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Audrey Karr

EAD-510

Sept. 9, 2020

Clinical Field Experience B: Schoolwide Budgetary Needs

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Through this field experience I was able to learn more about my school's budget and all of its

intricate parts.  There is a lot of time, specific detail and approval needed in many different

aspects: from stakeholders to how much money is given by the state along with how each

category has to be allocated through specific guidelines.  

Collaborate:  Current Budget

In a normal school year, the general budget of all schools in the state of Nevada rolls out after

July of every year, except this year, due to COVID-19. The budget for the 2020-2021 school

year has still not been released by the state. Once schools are given their allotted amount, they

have until April of the following year to use the money providing the purchases correlate with

the Needs Assessment Survey that is completed every five years.  This also includes grant

monies (which federal grant money comes in chunks).  Due to the unusual circumstances of this

last year, all funds were frozen in early March by the state; therefore, any funding not used was

submitted back to the state to help pay for school closures and distance learning.  This means

schools were forced to operate on a very small budget and are continuing to do so until the state

releases current funding.  

The stakeholders involved in determining how the budget is spent consists of the school site

administrators and CIP/SIP members which consist of: parent representatives, teachers and

central office personnel.  When determining the needs of the school, the data from teacher,

parent and student surveys are assessed and prioritized based on the highest concerns.  This data

also includes the conditional growth which identifies how well instruction is filling the academic

gap.  Then as a team, identifying what was spent in the previous years can help determine if the

current money allotted will need to be increased, decreased or transferred to another area of need

(Banning-Lover, 2016). 
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The process of defense is all about being able to justify the money amounts being used.  Having

the support of the district's grant coordinator in helping fine tune the written portion and

identifying what is allowed or not allowed with each grants guidelines before presenting it to the

central office, saves administration a lot of time.  The budget is then sent to the state grant

coordinator which helps eliminate repeatable drafts and usually provides quicker access to funds

allotted.  Even though there are usually modifications made to the budgeting process and how

money is allocated in each section, there’s at least a better chance in receiving the most funds

possible with the district and state coordinators working together.  

As far as the district’s technology budget requirements, schools must buy technology that is on

the list supplied by the district (unless it’s approved by the director of information technology). 

If an item is approved off of the master list most likely the device will not be supported by the

district and there is no warranty for it.  Most of the technology bought at my school, Southside

Elementary is purchased through grant funds (like Title I) which benefits low income schools.

Collaborate: Analysis of Current Budget, Previous Budget and CIP

Southside Elementary in Elko, Nevada is a four star, Title I school with a high percentage of

Hispanic students and 76% of the students are on the free and reduced breakfast/lunch program. 

Many of the students’ parents do not speak English therefore all forms of communication are

done in two languages.  Teachers who work there are considered “highly qualified” with many of

them National Boards Certified.  Because of this, Southside is considered an at risk school;

therefore, a high percentage of the money given comes from grants.  Most of the grant funding is

spent building programs to benefit ELL and the Special Education population by hiring literacy

aides, one on one aides for children with special needs and other support personnel to help with

student interventions before, during and after school. 

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Southside’s school budget is broken down as follows:

Object Title/Purpose Unit Cost Budget

Code Amount

111 Instructional Aide $30,000 30,000

161 Stipends $4,500 9,000

162 Extra Duty $500 1,000

200 Benefits $17,555.76 18,155.76

331 Development Services $599 2,396

320 Professional Services $17,500 17,500

581  Staff Travel $2,000 8,000

610  Supplies $1,516.52 12,536.52

640 Books and Periodicals $6,926.47 6,926.47

3300 Family Engagement Books/Quarterly Movie $1,500 1,500

Night

650 Technology $3,799.81 3,799.81

652 Technology Equipment $16,747.84 34,379.84

653 Web-Based Curriculum $15,430 15,430

Total $118.575 $160,624.40

(per unit) (total cost)

 

As it is shown in the data table the total budget amount (not including certified teacher salaries)

was around $160,000 and a big portion of it was instructional aides, benefits, professional

services and technology equipment. When comparing these top categories to the schools

improvement plan, it is evident that the money is well spent in the areas most identified in the
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action plan which is hiring instructional support teachers (in all areas), school wide behavior

management system training, and chrome book computers with carts.

