The Context of Elizabeth School District's Budget Essay

For this assignment, I have chosen to reflect on both my school site and the district.

In corporate America, the expectation for a CEO is to increase profits and to project a positive public image for the corporation. The role of the 21st century public school Superintendent often mirrors that of a corporate CEO. The superintendent is responsible for a multi-million-dollar budget, the management of a large employee pool, and the expectations for high stakes profits are in the form of standardized assessment scores. Just as the CEO is expected to produce an increase in profits, the school Superintendent is accountable for, and is expected to produce, a yearly increase in test scores.

Hayse Elementary School is a school that stands out in the state of North Carolina. The school it known for meeting state proficiency standards and is considered one of the highest-performing schools in the state. Hayse Elementary School has not always been known for its achievements. It has only been in the last few years that the school got on a track that has lead them to high performance. This rural low-wealth school in North Carolina commends its success to acknowledging their challenges, balancing equity and adequacy, and developing continual improvement measures for the future. This paper discusses how Hayse Elementary School stakeholders joined their efforts and created a path that has lead them to continual success.

Eastampton Township has a history that dates back to 1880’s with the invention and production of the “Star” bicycle. The 5.83 square mile township is home to just about 6000 residence with a racial breakdown of approximately 68 percent white, 12 percent black and 20 percent other. The median household income is just above $70,000 and the average dwelling value is $260,000. In regards to educational background, 94 percent of the population over 25 have a high school diploma or higher. Of this age category, 42 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. English is the primarily spoken language; with 82 percent only speak English (US Census, 2010). However, there have been significant changes since the 2010 census. In 2011, the township constructed a low-income housing complex, which provided an increase in the student population. Since 2010, there has also been an addition of a townhome development complex. This year, there are three developments being constructed, two low to moderate income condos and one townhome projected to add over 1,000 residence by 2018.

This field experience was a very interesting project for me. I received many opportunities for learning and to gain experience as an educator and for my future as an administrator. Activities that were included: interviewing administrators, interviewing teachers, researching and reviewing two comprehensive strategic plans, evaluating a comprehensive plan using the supplied rubric, researching past school board agendas and minutes and comparing them to the comprehensive strategic plan. Throughout this field experience I was able to develop a new understanding of the process involved in developing a comprehensive plan at both the principal and the teacher level. The field experience I feel was meaningful for an introductory

I. Introduction – The Montgomery Education Foundation is a foundation centered around bettering the public-school system. The Montgomery County overall report card score is a 79/C. Montgomery County needs teacher quality, parental /community involvement, funding & overall student achievement to raise the lingering “C” to an “A”. Public schools have a disadvantage when it comes to funding. According to https://www.washingtonpost.com/news, recent research, has found that when schools have more money, they are able to give their students a better education.

It often seems there are several important issues plaguing the public school system. So many that there needs to be a time to stop and ask the right questions. Which issue is most pressing? Which issue is having the biggest impact on the ultimate goal to equally and effectively educate all that pass through public schools? One issue that seems to answer both of the aforementioned questions is that of school funding. School funding has a tremendous impact on so many aspects of school. It affects so many different groups that have ties to the school. The impact and affect are so great that they will also affect groups outside of the school system. First, it is important to explore the far reaching impact of school funding.

As students of McLaurin we have all encountered the eagerness of our community for a new school building. Students, Parents, and Teachers have pushed the idea of an updated campus. Many People have spoken publicly and on social media about the needs of our school. On August 23rd the Rankin county school board came to McLaurin in hopes to hear the thoughts, ideas, and concerns of community members. These presentations, known as phase one listening tours, occurred in all eight attendance zones. After hearing from all eight communities, the school board drafted a plan deciding how bond issue money would be spent. On October 24th the school board returned to McLaurin with the phase II listening tour, in which they explained the “McLaurin Zone

As with most fire departments, medical emergencies account for the majority of the call volume for the District. However, a full complement of services including fire, medical, technical rescue, wildland suppression, hazardous material, fire inspection, fire investigation, code enforcement, public education, CPR classes, and various public services are offered by the District ("GRFD," 2015).

As the community’s new CFO it is my responsibility to ensure fiscal responsibility, budgetary balance, and to address the ever on growing financial challenges of a steadily developing community. The current five-year forecast anticipates an annual revenue increase of 2% counterbalanced with an additional 4% cost increase to operate. This leaves the community with a projected 2% deficit in the overall budget moving forward. Compounded to this issue is the ever developing need for capital improvements throughout the community that have yet received funding or have been budgeted. This is not a sustainable model and requires an enhanced financial strategy to offset overhead costs while still providing the opportunity for economic growth within the community. Below is a four phase financial policy that consists of several stratagems that will help positively affect the community financially, economically, and socially. This plan includes shrinking inefficiencies in expenditure budgets, increasing the revenue stream to supplement the cash reserve funds, and the implementation of alternative revenue streams to supplement capital improvement projects over the next 10 years. Finally, by using these three initiatives as a foundation to build fiscal responsibility and increase purchasing power, it is necessary to continually strive toward strengthening in the recognized bond rating of the community. By combining all four initiatives, the community can maximize its growth

The 2016-2017 school year has been one with mixed emotions. Public education has been faced with its biggest challenges and most tumultuous times. It is by God’s grace as an educational leader that we have been able to stay true to ourselves and remain on course in fulfilling our vision to better serve and meet the needs of our most important asset, the students in our respective district.

What is the school’s mission statement and belief statement as it applies to the plan?

I have just begun my last year at Central Middle School in Quincy, and am getting sentimental about how privileged I am to live in a city that has provided me with choices and opportunities for enrichment throughout my public school years. Quincy has eleven elementary schools, five middle schools and two public high schools, all of which benefit from community/public school partnerships. Each Quincy public school shares a common goal to prepare its students for future success. Quincy’s teachers want the students in their classrooms to be successful in ways that go beyond standardized measurements: graduation rates, grades, tests, and MCAS scores. They know that success means different things to different people and sometimes need to partner with businesses and people in the community to expand what they can offer us, beyond the bell, that will enrich our learning experiences and interests.

EDL 663 allowed me to gather information and take a closer look at the School Improvement Plan and the process of develop and follow through of the plans and action steps. I was able to view the culture of our school, as well as, identified areas of need based on data collected through the SIP. This course also gave me the opportunity to foster the development of faculty vision and review the school’s vision. I was given an opportunity to be a leader in the SIP process that enabled me to encourage our faculty to revisit our instructional strategies and work with different team leaders in deciding which staff development opportunities would directly impact the teaching and learning at our school. I feel that this course is a great way to

This paper examines the ways in which a single school within the Miami-Dade School District as a way of explicating the budgeting process, a process that has both formal and informal aspects to it and depends as much on personal power and influence as it does on official regulation. Such an examination is important for several reasons, the most significant of which is that everything that affects the quality of education must be open to strict scrutiny. Such scrutiny is especially important given the perilous state of school financing (as well as other public financing) during the current recession.