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Clinical Field Experience B: Schoolwide Budgetary needs

Joe W. Altmiller

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD-510-O501: Education Finance

Cherri Barker

May 11, 2022

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Collaborate: Current Budget

Mr. Hugo, the Head of School for Eugene Christian School (ECS), met with me to

discuss the planning process for our school’s budget. This past budget was especially challenging

as numerous changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the return to leaning fully in the

classroom. However, under normal circumstances, the development of ECS’s budget usually

takes place over the entire year. The ECS’s finance committee meets monthly to review current

budgetary standing and evaluate it over the previous year's progress.

Traditionally, the Head of School, Finance Committee and ECS Board of Directors have

an initial discussion and review current year implementations, surveys, and analyze data from

testing and observations. The task of moving forward with budget development then falls to the

Finance Committee which is made up of the Head of School, parents, finance professionals, and

teachers and staff. During this budgetary development timeline early enrollment for current

families opens. Current ECS families have a two-week period to enroll and pay the admission fee

for the new school year. Following the current ECS family's enrollment period, a two-week

period of new families open enrollment happens. Without these enrollment numbers the ECS

budget would be in the dark, which was the case for many years with ECS. Budgetary

development was more challenging, however with these enrollment numbers the stakeholders

can continue to move forward with data analysis, surveys, and team meetings. Technology

purchases are part of the budget development, including chrome books for the classrooms and

laptops for instructional staff. The last step is presentation to the school constituents during the

annual meeting for approval.

Collaborate: Analysis of Current Budget, Previous Budget, and Continuous Improvement

Plan (CIP)
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It is no secret that Covid-19 pandemic has had major financial impacts on private schools

that rely on tuition as their primary source of income. During the pandemic we were stretched

thin with many students that were new to our school. Increased finances were available, but other

resources were lacking, including enough instructional assistants to assist the teachers.

Comparing the last two years to this current year was quite startling as we have had over an

additional one hundred fifty new students added to our school. The hiring of teachers and staff

has put us behind in several areas of development according to the Continuous Improvement

Plan (CIP), especially utilization of assessment tools and data analysis. As Roddy, (2017) stated

there is very little disaggregation of data or analysis or data for subgroups or a on a single student

basis and teachers are rarely trained in data analysis. Technology is one area where ECS is

showing steady improvement and we have accomplished the goal of one-to-one ratio for every

student in the school.

Summary: Background, Expenditures, and Revenue

ECS is a private Christian Pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Eugene Christian

School, (2019) school vision is to Develop Kingdom Leaders. There are currently 307 students in

kindergarten through eighth grade with about 20% receiving some level of tuition assistance.

They are of mixed ethnicity, racial and religious backgrounds with about every Pentecostal

church represented on our campus. Our major programs include a thriving athletics program, and

academics that surpass many of the other schools in our area. For this current year, the projected

expenditure for the current year is $2,381,061 and the projected revenue is $2,873,00.

Summary: Key Findings

Since enrollment has risen, tuition income is up over $500,000. Teaching staff are

receiving long overdue raises. Several key areas that the CIP addressed needed to be put into

action. Schoolwide internet services were updated to provide current needs. The phone service
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was upgraded, and security cameras and monitoring equipment were installed. A new

playground structure was installed complete with new pads for wall ball and four squares. Once

the school year has completed the rest of the playground will be covered with Astroturf including

a one eighth mile track. All these projects were identified within the CIP as needs for the school.

An additional area of concern centered around the lack of teacher training concerning data

analysis, thankfully a reading specialist has been hired for ECS and part of her duties will be to

provide professional development on disaggregation of data for subgroups or for the single

student.

The results from the School Budgetary Needs Assessment suggest that ECS is quick to

react to students' needs in reading and mathematics and can change directions if needs change.

Communication among grade level teams is seen as a strength instead of a weakness as was

noted in the CIP. Several teachers surveyed noted that a reading specialist at the upper

elementary grade school levels are needed, they feel that resources are limited. With the iReady

math implementation this last year for the elementary grades, teachers are frustrated they have

not pushed as deeply into mathematics concepts as in previous years, however they are right on

track in comparison to iReady’s suggested targets.

Reflection: Continuous and Sustainable School Improvement

After reviewing the CIP and the School Budgetary Needs Assessment several suggestions

will be proposed. Hire an additional reading specialist that can invest in the upper elementary

and middle school grade levels. Expanding the resources for those teachers to continue to better

student outcomes in reading. Professional development for the staff and teachers on data

analysis. While this is no longer a glaring weakness, we need to be better. Once professional

development has provided the tools, data disaggregation should be practiced by grade level

teams to identify the needs of all the students in their classrooms. Technology is another key area
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of concern with the CIP and school budget. Currently chrome books are available for every

student in every classroom. However, many kindergartens through second grade chrome books

will only be updateable for the next two years. Creating a cycle for continuous technology

updates concerning chrome books, teacher computers and other technology needs must be

addressed annually with each budget.

Reflection: Implications for Future Practice

Affecting change within my school is a goal as a future educational leader. I am learning

now how to research, collaborate, and by becoming involved int the process I am developing the

skills to help address the current and future needs of my school. Week four: [PSEL 6i,9a, 9b, 9c,

9d, 10b, 10c] reflection on the standards for this week as an educational leader I will need to

continue to be an accountable steward of the schools' resources. Growing in my ability to

strategically manage teachers that utilize their professional capacity to promote each student

social emotional and academic growth. Collaboration will be a necessary skill as I move forward.

Knowing that many working together for a common goal will produce better long-lasting results.
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References

Eugene Christian School. (2019). Student/Parent handbook: Philosophy, mission, and statement

of faith.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/113HfHSZWNBiS0o9pPT2IYXQ1L8_FTeYbEAz9W

O_iGIU/edit

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

Educational Leaders. Author.

Roddy, S. (2017). Visiting team report. Association of Christian School International.