TAKING ACTION
For Student Improvement
Through Reform of School Budgets
FOR FAR TOO LONG
District and campus teams have lived with
disconnect and frustration. Programs are often lost
due to lack of funding support and needless
purchases are made just because some budget line
had money left…so why not. School funding is an
issue that has been long debated. Though at the
district level we do not have a great deal of leeway,
there are many things that can be done to improve
the funding process for staff and students.
WHERE TO START
Teachers and even campus leaders often do not
understand the how and why of school budget,
therefore, make poor or ineffective decisions on the
operations of school operations. With improved
understanding by all stakeholders, better decisions
can be made for not only program implementation
but also for utilization of personnel and resources.
TO CREATE CHANGE
All stakeholders must be well informed of the global process
that occurs inside and outside of the classroom with regard to
budget.
All stakeholders must be willing to evaluate the effectiveness
of their programs and the use of data for improvement
All stakeholders must be prepared to use this information to
make informed decisions not only for the good of the students,
but for the campus as well as the district.
TAKING STEPS TO CREATE LONG-TERM
CHANGE
E V A L U A T I O N& A N A L Y S I S
Analyze current budget expenditures with District
Team• This includes all stakeholders, district, campus
leadership, teachers, students community members and parents
• CFO will explain the budget process and requirements and where there can be reform.
• Successive meetings will occur based on demonstration of need and understanding of the overall budget process
EVALUATE PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS
All stakeholders prepare data from individual
programs and provide feedback to campus teams
Campus teams provide feedback to district team
Provide purposeful feedback to all stakeholders on
obtained information.
PRIORITIZECAMPUS & DISTRICT
Campus teams gather data and determine areas of
priority for student improvement based on collected
data
Provide priority list to district team
District team meets collect, analyze findings from
campus teams
Prioritize district goals to assure alignment of
district wide resources
NON-NEGOTIABLES
District identifies district wide non-negotiables as
identified through analysis of campus strengths and
needs
Non-negotiables along with prioritized list
distributed to all stakeholders for final review
DISTRICT TRAINING
Training established by the district selected
professional development team pooled from the
district committee
Training provided at all levels including
administration, teachers and students to maximize
implementation success
Training is ongoing and revamped as needed to
assure adequate support for all teachers and
students.
IMPLEMENTATION
Programs are implemented as training is finalized
Administrators monitor and report to campus team
success and needs of programs and processes
Evaluations conducted through surveys along with
data monitoring
Campus team reports needs to district team for re-
evaluation, analysis and adjustment as needed.
ONGOING EVALUATION
Campus teams continue to compile and analyze
data in relation to campus expenditures bi-annually.
Campus teams report to district team annually
District team reports annual findings to all
stakeholders.