EDLD 5342, Week 2, Part 1

A goal driven budget will align the budget with the overall goals of the district set forth by the Board of Trustees with other goal setting groups' plans.  This sort of budgeting will ensure that those items that are a priority will receive appropriate funding so that they will become reality. 

This week's lecture made clear that the District Improvement Committee and the Site Based Committee/Campus Improvement Committe should formulate their plans to reflect the goals of the Board of Trustees.  These individual plans will provide more detail to the broad goals formulated by the board.

My local district set forth six goals that are posted on our website.  Each of these goals are reflected in our campus improvement plans.

 First, the district wants to provide a safe, positive learning environment for students and staff.  Towards this end, the district has allocated funds for fencing, built new educational facilities, and improved the safety on and about campus through the use of money from bonds and the general budget.

The second goal is to gain a higher accountability rating.  The district solicited a grant from a local charitable foundation in order to purchase CSCOPE for the 2011-2012 academic year and beyond.

The district set a goal to support lifelong learning for students, staff and community members and set aside funds to provide GED classes and improve career and technology resources and opportunities.  The CATE funds were primarily provided through the Perkins Grant and the GED classes were funded partially by those using the class and by local donations.

We have set goals for high attendance and promoting a zero percent drop out rate.  We've budgetted for motivational speakers and have hired a full time attendance clerk who calls students who are absent and follows up on students who are at risk due to attendance issues.  We recently hired a counselor who will not be hindered by testing, scheduling and other distractions in order to focus on students in need of counseling.  These programs will be paid for through our local budget.

The board set the goal of better communication with parents.  To achieve this they used some technology money to provide a calling system so that parents can receive messages about school events and closures.

Finally, the district set the goal to institute a building maintenance program in order to meet the needs of the students.  A local charitable foundation provided the money to build an Ag Science building, bond money provided a new gym and renovation of the football stadium and local budgetary funds have been set aside for landscaping.

Each of these goals would likely have been left undone or greatly cut back if not for a goal driven budget.  We have accomplished a lot with a small tax base, due in a large degree to the committment of the community to having a quality school district.