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Paper Abstract: Reviews steps & procedures for developing & implementing two-year budget for public school district, focusing on site-based management. Paper Introduction: DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION OF A TWO-YEAR BUDGET FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT Introduction This research reviews the steps and procedures involved in the development and implementation of a two-year budget for a public school district. Neither an actual nor a prototype budget for a public school district is developed in this research. Rather, a description and explanation of the process, together with a discussion and evaluation of relevant issues, are presented. Assumptions for the Public School District The public school district’s budget function is a split calendar year process that extends over a 24-month period. Thus, the budget developed in the first-half of 1999 finances t Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The model of school, family, and community partnerships, according toEpstein, 1995), must locate "the student at the center. Reyes (1994) pointed-out, however, that legal issues also surroundbudget control through SBM. Full-funding for all resources will not be released atone time at the beginning of the budgetary period. Eachschool receives a foundation allocation for basic administrative operationand a weighted student allocation based on the characteristics of students. Rather,substantial reductions in expenditure levels also will be made in relationto performance areas where appropriate. b. The performance budget format adopted by the district, thus, providesboth supporters and opponents of specific educational functions withammunition to either defend or oppose the performance of the function bypublic school district. In some cases communitymembers, parents, students, and a broad range of school personnel areinvolved in making decisions that affect their schools. The conduct of public hearings and providing forpublic input into the budgeting process is mandated by law in the State ofCalifornia. Steps in the Budgeting Process Additional specific steps will be taken by the public school districtin the development and implementation of the two-year district budget.These steps are as follows: 1. Resource needs for the 1999-2 1 district budget, togetherwith the strategy alternatives for assuring the accessibility of suchresources will be assessed. Assumptions for the Public School District The public school district's budget function is a split calendar yearprocess that extends over a 24-month period. Resource acquisition strategies will provide for theaccessibility of resources on a timeline over the two-year budget periodthat conforms with district resource needs. These legal issues concern public oversight ofpublic dollars, deregulation of governmental powers, equal protection,preservation of fiscal accountability, integrity of categorical programs,and liability. J. Contingency plans will be made to deal with studentenrollments that exceed budgeted levels. School Business Affairs,61(5), 43-48. Taylor, B. The multiyear forecasting model focuses on inputs to the educationalprocess-staff, materials, facilities, and services. A school managementteam needs a clear management process and the appropriate systems forsupporting that process. c. Communication and publication of the 1999-2 1 districtbudget and budget assessments. When parents, teachers,students, and others view one another as partners in education, a caringcommunity forms around students and begins its work" (Epstein, 1995, p.7 3). Thus, as a part of the budgeting process for the public schooldistrict, the district administration and the Board of Education willconduct communicate and interact with families and communities within thedistrict's jurisdiction. a. (1991, January). References Epstein, J. The storyof the education dollar: No Academy Awards and no fiscal smoking guns. (1995 May). The performance budgetformat, thus, provides an effective means of clarifying these issues. Site-based budgeting: A critical factor inthe success of decentralized school management. The public school district that is the focus of this research will followthe Seattle policy; thereby providing a limited application of SBMbudgeting with the ultimate budget decision authority residing at thedistrict administration level. C. These performancemeasurement criteria will be applied in a performance-based mid-cyclereview of the 1999-2 2 district budget. A monitoring and evaluation plan will be formulated andimplemented. SBM takes different forms in application, depending on theconstituencies involved (Midgley & Wood, 1993). SBM) ineducation has been defined in several ways, and in practice SBM varieswithin the contexts of both participants and program scope. School-Community Partnerships Epstein (1995) stated that many reasons exist for the development ofschool, family, and community partnerships. Rather, partnership activities may bedesigned to engage, guide, energize, and motivate students to produce theirown successes. Budgetary planning for the acquisition of the requiredresources for the 1999-2 1 district budget will be conducted. Contingency strategies for budget adjustments required bychanging conditions will be developed. Rather, a description andexplanation of the process, together with a discussion and evaluation ofrelevant issues, are presented. a. (1995 November). To these inputs mustbe added policies and goals related to educational outcomes which arerecommended by the district staff and approved by the Board of Education(Mercure, 1995). (1994, April). a. a. PhiDelta Kappan, 77(2), 161-168. A needs assessment will be performed to determine whatresources are required to meet goals recommended by the districtadministration and approved by the Board of education. Reyes, A. Effective schoolsprojects and school-based management. L. Community meetings for the 1999-2 1 district budget will beheld at each school site. (1994). 