School Wide Budgetary Needs: Clinic Field Experience C

EAD 510
Kelley Ouradnik
November 18, 2019
 Current Budget

Bowman County Public School’s development of the budget looks greatly at past historical

numbers. The current budget was developed from analyzing the actual revenue and expenditures

over the past four years. Administration feels the school board members are representatives of the

community and stakeholders. The principals also use data and gain feedback from staff members

on needs. The superintendent will reach out to individuals who are involved at the local and state

level to gather information. A new area to the budget was preschool. This was an area of need in

our community and having a school funded preschool allows us to “develop and manage

relationships with feeder and connecting schools for enrollment management and curricular and

instructional articulation” (National Policy Board for Educational Administration. 2015. Standard

9: Operations and Management). Before preschool was implemented, the elementary principal

held public forums to discuss the needs, concerns and answer questions. He also developed a

budget that mapped out the revenue and expenditures and presented to the school board. The

community and school felt the positives impacts outweighed the financial concerns, and the school

district forecasts this program will save money in the long run as supportive programs will not be

in demand because we are meeting the needs of students through early intervention.

The school is currently developing a long-range plan for facilities and has created a new

position and hired a head of maintenance. The district has had some large expenses with repairs

including the school roof and track and was able to make these repairs without a bond. They want

to have a plan which will make it easier to budget for the larger expense items and repairs. Having

the personnel to track and help create this plan will be beneficial and helpful with budgeting.
 When looking at the process of defense and modification, the school has been at a

consistent and healthy level. This helps the staff and community feel a sense of comfort. The

decisions made are thought through and administration and school board get input from staff,

parents and community. The decisions made are always mindful of students’ needs.

Technology is a component of the school’s school improvement plan. The technology

committee has developed a budget to allow the school to be on a 5-year rotation of devices as we

have implemented 1:1. It began as a lease agreement but looking at last year’s end of the year

budget, the school was able to purchase the devices vs. lease them. It is important to have a system,

so the expenses are mapped out.

Budget Analysis

When comparing the current budget to the previous actuals, there are some differences.

Looking at revenues, the school has received an Oil Impact Grant for the past several years, and

last year it was a revenue source for the district of $257,363. This grant is no longer available.

Our enrollment continues to rise, and our Foundation Aid per Pupil aid continues to increase as

well. Many of the local revenue sources are estimated using the lowest of prior 4 years. Our

current budgeted revenue is lower than last year’s actual expenditures, and at first glance this looks

concerning. When one dives into the expenditures, you find the many repairs that were needed,

increasing the expenditures by $500,000. As previously stated, new expenditures include a school

funded preschool. This does have revenue as state pays per pupil for students qualifying for special

education and others pay a flat monthly tuition rate of $70. Another area of expenditures that

increased involves the creation of full time (12 month) technology coordinator. Our CIP has

Access to Technology including 1:1 technology. The technology coordinator facilitates monthly

meetings with technology committee and together they create a projected 5-year technology
budget. With creating this position, the school will better follow PSEL standard 1, allowing the

school to follow the mission and vision statements, allowing for students to succeed in the

changing world.

Background Information

Bowman County Public Schools is a rural school with a current enrollment k-12 of 526,

which is an increase from 500 students last school year. The elementary school which consists

of k-5 has an enrollment of 301. The school’s average daily attendance is 97.1% and the

graduation rate for the past two years is 95%. The ethnicity of our student population is mainly

white (88.5%), followed by Hispanic (8.9%). Less than 3% of our students are American Indian

or African American. 20% of students qualify for Free and Reduced lunch. 12.3% participate in

the Title I program and 12% qualify for services under IDEA. (SLDS Educational Portal)

Current Budget Expenditures

Being a rural school district, many of the expenses overlap the different schools and

campuses. Together, Bowman County Public Schools has a total budget expenditure of over

seven million dollars. Salaries and benefits are the largest expenditure at 79%, operations and

maintenance are 6%. Transportation is 5%. Classroom curriculum, learning tools, extra-

curricular and other needs not including salaries and benefits make up the last 10%. (BCPS

2019-2020 Budget)

Current Budgeted Revenue

When looking at revenue, the three main areas include federal, state and local sources.

The largest source of revenue is property tax at 1.7 million dollars. The Oil & Gas Production is

estimated at 1.5 million dollars. State aid includes Foundation per Pupil which is figured from
the previous year’s average daily enrollment. The school budgeted for 3.9 million dollars from

the state. Federal funds include Title programs, and grants that total $113,000. (BCPS 2019-

2020 Budget)

Key Findings

Changes in the school budget are minimal and even though oil grants are no longer, large

expenses, like the roof, were a one-time expense. Looking at the needs assessment survey, staff

is pleased with technology and professional development that deals with technology (62.5%

agree and 25% strongly agree that technology needs are being met). The staff feels positive with

the support services such as special education, Title I, speech and ELL (50% agree, 37.50%

strongly agree). An area that was more concerning and the school has already started developing

a plan, is with data and assessments. The staff is not as confident the current assessments are

aiding teachers to meet the needs of students (43.75% agree, 25% disagree and 12.5% strongly

disagree). Many comments included the use of data and being trained on how to use the data

effectively. (School Budgetary Needs Assessment. Nov 2019)

Preliminary Suggestions

When looking at the survey, data, assessments and strengthening our ELA program

would be areas of focus. The budget needs to include professional development, so teachers can

feel confident in decisions they make based on school wide assessments. When teachers use data

to drive instruction, the needs of the students will be met. The school also needs to analyze

assessments given and ensure they are meaningful to help support instruction.
 Reflection

Needs assessment is a very useful tool to ensure the school is continuing to grow and find

success in each student. The committees our school has in place including technology,

assessment and school improvement have a wide range of members to get input from many

individuals and departments, but it is important that everyone has a voice. When there are

difficult or frustrating topics, a needs assessment allows for parties to share their thoughts, that

sometimes will not be shared in an open meeting. Implementing needs assessment is essential

and gives ownership to stakeholders. I feel it would be beneficial to administer a needs

assessment to teachers quarterly. As a teacher, I have my students do a self-evaluation each

quarter. This allows for reflection and planning to decide what goals to implement. This is

important to do for staff as well. The most important time would be in the spring and this will

allow for planning for the following year with all aspects including budget. PSEL Standard 6

building professional capacity, will undoubtedly be met as the needs assessments will identify

teachers’ needs and allow the school to plan and provide the training and tools for teachers to be

successful at meeting students’ needs.

 References

BCPS (2019-2020) District #1 Budget

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional

Standards for Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

School Budgetary Needs Assessment. November 2019. Retrieved at

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-S2B2BGRW7/

SLDS Educational Portal. November 2019. Bowman County School District.