Reviewing and Analyzing my district's Maintenance and Operations Fund

Week 3, Assignment 4: Reviewing and Analyzing my district’s Maintenance and Operations Fund

The Livingston Independent School District (LISD) Maintenance and Operations Fund comes from three sources: local revenue, state revenue, and federal revenue.

The local funds come from taxes, special services cooperative payments, sale of surplus supplies, payments for renting facilities, insurance recovery, college course rental fees, athletic revenue, and miscellaneous revenue.

The state funding comes from two basic line items that say the same things: the foundation fund salary and operations.

The federal funding has two line items as well: federal funds indirect cost rate and SHARs which is Medicaid reimbursement.

The majority of our district funding comes from taxes under local revenue.  It is easy to see where the money comes from (realized) and how much goes out (expended) in the line item budget.  Our district does not have many places to gain revenue, therefore our district is very diligent in its allocations of funds.  Our superintendent and business manager prepare the budget and allocate the money according to where the funds are needed.  It is also easy to see why we are in the lawsuit against the state for not having a finance system that is not equitable, adequate, or efficient, as required by the Texas Constitution. With the budget cuts from the past year our district is managing to get by.  As earlier lessons state we are just receiving enough money to give our students an adequate education.    

Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process

Additional Stakeholder Input in the Budgeting Process

Below is what I found out about the types of input received from the following groups in the budget process.

Central Office Administrators and Staff
                The central office has their own budgets they are responsible for developing and turning in to the business department.  Each assistant superintendent and or director goes over what they are responsible for overseeing and then meets with the superintendent and Director of Finance.  The assistant superintendents also meet with the campus principals and directors along with the superintendent and director of finance in going over each of the departments budgets.

Principals

                The principals of the district get the campus budget and give each department head their department’s budget.  The teachers in the department meet with their department head and turn in the needs of the department.  The department heads then meet with the principal to go over the department’s needs.  The principal then prepares the campus budget to turn in to central office.

Site Based Decision Making Committee

                The site based decision making committee goes over the goals and objectives of the campus.  The committee lists the resources it will take to meet these goals and objectives.  The principal and department heads makes sure these resources are listed in the budget.  The goals should, hopefully, be tied to the goals the Board of Trustees has for the district. 

District Improvement Plan

                The district improvement plan is overseen by a committee that establishes the goals and objectives of the district.  The committee lists the resources it will take to meet these goals and objectives.  The deputy superintendent makes sure these resources are listed in the budget.  The goals should, hopefully, be tied to the goals the Board of Trustees has for the district.

Teacher Organizations

                Our teacher organizations are very small and raise their own money to support functions on each campus.  The specific organization gives property donations to the district to utilize the money they have raised to support each campus.  For example, they may give money to take a field trip or they may donate money to purchase a piece of playground equipment.  These organizations are especially helpful in supporting morale for teachers.  Usually representatives of these organizations serve on the site based decision committees and the district improvement plan committee.

Other Key Stakeholders like Community Members

                These members serve on our site based decision committees or on the district improvement plan committee.  Any individual may give a property donation to the district.  The Board of Trustees votes to accept or deny the property donation.

Board of Trustees

                The Board of Trustees works collaboratively with the superintendent in establishing a budget.  The board and superintendent must take an interactive approach in developing a budget through workshops.  The board will hold a public hearing and then a final budget is formally adopted.

Each stakeholder group is important in the budget process.  The principals play a major role in developing the budget since they have a campus budget and seek input from the site based committee in developing the budget.  The deputy superintendent plays a significant role in the process since she over sees the district improvement plan and implements this plan into the process.  Of course, the Director of Finance is third behind the Board of Trustees and superintendent in establishing the budget.  The superintendent relies heavily on his expertise and guidance in preparing the budget for him and the board.   Each group has a role and responsibility in the planning, preparation, and establishment stage of the budget.

The Superintendent's Roles and Responsibilities in the Budget Process

Superintendent’s Roles and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process

The superintendent of schools should play a major role in the development of the district budget.  According to law he is the budget officer for the district and prepares or causes the budget to be prepared.  Ethically, he should be the leader in fiscal responsibility setting the tone for establishing a budget.  In interviewing the Director of Finance at Livingston Independent School District I learned that our superintendent definitely sets the tone in this process.  He defines the roles and responsibilities of the people and events throughout the process.  He oversees the planning stage of the budget with our Board of Trustees and Business Department in setting a timeline in conjunction with the school calendar.  The business department takes all the departments and campus budgets and works them in to the district budget.  The Superintendent along with the Deputy Superintendents and Director of Finance takes the prepared budget and goes over it.  This group then meets with the department heads and directors to justify the needs presented in the budget.  Then the superintendent takes the prepared budget to the Board of Trustees for evaluation in budget workshops.  Because of his hands on approach the superintendent is then able to explain and justify to the board the authorized budgeted items.  Finally, a public hearing is held and formal adoption of the budget takes place.  Our superintendent is actively involved in the budget process from start to finish. 

