Clinical Field Experience B: Schoolwide Budgetary Needs

Sierra Dollar

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD-510-0501: Education Finance

Cherri Barker

May 11, 2022

 Clinical Field Experience B: Schoolwide Budgetary Needs

Part 1: Collaborate

The Master Candidate recently interviewed her principal Melissa Marple. Mrs. Marple

has been the principal of Chisholm Elementary for the last two years. During that time, she

assisted in completing the schools’ budget as well as the school improvement plan. Prior to

becoming principal she served as assistant principal at 2 different school and contributed to

their budget creation and their school improvement plan. During this discussion, the Master

Candidate found that they usually begin prepping the budget for the next year in April. She

discussed that often it gets submitted and revised several times. She discussed that generally it

is fully submitted and approved by June 1 st. Mrs. Marple stated that the primary developers of

the budget and the school improvement plan is the grade level chairs. However, it also gets

submitted to the SAC committee for approval as well. The SAC committee consists of

teachers, parent, and community members. She discussed that the needs are determined

primarily by the state test scores and behavioral data. However, she did state that our district is

explicit of what the goals can consists of based on the data. Mrs. Marple discussed that when

altering the budget or school improvement plan the committee must all discuss the options

available, present data supporting a change and then vote on the changes. In the district we are

in all technology is now provided and funded directly from the district so there is no need for

addition in their budgets. However, prior to covid often only Title I schools had enough funds

to provide technology to all students. Before concluding the meeting, the Master Candidate and

her discussed the changes from the last 2 school years. There was only one change which

emphasized a focus on science support and scores. Mrs. Marple discussed that her first year at
Chisholm the school improvement plan and the budget were already in place. Therefore, last

year that was her first chance to alter either. She discussed that when the committee reviewed

the consensus was that the largest area of growth for the school was in science and specifically

fifth grade science.

Part 2: Budgetary Needs Assessment Survey

The Master Candidate administered her needs assessment survey to 7 faculty members. Those

members consisted of the assistant principal and then each grade level chairs in Kindergarten

through 5th grade. The Master Candidate and her principal selected these individuals due to

their direct involvement in the committees involved with creating both the schools budget and

the school improvement plan. The Master Candidate and her principal Melissa Marple then

reviewed the results of the survey and discussed possible changes to next years budget.

Part 3: Schoolwide Budgetary Needs Assessment Summary and Reflection

The Master Candidate is currently at Chisholm Elementary School (K -5 th). Chisholm is

a school with just under 500 students and roughly 50 teachers. It does have 2 Mild Varying

Exceptionalities (V.E.), 2 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 2 Emotionally Behaviorally

Disabled (EBD) ESE separate class units. In addition to these ESE classrooms the school also

has K-5 gifted classrooms. To be placed in these classes students in low socio economics must

have an IQ of 120 and 140 if not in low income. The average household income of the town

Chisholm is in is $61,000 a year. The school is 75% Caucasian students.

The Master Candidate reviewed the school’s current budget. The budget is categorized

into 3 major categories. The first category classifies the funds allocated to each grade level and
then additionally identifies the funds allocated to ESE services which incorporates the gifted

program. The budget then discusses other areas of the school such as guidance, special area

and administration. The final areas discussed media services and updates. Under this budget it

classifies the actual budget and the proposed budget earned. The budget coming in is from the

district. The proposed budget is from other areas of inspected revenue. This comes primarily

from the extended day program at the school and from community donations. Currently the

funds identified as revenue is $3,560.

The Master Candidate closely examined the budget from last year and budget for the

current year. In addition, she was able to explore the budget that still must be submitted to

district for this year. When exploring both of these budgets she found minimal changes. When

discussing this with her principal she found that the current budget was created by her and the

previous years budget was created by the prior principal. She discussed that the main area they

found needed to be reevaluated was science and ESE services. She also discussed that they

attempted to make minimal changes due to the COVID 19 pandemic. She discussed with her

leadership team possible changes, but they decided that the budget may need to be altered if

the school district had to go distant learning again. The changes in the science budget and the

change in the school improvement plan was due to state test scores. When discussing with Mrs.

Marple she stated that the state science test builds on standards from kindergarten to fifth

grade. Therefore, as a whole Mrs. Marple decided more funds needed to be dedicated to

science and professional learnings for science teachers. In addition to this, they also added

funds to the ESE budget. This is due to the addition of the EBD and ASD separate class units.

When the Master Candidate reviewed the school improvement plan, she found small alters in
their reading and math goals percentage of improvement and the addition of a science goal

towards proficiently.

Following reviewing this data the Master Candidate asked for seven stakeholders to

take the needs assessment survey that she had previously created. These stake holders

consisted of the Assistant Principal and leadership team. The leadership team consists of one

teacher from each grade level. Once reviewing the results of this survey, she found several key

factors that could influence next years budget. One was that several teachers had ideas of

educational based clubs that could be added to help incorporate academics in after school

activities. In addition, several teachers offered to also sponsor these proposed clubs. The

stakeholders also indicated that they often do not have the necessary consumable reading

materials that correlates to the adopted reading program. The Master Candidate and Mrs.

Marple discussed that the district supplies these materials but only one per student. Therefore,

when new students come in they have to wait to have consumable items until they can be

orders. Another area the Master Candidate discovered from the needs assessment is that

teachers feel there has not been a decrease in discipline referrals and many are struggling with

feeling that administration is not understanding of the struggle with student behavior.

After the Master Candidate conducted these interviews, reviewed current budgets and

school improvement plans and conducting a needs assessment she reflects on what this means

for her future administration role. From the findings of exploring all these aspects she found

that the teachers and staff on campus need more professional learning on classroom and

behavioral managements. The Master Candidate hypothesis that with the addition of the new

ESE separate class units teachers and staff need more learning on h ow to deescalate students
in crisis and how to be more culturally aware and sensitive. In addition to this change, the

Master Candidate would also provide additional funds to the copy center used to make copies.

The Master Candidate would do this in an attempt to allocate for consumable materials to be

printed until they can be supplied by the district. Often when teachers do not have the right

number of consumable materials the students must share materials.

The Master Candidate identifies that conducting a needs assessment prior to creating a

school budget is critical. It is critical for the fact that it allows a principal who is more than

likely need to a school community to find the individualize needs of that community. In

addition, it allows principal who have served at the same school to reflect and even self-reflect

on what goals have been productive and had positive returns on investments and what has not.

When the Master Candidate was reviewing the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders,

she examined standard 9.D which states “Are responsible, ethical, and accountable stewards of

the school’s monetary and nonmonetary resources, engaging in effective budgeting and

accounting practices” (Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015). When the Master

Candidate reviews this standard and the objective, she finds that a principal has a moral

obligation to review and adjust the budget based on student needs. As the current population of

students in a school grow and change as should the schools budget. It is up to a principal to

engage in effective budgeting which includes a multitude of stakeholders and their input.
 Reference:

Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. National Policy Board for Educational
Administration. (2015). Retrieved May 4, 2022, from
http://www.npbea.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-
Educational-Leaders_2015.pdf