Goal Driven Budget

A goal driven budget should be designed with input from various stakeholders and its goal is to address the needs of all campuses. By having a collaborative goal oriented and driven school budget, the various areas and elements of a school are accounted for. The superintendent, board of trustees, campus principals, and teachers all contribute to the plan. During site based team meetings at the various campus, department chairs share and express their departments suggestions for areas of need. This then goes to the principals meetings which then goes to cabinet meetings. By using a collaborative method of establishing the budget, the different areas of the school such as academics, extracurricular, facilities, etc are accounted for fairly.

By reviewing the lecture we see that the plans need to be a created from the vision that is set forth by the school board of trustees. As Dr. Arterbery mentioned, the plan needs to be a version of the mission. I have worked closely with site based teams when reviewing the budget. The process is thorough and the goals that the board sets are the guide when discussing. Reviewing other documents such as a campus improvement plan, AEIS reports, etc assist in determining the goals and what is best for students. The campus improvement plan would have the goals and the resources needed for that goal.

At the moment in our current district we are with a interim superintendent. The previous superintendent served for 11 years. A collaborative goal driven budget determined by a thorough and collaborative needs assessment has been in place throughout his tenure. A needs assessment must always have the students in mind and is open to areas of school improvement whether they be academic, curricular, personnel, technology, etc. Site based team meetings are held and by using federal requirements along with data and local needs, the goals are set. Once the goals are set, we must incorporate a timeline, evaluation, and resources which directly impacts the budget. Once this is set the Superintendent reviews, aligns it with boards vision, prioritizes it and allocates the funds. Presenting the budget to the board was one of the last things that he did before moving on.

By continuing to use this process my district will continue to have high spirits and morale regardless of the financial situation. Many decisions that have been made collaboratively, for example in the area of cuts, have had tremendous buy in. My district has not laid off one teacher since the school budget crisis hit. What the process is is that once a teacher moves or retires, they simply might not be replaced.

In conclusion a goal driven budget is one that through collaboration, data collection, needs assessments, and boards vision creates adequate funding for student success via the many school avenues.