning communication.	Janie Wright, asst. superintendent	June-2011
26	3	Observe/Participate in site-based meeting. Assess the role of parents.	Campus site-base committee, parent representatives	May-2011
27	3	Meet with ELA department and examine literature being used with regard to gender stereotyping. Analyze and make recommendation on findings.	ELA faculty	June-2011
28	3	Interview social worker who provides services for campus focusing on the needs of the clients served and worker’s view of the role of the school in meeting these needs.	Tami Malone, C IS	July-2011
29	1 & 4	Obtain copy of job description for superintendent and the evaluation instrument used for the position. Interview one supervisor responsible for evaluation and determine degree of subjectivity in the evaluation process and any additional criteria used in determining the final evaluation.	Board President	July-2011
30	1 & 4	Interview a retired educator and focus on the oral history of the community and school system	Alice Hamblin (educator for 35 years- graduate of Lockhart HS)	March-2011
31	1 & 4	Interview a school leader and a business leader and compare discuss ideas on and ethical behavior currently being employed by all.	Myself, Larry Ramirez, HS principal, Juan Alvarez, business owner	June-2011
32	1 & 4	Interpersonal skills to improve on: avoiding being defensive when challenged, eases tensions when they occur, and sharing responsibilities	Myself	Ongoing throughout plan
33	1 & 4	Interview central office person experienced in the school bond process.	Mary Springs, Superintendent: Santa Gertrudis ISD	August-2011
34	5	Review IDEIA and meet with SpEd director to discuss responsibilities of principals in meeting the guidelines	Monica Parks, special services director	June-2011
35	10	Need for new high school campus	Larry Ramirez, HS principal and member of community (TBD)	July-2011
36	6	Compile list of current issues that affect teaching and learning (input from all stakeholders) and assess degree of importance and urgency for each issue.	Campus faculty and students	June-2011
37	8	Visit website (NAESP or NASSP) and compile a list of all services and information available to the principal. Summarize findings.	Myself	July-2011
38	8	Prepare list of books, publications, training manuals, and district or state publications used or recommended for superintendents. (Prepare a professional library)	Myself	August-2011