2. Levinson, E. School Business Affairs, 63(11), 6-7. Allowingindividual schools to control the budgeting process should enhance staffresponsiveness while returning decision-making power to the building level"(Wagoner, 1995). Furthermore, many people are underan impression that large proportions of education dollars are consumed byan administrative costs and that most new education dollars are devotedexclusively to salary increases for teachers. SchoolBusiness Affairs, 61(11), 45-5 . a. Educational outcomes will be monitored and evaluatedannually. b. The inarguablefact is that students are the main actors in their education, development,and success in school. Sielke, C. Supporters of the SBM concept contend that schools should have theauthority and flexibility necessary for making decisions that achieveaccountable results, but that administrators tend to spend much of theirtime on other issues rather than establishing educational goals andmonitoring the instructional process (Levinson, 1994). The assumption is that, if children feel cared for andencouraged to work hard in the role of student, they are more likely to dotheir best to learn to read, write, calculate, and learn other skills andtalents and to remain in school" (p. b. Thus, the performance budget formatmakes it difficult for rate payers to determine specific program costs.This deficiency will be addressed by the district administration throughthe preparation and distribution to the rate-paying public of costs andoutcomes for specific programs as addenda to the primary district budget. Boardroom bottom line. Budgeting seminars for the 1999-2 1 district budgetwill be held at each school site. The Seattle (Washington) Public School District appliesthree principles in budgeting funds for schools and programs, as follows:(1) resources follow the student; (2) resources are denominated in dollarsand not in full-time-equivalent staff; and (3) the allocation of resourcesvaries by the personal characteristics of each individual student. Hartley, H. Evaluative and decision-making criteria will beformulated. 1). Decentralized budgeting-making: Thehard decisions. Rather, a description andexplanation of the process, together with a discussion and evaluation ofrelevant issues, were presented. The capacity of existing resources will be determined inorder to identify any gap that exists between resource needs for the 1999-2 1 budget and existing resource capacity. Electronic Learning, 13(7), 18. Thus, the budget developed inthe first-half of 1999 finances the functioning of city departments for thelast-half of 1999 through the first-half of 2 1. 4. Wagoner, R. Further, school-community partnerships increase support within thecommunity for public school district budgets (Hartley, 199 ). Neither an actual nor a prototype budget for a public schooldistrict was developed in this research. H. 3. Copies of the complete budget document will be providedto all public libraries in the public school district's jurisdiction. Contingency plans will be made to deal with studentdemographics that vary substantially from budgeted student characteristics. Organizational goals will be integrated into the budgetdecision-making process. SBM meansdifferent things to different people, but all definitions of SBM indicatethat it involves changing school governance, moving in some way from a top-down approach to a bottom-up approach (Midgley & Wood, 1993). Multi-year budget forecasting. Supporters of the SBM concept also emphasize that control of thebudget function is at the heart of SBM. In addition to developing support within thecommunity for district programs, the communications and interactionsbetween school and community will enhance the probability that studentswill receive "common messages from various people about the importance ofschool, of working hard, of thinking creatively, of helping one another,and of staying in school" (Epstein, 1995, p. 7 8). b. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(5), 394-97. Such partnerships can "improveschool programs and school climate, provide family services and support,increase parents' skills and leadership, connect families with others inthe school and in the community, and help teachers with their work.However, the main reason to create such partnerships is to help allyoungsters succeed in school and in later life. Alternative strategies for closing any resource gap willbe identified. U. A summary of the budget document will be mailed to eachhousehold in the public school district's jurisdiction. c. 161). Site-based tools: Technology that supportsgood school management. V. Mercure, D. San Diego, California, November 17-19, 16pp. Beyond site-basedmanagement: Empowering teachers to reform schools. a. The 1999-2 1budget, however, will not simply add to past budget levels. a. School/family/community partnerships:Caring for the children we share. 8. This disadvantage would make itsomewhat difficult to assess the district's performance budget for 1999-2 1. (1997 November). Sielke (1997) recommended that SBM should be used to evaluate theeffectiveness of programs and to recommend continued funding for programs,with the ultimate decision authority remaining with the districtadministration. Phi Delta Kappan, 75(3),245-252. By contrast, many educatorscontend that the most of new resources are directed toward children whorequire special education (Odden, et al., 1995). Budgetary performance will be monitored and evaluatedsemi-annually. 