Part 1: Goal Driven Budget

The success story of students, teachers, programs, and schools are attributed the community’s demand for quality education and sound decision making and planning.  The sound decision making and planning begins with the Superintendent and the Board of Trustees.  Dr. Arterbury described this partnership as a “team of eight”.  Based on the district’s mission and goal statements the “team of eight” work cohesively with the District’s Improvement Plan and the financial resources to ensure that a variety of educational opportunities and special programs are available towards meeting the districts needs.

A goal driven budget is created based on communicating and building a strong school community relations plan that involves all stakeholders’s to align a shared vision that addresses the school district and campuses needs.  The stakeholder’s involved in this process view a comprehensive needs assessment obtained from the goals and objectives established to determine revenue for the next school year.

ALL campus levels are involved with the development of their campus improvement plans to reflect support of the overall district’s goals and objectives.   In the CIP’s key areas such as academics, responsible persons, extra-curricular, facilities, utilities, transportation, technology, and personnel are addressed.  Accountability with student performance is heavy weight in our system of education, so the accountability of the budgeting process is vital to the successes of the district and campus goals. 

Our district improvement plan creates a chronological plan for the year that includes training and staff development that targets appropriate personnel, technology needs, parent and community involvement activities, vertical teaming, and an ongoing preview of the budget process that reflects the allocation of resources needed for the school district.   Even though over the years a wide number of special programs and instructional programs were developed in our district the regular education program represents the largest representing a vast number of student population groups.

As stated in the lecture video with Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Arterbury, The Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) and the Certified Taxable Values are figures that determine the allocation of program funds. The implementation of Gifted and Talented, Programs for Special Needs students, Limited English Proficiency, including those qualifying for English-as-a- Second Language, and Special Education are prime explanations why stakeholders must know the next year’s revenue projections.   As Superintendent, I certainly would utilize the TEA Summary of Finance Template as a tool for budget planning.

Our district and campus improvement plans are outlined in numerical order, state four strategic long range goals, list measurable objectives for each long range goal, provides a brief description of the activity or activities that support the goal, and list the measurable objective for the long range goal.  As stated earlier in my reflection, responsible personnel, costs, funding sources, proficiency level, specific measurements and formative evaluation dates are included on both plans.  In this week’s lecture, Dr. Arterbury stated the plans should be “a version of the vision”.  I strongly feel that BISD district and campus improvement plans meet this criterion.

Overall to have an effective goal driven budget, communication and collaboration with the “team of eight”, all key personnel of the district, individual campuses, and other stakeholders such as community members and parents should be including in the budget planning process.