As Dr. Arterbury stated in the lecture this week, “The purpose of a goal driven budget is to assist in the attainment of a shared vision for the school district and each campus.” I feel that together a District Improvement Plan and a goal driven budget can communicate a districts’ accountability for funds and a quality education for all children to all stakeholders.
Our district went through a process of creating a five year strategic plan. It was a tremendous process which involved stakeholders such as community members, teachers, students, administrators to parents. We are currently in the first year of the new district strategic plan. Sadly enough, the software the district uses does not convey the wonderful plan the district spent so many hours creating. The district recognizes this and will be changing the software next year so that the district plan can truly communicate what is taking place with programs and funds.
Having a new district improvement plan has allowed us to begin focusing on a goal driven budget. The Title money, Title Stimulas money and Technology money can be seen on the district plan along with local revenue money, however it is not specific enough.
A big change that has occurred this year is that we have gone through the process of board goals, district goals and now campus goals are being aligned. Principals run our campus budgets through Site Based Decisions Making Teams and therefore campus budgets have not really been aligned with district goals. Change is good and has allowed our district to have bargaining power with companies to receive lower rates on software and various other material that are being purchased in bulk, since we are a large district. A positive going into next year is that our district committee (DEC) is helping ensure that our district improvement plan spells out goals, who is accountable for those goals, what growth will look like and where the funds for these goals will come from. It is a painful process but the payoff will be that our district funds are being spent wisely and stakeholders will have a plan that communicates the vision of the district.
Norma - It sounds like your district has done a thorough job of outlining its goals. I particularly like the 5 year plan. It is something that is needed - especially at this time when districts are cutting the maintenance and operations budgets. Those funds will be needed at some point in the 5 year future.
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