The education sector is an instrumental pillar of society, and often, financial constraints and inadequate allocation of requisite resources necessary for the normal running of programs and overall learning activities has been a significant stumbling block. For this reason, strategizing on the most efficacious methods of acquiring and maximizing financial resources in education is critically important. Various strategies can be incorporated to enhance educational finance, and they include finding effective ways of allocating discretionary resources, directing resources to schools with highest needs, and improving accountability in school budgets, among others.
Key Strategies To Maximize And Obtain Financial Resources In Education
Devising methodologies to allocate discretionary resources is indispensably important. Many locations have inadequate or limited resources for discretionary use aimed to support improved learning, which consequently results in principals and schools having minimal resources to aid in raising student achievement. Effective allocation of discretionary resources will ensure principals have the flexibility to hire additional staff and generally have sufficient resources to support student’s development (The Wallace Foundation Editors, 2017).
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Additionally, it is critical to ensure that resources are directed to schools and grade levels that have the highest needs, as equal allocation is not completely equitable. Thus, to enhance educational finance, resources should be availed with the intent to meet the various setbacks faced by every student. Resources need to be directed strategically to address the most pressing needs and at-risk students. Also, giving schools greater autonomy as well as flexibility especially with their use of time, organizational structures and alternative systems for delivery of education can ensure savings on costs and generally help in realizing educational finance (Willis, 2014) .
Another strategy to ensure maximization of resources is giving principals a voice especially in budgetary decisions and allocation of additional resources especially to higher-need institutions. This is important as it creates a truly collaborative budget planning process that consequently improves overall efficiency and financial stability. They should also be held highly accountable for all their financial activities in their respective schools. According to Roser & Ortiz-Ospina (2015), increasing education budget allocation, recognizing time as a critical resource, optimizing resources with autonomy, accountability, and flexibility are other cardinal strategies of resource maximization in education.
Trends in Impacting Educational Finance
While devising strategies and methodologies to maximize resources in the educational sector is essential, looking into various trends in impacting educational finance is equally salient. The most notable trend that needs critical attention is assessing the use of technology in learning, especially considering that the education sector is increasingly adopting technology to improve overall efficiency. As such, the reinforcement of trends such as remote learning, flipped learning, gamification, digital textbooks, the employment of big data in learning are examples of the unique factors in accessing the impact of education finance in a particular location (Perez, August 27, 2015) . The overall improvement in student results over time, the reasonable instructor-to-student ratio in schools, the ample accessibility of students with special needs to education, and the implementation of effective instruction programs across learning centers are other highly salient measures and trends that can be employed to evaluate the impact of educational finance.
Conclusion
Education is not perceived as a mere basic right today but is rather a duty and responsibility of governments and other key stakeholders Nonetheless, it is faced with challenges of inadequate financial resources, which is primarily why various effective strategies and measures need to be adopted to enhance acquisition and maximization of financial resources in the educational sector. These include increasing budgetary allocation for education, effectively using discretionary resources, incorporating principals in the budget decision-making process, directing resources equitably based on schools with highest needs, amongst others. Assessing trends through evaluating the penetration of technology in learning as well as the overall performance of students among others are also highly noteworthy in impacting educational finance.
References
Perez, P. (August 27, 2015). Classroom Technology Trends that are Changing Education. Securedge Journals .
Roser, M., & Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2015). Financing Education . Retrieved from ourworldindata.org: https://ourworldindata.org/financing-education
The Wallace Foundation Editors. (2017, April 18). Strategy 6: Optimize the use of resources to improve student learning - The Three Essentials: Improving Schools . Retrieved from www.wallacefoundation.org: https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/strategy-6-three-essentials-improving-schools.aspx
Willis, D. (2014, March 11). Maximizing financial resources to support improved academic results . Retrieved from www.districtadministration.com: https://www.districtadministration.com/max-resources
