Week 2, Part 5-Additional Stakeholders in the Budgeting Process

Summary

As part of my interview with the district business manager, I asked her about other people’s roles in the budgeting process.  In the central office staff the business manager prepares the budget and gets input from everybody else’s budget worksheets.  The principals play a major role in our district’s budget because they give the business manager their pupil projections and teacher/campus needs such as furniture, supplies, and equipment and she applies these numbers to the budget template.  The Site Based Committees look at their campus improvement plans to ensure that funds are spent to address the campus goals and if additional funds are needed.  The District Improvement Committee’s job is to check to make sure that the budget is lined up with the district improvement plan.  They are able to look at the big picture from a district standpoint and not just their individual campuses.  The Teacher organizations advocate for teacher raises and extra benefits for teachers. Other key stakeholders, such as parents, give input on budget to the board of trustees.  Many times they may notice what they consider to be a budget inequity that they may have the board further investigate.  Finally, it is the Board of Trustees job to approve the final budget for the school year.  They are very important because they represent the people of the district and ensure that the board goals are being carried out in the budget.

 

Reflection

            I enjoyed learned about how other stakeholders are involved in the budget process.  As a director I have seen firsthand some parts of the process, but there were others that I took for granted.  As the DAEP director, I am not required to make student projections for the upcoming year.  I now see why this is so important.  We make a big deal in our district about Kindergarten roundup each year and I realize now that this is about projected number of students.