Goal Driven Budget

Part 1: Goal Driven BudgetWhen thinking about the budget for the whole school district it is important to keep in mind the school's mission and vision. This is a key element in a purpose or goal driven budget. A goal driven budget has in mind the total planning process of the district. As noted in the lecture this week, the campus plans and goals should be a "version of the vision." Campus Improvement Plans should be included in District Improvement Plans and planning and the budget should take both into consideration. I have assisted in writing both the Campus and District plans over a number of years in my district. These plans, usually written by the teachers and administrators are data driven, based upon the current needs of the total student population and are written with our school vision in mind. Of course, the funding is always in the back of the writers' minds, but generally the needs are addressed first and foremost. A Goal driven budget takes into account these stated needs, and allocates funds where necessary to attain the program, additional staffing, facility, etc. described in the DIP. Hopefully the board of trustees have also played a part in creating the District plans and goals or at least have approved the plans written by the teachers in order to make sure that the budget that they will also approve is aligned. Again, I refer to the lecture for this week when I add what was stated, " the budgeting process should not ignore the Board of Trustees goals. the district and campus goals should reflect a commitment to expending funds to achieve those goals." An example of a goal driven budget at my district was displayed in the past few weeks as we began a new school year and our Board of Trustees approved a new budget. The process began as our staff reviewed our recent AEIS report and analyzed the latest TAKS results. We found that our students would benefit from a more aligned and rigorous curriculum as well as software that will enable the administrators and staff to keep abreast of the student progress through benchmarking and closer observation. Student success on standardized testing is a part of our vision as it surely is in every school in the state! In our district plans, this need was addressed with the intent to fully incorporate CSCOPE in all four subject areas and to purchase Eduphria, a software product that will enable us to closely monitor student progress among other things. The budget was drafted to include these expenditures and the Board of Trustees approved them. The remainder of the items in the campus improvement plans were also provided for in the allocations of the budget.