7. The Board of Education, however, will address this issue of assessingthe performance based budget by directing that the district administrationstaff develop specific performance measurement criteria for each school andspecial service department within the district. Odden, et al. b. b. 7 5). (1995)observed that: "Everyone wants to know more about education dollars and howthey are spent. While the performance budget adopted by the public school districtpermits the district administration to fund and justify broad objectives,as opposed to the need to justify each minute expenditures for specificitems, the budget format has a down-side for rate payers. (1995, May). Contingency plans will be made to deal with shortfallsin budget revenues. Midgley, C., & Wood, S. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 7 1-712. Odden, A., Monk, D., Nakib, Y., & Picus, L. Budget Type for the Public School District The type of budget to be prepared for the public school district isrecommended by the district administration and approved by the Board ofeducation. ERICdocument ED379753. The disadvantage of this budget format is that itmakes no effort to state how specific functions will be carried out.Rather, the performance budget developed by the public school district juststates that they will be performed. C. Further, "there isno guarantee for the effectiveness of decentralized budgeting practices. A summary of the budget document will be provided tomedia outlets and public libraries in the public school district'sjurisdiction. American SchoolBoard Journal, 4-5. and that they do notspend their resources wisely" (p. Most educators and a large portion of the public believethat the country has been too frugal in providing dollars for education.Others believe that the schools have enough money ... Amodified decentralized process is advocated, which strikes a balancebetween total decentralization/deregulation and a meaningful site-basedbudgeting and decision-making process" (Reyes, 1994, p. The legal implications of site-based budgeting.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Organization on LegalProblems of Education. 1). (1993, November). School, family, and community partnerships cannotsimply produce successful students. c. O., & Levine, D. (1995 October). b. The problemarises in that many functions performed by the district support multipleprograms conducted by the district. 5. (199 February). Resource requirements, together with the strategyalternatives for assuring the accessibility of such resources, will beranked by priority. According to Reyes (1994) the "major legal implications forsite-based budgeting include: (1) preserving fiscal accountability; (2)maintaining economies of scale and district efficiency; (3) maintaining theintegrity of categorical services; and (4) possible liability of themembers of decision-making bodies" (p. The process must define measurable results,specify the needed resources, use that information to monitor progress andoperations, and evaluate the effectiveness of the program. In other cases SBMsimply means moving away from strict top-down decision making and givingsome of those on the bottom a chance to participate in the process.Regardless of the form taken by SBM in application, the link between SBMand improved educational experiences for students appears to rest on anassumption that, by giving control over decisions to those closest to theprocess, teaching and learning will automatically improve (Taylor & Levine,1991). By allocating funds to specific functions, the district's 1999-2 1budget will allow the rate-paying public to see exactly what it costs tohave a specific function performed by district. Neither an actual nor a prototype budget for a public schooldistrict is developed in this research. One conclusion reached by astudy in Texas was that an increase in local control "could conceivably begained at the expense of centralized economies, fiscal accountability, andconstitutional and civil rights" (Reyes, 1994, p. In essence, thedistrict will budget functions, as opposed to the separate items that arerequired to perform those functions. Development & Implementation of A Two-Year Budget for A Public School District Introduction This research reviews the steps and procedures involved in thedevelopment and implementation of a two-year budget for a public schooldistrict. The Question of Decentralized Budgeting The issue of decentralized budgeting by public school districts isassociated with the concept of site-based management (SBM). The assumption is that the 1999-2 1 budget for the publicschool district will be a performance budget, in that the emphasis in thebudget will be placed on the functions to be performed by the district.The district's performance budget for 1999-2 1 will be an incrementalbudget, as it will be based, in part, on past budgets. Decentralized input to the district budgeting process willbe sought. 7). An advantage of the performance budget format for the public schooldistrict is that, by budgeting functions as opposed to objects ofexpenditure, the district is better able to tie budgeted funds directly tothe missions and objectives of the Board of Education. These proponents of SBM contendthat only by accepting site-based budgeting can a district "restore a senseof influence to those nearest the school and its students. Summary This research reviewed the steps and procedures involved in thedevelopment and implementation of a two-year budget for a public schooldistrict. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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