The main responsibility of the school budget is to protect core school programs and promote student achievement in all schooling categories (Barro & Carroll, 2015). In addition, the budget should be respectful of the current economic climate. Following the reduction of the amount allocated for the budget due to the City’s deficit, the budget on the school’s programs and student’s achievement is the first part to examine. The reason for concentrating on this part is the fact that they are the key activities that maintain the operation of every school (Ehrenberg et. al, 2004). Moreover, as the budget director, I would examine the innovative and supportive programs since they can obtain funds from the foundation the school district is in partnership with.
After the examination of the school programs, I have noted that 80% of the budget is allocated for salaries and benefits of the teaching and administrative personnel. Therefore, in order to ensure a balance on the core programs and student’s achievements, the cut will target the staff in the respective schools. The cut will slightly reduce the benefits but the salaries will not be affected. The funds obtained from the foundation will be necessary for funding innovative staffing strategies hence promoting the provision of high-quality education. Consequently, quality education will facilitate good student achievement (Elmore & Burney, 2009).
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Alternatively, in order to ensure a balance between the different federal factors allocated for the budget, the school district would pause the innovative and supportive programs hence allocating the funds from the partnering foundation to fill the gap in the budget allocated by the city. Another choice would be, reducing the number of staff in order to maintain the planned state in the six schools (Johnson and Williams, 2011). Another alternative would be reducing the amount allocated for the core programs in the schools with a reduced amount from the budget. The last alternative would be identifying other sources of funds in order to fill the gap in the proposed budget and ensure a smooth run of the core programs and better student’s achievement.
References
Barro, S. M., & Carroll, S. J. (2015). Budget Allocation by School Districts: An Analysis of Spending for Teachers and Other Resources.
Ehrenberg, R. G., Ehrenberg, R. A., Smith, C. L., & Zhang, L. (2004). Why do school district budget referenda fail? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , 26 (2), 111-125.
Elmore, R. F., & Burney, D. (2009). Investing in teacher learning: Staff development and instructional improvement in Community School District# 2, New York City . National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, Box 117, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.
Johnson, N., Oliff, P., & Williams, E. (2011). An update on state budget cuts. Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. Washington, DC at , 1 , 10-12.
