Discussion on Budget Questions

Budget Discussion Questions

1. Think about your professional context and the dynamics that exist within it. What political or other internal institutional dynamics will influence budgetary priorities at your organization?

The role of a principal in budgetary planning to facilitate learning is multidimensional since it not only involves achieving the learning and teaching curriculum requirements but also involves meeting the political interests of the school’s community. Some of the internal budgetary considerations of the institution are an investment in focused instructional interactions with teachers through coaching and school-wide instructional program (Barr & McClellan, 2011). Cultivating a productive school environment where the political interests of the school community will be secured through the invitation of core stakeholders, such as donors and goodwill partners, to take part in curricular and co-curricular activities. Therefore the priorities will be to facilitate continuous improvement in interactive instructional programs, community development activities, and securing the interests of stakeholders.

2. How have contemporary economic conditions affected public sensitivity to either revenues or expenses at your institution or organization?

Chicago, a public school district, has been affected by inaccurate dissemination of information, alleging that there has been an underutilization of resources. Due to the strained resource allocation to K-12 education, as one of the largest state expenditures, increased expenditure in healthcare and security. The state expenditure in the K-12 program has remained constant while expenditure in healthcare and security has grown incrementally. The misguided information that there has been underutilization of resources in the Chicago public schools resulted in the closure of more than 100 schools by 2012, which only led to a decline by 1-1.5 percent of the district operating budget on education (Farmer & Baber, 2019). These closures have had a devastating commercial impact, especially in black communities where schools are the only source of stability. The lack of increment in the education budget allocation has resulted in the elimination of ancillary services at the institution, such as the automatic funding for eight employment positions. The adopted quota system allocated funds as a stipend per head has limited the clerks and counselors in all Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

3. How would you describe the budget model used at your school? What do you see as its strengths and limitations?

A student-based budget model is applied at the institution, dictated by the Chicago public school district financing. Since the school qualifies as a Title 1 school, the low-income model of allocation of funds is employed since the students have a higher need for student-based funding. This budget model ensures accountability for the funds allocated to the institution due to the specificity of expenditure that eliminates the conflict between school planners (Farmer & Baber, 2019). However, the flexibility of a student-based budget is limited, limiting how the funds can be productively distributed to meet the needs of students holistically. Consequently, some school institutions are stifled due to the lack of resources to meet these requirements.

4. Have you experienced or heard of a situation where your school faced an unanticipated and unbudgeted major expense? How did your school deal with the situation?

Being in a low-income community, there is the high mobility of students from one low-income institution to another due to homelessness or evictions. Due to this mobility, the school population had grown drastically, but teachers’ numbers remained constant. As a result, there was a high student-to-teacher ratio, and the budget allocation limited the ability of the administration to recruit new teachers. Experienced teachers require higher salaries than newly qualified teachers (Abrar & Sidik, 2019). Consequently, a maximum of forty students were placed in each class, and newly qualified teachers were hired where this strategy did not cover all the students.

5. How would a good schedule for regular maintenance for facilities under your supervision look?

The management of the facilities would be planned quarterly to avoid facilities going out of service. For class equipment, electricity, and plumbing maintenance of these facilities, two specialists would be hired permanently to ensure these facilities are always available. If the buildings have a problem, the maintenance work will be outsourced since such challenges are rarer. The maintenance of sporting facilities will be designated to the maintenance personnel hired permanently. Quarterly planning for maintenance will allow the review of the state of facilities frequently and planning the budgetary requirements for the next quarter.