Education 710: School Finance and Facilities

Competencies and Performance

• Understand and make informed decisions using appropriate analyses
• Demonstrates that spending decisions are aligned with vision, mission, and goals of the school.

Week 6 Interview with Food Services


Funding and procurement – How do the characteristics of my student population affect the available sources of funding or the ways in which I can allocate my budget

Schools, that are successful began with the principal establishing a collaborative approach to leadership. As a principal, you don’t need to have all of the answers. You need to know the right questions to ask, and you need to foster the environment to empower a shared sense of ownership in the problem, and a shared sense of ownership in the solution.

Week 7 School District Cash Flow
Aside from funding for school property, government money for state and integrated schools comes in two main 'parcels'. One is salaries of all teachers, this is commonly called TS or Teachers’ Salaries.
Property funding for capital works and funding for special activities come from funds that are administered through the school board. Community-generated funds collected from fundraising, donations and parental payments, trusts or title 1 students are another source of income for schools.

The statement of Cash Flow details all cash inflow and outflow. In short it is how much cash the school generates in a given period. An income statement and balance sheets include what is coming up in the future and outgoing cash recorded as credit. Cash is the blood of the school it has to have a smooth even flow. Having plenty of cash on hand is never a bad thing but there are exceptions to the rule as well. Having too much outflow in one area is a serious. The school board and the site administrator should always work together to make sure that unnecessary money is not moving out of the school budget. Cash flow is calculated by adding and subtracting certain items to the net income. This assignment was good for financial practice, learning about managing money and money processes so that the school budget and the schools strategic plan are aligned. Budgeting is an important process that allows for delegations of financial tasks and responsibility.

Week 8
Breaking down this assignment was key to completing it in a timely fashion. You have to know what the negotiating party really wants! Looking outside the box to see what the issue separate from the people involved in the issue. That means removing emotion from the equation looking beyond who you have standing in front of you and connecting them to what the real interest or influence of each stakeholder. If I was taking this situation into the board room, I would make sure to prioritize and rank the needs of all involved. Creating an environment with the leadership team, the board, and the teachers union where we are able to generate options in a problem solving atmosphere and counteract conflict by sticking to the objective. I know this is something that I would have to continue to work on as a school leader. Using the proper language, tactics, and strategy to walk away from the negotiation table with your goal accomplished.

Week 9
The pay scheme assignment really took some research. For starters I had to figure out what I wanted to write about and not give a “knee jerk” response to the assignment. I have to be true to myself, I was a teacher I have always enjoyed working with my students to see how they will perform. Being compensated for doing it was always just a bonus. Where there is a reward or not I think that the product of student accomplishment is the effort of the student and the teacher. The charters school that I have been a part of for the past 5 years have not had any performance pay. I am self-motivated and I know my job is to educate the students in my classroom. As a school leader I would if I had to put a pay scheme in play I would want it to be a dual scheme. Teachers are paid for their education and what they are able to produce in the classroom. It is impractical to expect performance incentives alone to improve the performance of poor performers and ineffective organizations. Finding clarity on what needs to be done when it comes to student performance is key.

Finance is only one of many factors affecting student achievement, along with the quality of the school leadership and teachers, staff training, class size, aligning state standards to curriculum and accountability, and parent involvement. Schools in more affluent communities, where parents and community members help to raise additional funds, are able to provide enrichment programs such as music, the arts, well-stocked school libraries, that less affluent schools generally can’t afford.

Instructional expenditures include costs related to teachers instructing students. This percentage includes teacher salaries, supplies such as textbooks, and purchased instructional services, libraries, curriculum development and training for staff and teachers.
Student and staff support includes the percentage of funds spent on the cost of health, psychological, guidance and therapy departments at a school. Staff support includes the cost of school libraries, media centers and training.
Administration costs includes expenditures for the administration of both schools and school districts. This would include expenditures on the board of education, the office of the principal, graduation expenses, as well as central office expenses such as budgeting, payroll, purchasing, planning and research.
The “other” category includes all other types of expenditures. Examples of costs in this category include operations (utilities, maintenance and security), food service, and the salaries of support staff such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers.

References
Lukemeyer, A. (2003). Courts as policymakers school finance reform litigation. New York: LFB Scholarly Pub.
School Finance - Education Week Research Center. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2015.
School Finance and Teacher Quality. (2003).
Thro, W. (2012). School finance. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications

Thank you for enlightening my leadership style with a vision of school Finance