I was not surprised to learn that the superintendent was so involved in the budget process.  With all the law suits and budget cuts in Texas Education today, it is critical for the superintendent to know and understand the budget.  I also remember in one of the interviews I gave the superintendent his answer for a primary role of his, was to understand the budget and have fiscal responsibility.  Our superintendent knows how important it is to be able to defend to the Board of Trustees and to the public where the districts money is going.  There is no better way to do that than to know the budget like the back of your hand; and that is done by having a constant and active involvement in the process. 

Reflections on the TEA Budgeting Guidelines Document

The TEA Budgeting Guidelines Document -2010

The TEA Budgeting Guidelines Document is a very detailed account of the budgeting process.  The document helps in developing a plan of action to develop a budget.  It allows guidance in preparing for what you need to know in establishing a budget and it allows you the information for a good evaluation in finalizing the budget.  Objectives are clearly stated and understood in the manual.

The document is a very helpful and useful resource in defining and explaining any part of the budget process.  It provides a very detailed timeline concurrent with a calendar for the planning stage.  It provides you with examples in the preparation stage.  The document evens helps you understand how to prepare for the future by giving samples of projections.  It clearly states objectives and responsibilities that must be followed and adhered too.  The manual provides you with laws you must follow in preparing the budget.  It also gives you a sample of the district and campus budget in which you can follow.  The document even goes over grants and construction projects.

I can use this document as a resource for just about any type of clarification in the budgeting process.  For someone who knows little about the budget and the process that is used, the TEA Budgeting Document is a very helpful guide in understanding and defining the way to finalize a budget.  I have learned that the budget process must be organized because of the interactive approach that should be taken to establish a budget.

Top 5 Events and Dates in Developing a District Budget

A List of the Top Five Events and Dates in the Development of a District Budget

This timeline is based on a Sept. 1 fiscal start date and all dates are in accordance with that timetable.

# 1 February

Director of Finance hosts a timeline meeting for all department and campus representatives outlining the necessary dates for the budgeting process. In this meeting the initial budgetary concerns are discussed and the procedure for gaining input from the different site based committees is reviewed.

# 2 February

Take initial feedback from department and campus representatives as well as site based committees and establish a personnel plan for the upcoming year. This is essential due to the cost of personnel utilizing 80%-85% of the total budget and the need to offer contracts prior to the end of the current school year.

# 3 April

Review local revenue information provided by the county tax appraiser. This is important due to the role local revenue plays in the budgeting process.

# 4 June

Review the state funding template regularly to adjust the budget according to any versions that may affect the budgeting process. Over the years the versions provided can vary slightly but any change could affect a district’s budgetary process greatly.

# 5 July

Department heads and principals meet with the board to discuss justifications of a final budget. This provides the board an opportunity to ask each directly of their concerns and obstacles prior to the final budget proposal which must be submitted prior to the end of August in a public meeting.

Several of us had district start dates of July 1 so the timelines for those districts would be approximately three months before the ones for the September 1 development timeframe. Regardless of the fiscal start date, there are timelines that need to be adhered to so that the budget can be developed in a timely and organized manner.

Reflection Week Two Assignment Two

It is always interesting to view the different opinions that people have regarding the topics we are assigned to discuss.  Our consensus was quite easy since we all had the five events listed before we viewed the others posts.  The difference was the calendar month since we were on different fiscal years.  In collaborating, I find it interesting to see the slight differences in the processes each district utilizes on its way to establishing a budget.  Hence, the reason for the type of assignments we are given!

Goal Driven Budget

Week Two Assignment One

Goal Driven Budget

A goal driven budget, as Dr. Arterbury described in the lecture, “is attaining a budget from a shared vision of the school district and each campus.  The district and campus goals should reflect the Board of Trustees goals and the budgeting process should reflect a commitment to expending funds to achieve those goals.”  The example Dr. Arterbury used, “was to effectively teach math the district expends the funds for teachers and materials to address the teaching learning process for math.”

For a district to truly understand and incorporate a goal driven budget into the district, the budget must always tie back into the Board of Trustees Goals for the district.  The District improvement plan must connect with the Board of Trustees Goals and the Campus Improvement Plans must reflect and have a direct relationship with the District Improvement Plan and Board of Trustees Goals.  In a district that utilizes a goal driven budget every department and/ or campus must always have a correlation to the goals of the entire district – the goals of the Board of Trustees.

The Livingston Independent School District Improvement plan describes the monetary value in the goals section of the document in a very general and basic monetary term.  For example, under resources the following terms are used: local funds, Title 1 funds, Grant funds.  However, the funds allocated for the State Compensatory Program is very specific in listing the exact amount of funds for the specific program or service.

In talking with our business manager LISD does not specifically utilize a goal driven budget.   Our budget process uses the site based budget preparation guidelines.  But knowing and talking to my superintendent, the LISD budget will always be determined according to the needs of the district in reaching the needs of our students.