In reviewing the competencies in Area 8 of the self-
assessment I feel confident I have made vast improvements. At the beginning of this course I had no idea
on what most of the competencies were referring, but now I am sure I could sit in
a district budget meeting and know what was going on. Yes, there are still a few in which I need
improvement like effective planning, auditing local policies, and in implementing
technology but experience will only bring a better understanding of the process. Today, I know where I can find the resources
to answer any questions regarding the budget.
The lectures were excellent resources for the class. They provided explanations to every topic we
covered. I especially liked being able to print them
off and refer back to them throughout the week.
The other resources that were found in Epic were also great places to
find helpful information. The TEA Budget
Guidelines and the TASBO Budget Academy were great documents to walk you
through the budget process, and in a very helpful and informative way. Week
one gave a historical background to school finance. It also started me on the way to
understanding the state budget formula.
Defining equity, equality, and adequacy definitely shed a new light on
understanding the finance system. Week
two really emphasized developing a budget, setting goals, and understanding
responsibilities. Week three allowed us
to compare districts in analyzing revenue.
Week four allowed us to compare districts in analyzing
expenditures. Week four also made us
aware of the rating system for district finance which is called FIRST. Week five made us aware of the Code of ethics
in education. Each lesson was very
trying but the lessons learned were extremely beneficial in understanding
school finance.
The course allowed me to get to know our Director of Finance
better. During this course he was my
main personal source of information. He
has a great understanding of the state finance system and he was able to explain
it to me in a way that was easy to understand.
Each week the assignments seemed overwhelming because they seemed like
they were going to be lengthy and time consuming. But now that the course is over I understand
how much I truly learned from each assignment.
I loved the information and assignments on comparing districts. This gave a true insight on real life
problems districts possess.
Working in groups
is always interesting. Learning the group’s
characteristics and what each individual can bring to the group was fun. Sharing ideas was a great way to learn even
though I was very skeptical at first. Allowing
us to share our consensus was a great way to present the assignment. By assigning us the objective to comment on
other group’s consensus allowed us the opportunity to see the content in
another manner. The more times you read
it and the ways in which you see the information the more you learn.
Overall, this class was very trying but the amount of
knowledge I learned was overwhelming. As
I truly reflect back on the subject of school finance I feel confident in
working with the district budget in the months ahead. Five weeks ago I could not have said that.
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