Summary:  Key Findings

When comparing last year's budget to this coming year, it’s very difficult to determine what will

be spent without knowing what the budget will be.  However, once the state of Nevada receives

their final submission of enrollment numbers, according to my administration, there will

definitely be cuts in at least two of the three categories mentioned above. Funds are going to be

scarce due to this pandemic. It is evident that human capital will still be the main portion of the

budget. However now that students in our county will go from being taught in class to virtual

learning, the in person funds will decrease but the technology funds will increase. It has also

been stated that in a low income school, like ours, the grant funds will be reduced drastically like

Title I and any state grant similar to SB178.  This means after school programs will be minimal

but the technology and software funds will be substantially larger due to the district having to do

online learning. Chrome books will be bought in a small amount only to cover the schools who

have a shortage and to make sure every child in the district has technology. The largest cost

factor will be the purchase of mobile hot spots for students who do not have internet access.

Along the same lines of this will be the expense of computer software programs. The one benefit

of students choosing to stay with the state’s self-paced online program, is that the district will

still receive funding based on student enrollment. This means that even though the technology

budget will be increased, the cost of other areas will decrease. This will balance the budget out

and possibly even bring the total amount lower, knowing that tech items are being bought in

bulk. With this being said, budgeting money has never come more evident than it is right now.

How each school uses their allotted money amount will definitely have to be similar to a norm
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based budget or a zero-based budget keeping in mind the schools strategic priorities and

achievable outcomes need to be driven by student data (Yan & Linick, 2016).

As far as reflecting on the needs assessment survey, six teachers completed the survey in regard

to their opinion along with what knowledge they currently have on the CIP/SIP plan and schools

budgetary needs. I found the data results to be extremely helpful in many aspects. Overall,

teachers are not familiar with the schools CIP/SIP plan that is reassessed every five years.  This

is either due to not wanting to engage in the implementation process, or they feel that there is a

lack of communication in delivering school goals and how administration plans on getting staff,

students and parents on board from teacher’s previous experiences being on the committee. 

Student academics play a big part in school through the following categories: professional

development, family engagement and curriculum, instruction and assessment.  When rating the

three categories it was noted that family engagement is considered a higher priority over

curriculum, instruction and assessment and then finally professional development opportunities.

There was also a consensus that looking at school data doesn’t guide their instruction the way it

is meant to be used (mainly due to lack of knowledge and/or guidance.) Teachers overall felt that

if the school could add a program or resource to better student academics it would be the blend

of curriculum, instruction and assessment combined with quality professional development.  For

example: more outside of the district PD opportunities like computer literacy for teachers,

tutoring programs for students and a well-designed math curriculum.  This shows that as a

whole, teachers believe that student achievement is the end goal just like the school performance

plan states, but getting there is the challenge they face. 

Summary: Preliminary Suggestions

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By going off of the needs assessment survey taken, two suggestions that would show growth in

academic progress is: (1) incorporating staff members in the schools improvement process and

giving them a buy-in to the schools performance plan, (2) asking staff members what types of

professional development they would benefit from along with what programs the school could

invest in for all grades and give full commitment to.

When an administrator includes their staff in the budget process, communicates school wide data

and shows the areas of improvement, staff members are more likely to see the urgency of where

students are struggling and will want to be a part of helping their school succeed because they

are invested in not only the children but also their families. Teachers need to feel as if they have

a voice and are appreciated for their dedication.  Once they feel valued they are willing to put in

the time and effort to see positive results. The same idea goes for professional development. 

Staff members want to know that their contract time spent out of the classroom is going to be

valuable and rewarding enough to take back and try with their students.  Allowing staff to give

suggestions and research the effectiveness of school presenters and programs using the schools

needs assessment data results keeps the staff informed, working together to find creative ways to

maximize budget money and a chance to justify their educational needs which will have a

positive impact on student learning.

Reflection:  Continuous and Sustainable School Improvement

Having a formalized and ever evolving needs assessment is vital in all schools.  This living

document will require constant monitoring to see that the decisions made were the best choices

for students and their families which is essential in filling the schools mission and vision

(Sorenson & Goldsmith, 2018.)

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At Southside Elementary, two of the biggest concerns noted in the needs assessment survey

were: parents feeling safe at school and the intense traffic in front of the school.  After reviewing

these concerns and discussing options the CIP/SIP team came up with ideas that required budget

money to be spent to benefit both areas in need.  The school was able to reach out to local school

police and show the data seeing that the need to have a full time resource officer instead of a

part-time officer could help parents feel safer in the school.  With this school centrally located in

a poverty-stricken area with a higher violence rate, parents have a fear of allowing their children

to walk to school, or be released in front of the building without adult supervision.  By having a

resource officer present full-time, parents can start feeling more at ease knowing that their voice

has been heard and the school’s priority in child safety is important.  This also benefits the traffic

flow because the officer is visible and outside moving vehicles through the front entryway in an

orderly fashion keeping parents from stopping in the middle of the road waiting for their child. 

This forces parents to go find a parking spot and walk over to find their child by their teacher,

which in return helps teachers meet parents and communicate their student’s educational needs. 

The best part about this solution is that it doesn’t require any more or less of the schools budget

to be spent because the officer is already being paid full-time.  It’s just a matter of shifting

another officer or two around to cover the other school that didn’t show this concern as being

high demand.  

In time, the school will be able to have staff, student and parent input to see if this decision was

the best choice and if it has made a greater impact in students getting to school safely every day

and parents being able to pick their child(ren) up in a timely manner.

Reflection: Implications for Future Practice

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As a future educational leader I see the value in having the support of your staff and their input

when creating a clear and concise school vision.  Having a strong foundation gives all

stakeholders time to collaborate, envision and grapple with the possibilities being presented to

develop an active and individualized school improvement plan that is unique to each school.  Not

only does it take time to build a CIP/SIP plan but communicating to those who invest in their

school is the key to keeping a plan successful.  This is seen through PSEL Standard 1 in

developing a school's mission, vision and core values.  Promoting academic success and well-

being of student’s means using the data given, advocating core values in the school’s culture,

having high expectations, sharing and adjusting the school’s mission as needed and modeling

this type of leadership in the school environment (NPBEA, 2015). This also ties in with PSEL

Standard 10 on continuous school improvement which promotes academic success.  The leader

should be able to hire teachers who engage in the learning process through research

based programs, promote strategic goals setting with their team members, help find methods of

improvement that follow the schools mission and vision, assess student knowledge and evaluate

teacher effectiveness, along with create room for improvement and new ideas that keep the

energy level and creative ideas always flowing. 

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References

Banning-Lover, R. (2016).  The Guardian.  A Beginner’s guide to planning and

managing school budgets.  Retrieved from:  https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-

network/2016/jun/19/beginners-guide-planning-managing-school-budgets

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015).  Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders. Reston: VA. Retrieved from: https://www.npbea.org/wp-

content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-Educational- Leaders_2015.pdf

Sorenson, R. & Goldsmith, L. (2018).  The Principal’s Guide to School Budgeting. (3rd

Edition.)  Retrieved from: https://www.gcumedia.com/digital-

resources/sage/2018/the-principals-guide-to-school-budgeting_3e.php
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Yan, B. & Linick, M. (2016).  SDP Fellowship Capstone Report 2016.  Improving

Efficiency in School Budgeting and Spending.  Retrieved from Center for Education

Policy Research, Harvard University website: https://sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/files/cepr-

sdp/files/sdp-fellowship-capstone-efficiency-budgeting-spending.pdf