The Strengths Of District Assessment

When you get to the issue of budgets there is really two parts to them. The general budget which is what the school district per say pays towards coaches salaries, transportation, and event workers. Coaches salaries are normally $120,000, transportation would be $50,000, and event workers can be around $5,000 - $10,000. Then the other part of the budget is the sports income, which is money from booster clubs, participation from other schools, and admissions, and it comes to roughly $120,000. Which goes out to uniforms, the athletic trainer, equipment and our participation at other school events. (Ross)

Property tax is the “most common,” “most dependable and stable income base,” for schools. Property tax can be a complicated process and there are difficulties for taxpayers because assessments can be overvalued or undervalued. A property may be worth less and yet the property tax may be higher than the assessed value of that property. This over and under valuing can be frustrating to a taxpayer that lives in a home that they can’t sell for the million dollars that their home’s property tax is assessed at and yet they are paying property taxes for a million dollar home. I would think that in areas where there is less property to be taxed, there would be less income coming in to those school districts, making it less equitable. It could be vastly different from one area to another.

The Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) is one of those districts that have seen fallen property values in Marin, dysfunctional, and fiscal chaos in Sacramento. As a result of the severe economic downturn and the devastating cuts to education from the state of California, the TUHSD needs to reduce operating cost by 20% within five years to have a balanced budget for the 2014-2015 school year. THUSD annual budget is $55 million dollars. Operations is half that, or $27.5 million. The cost reduction goal is 20% within the operating budget lower than that provided in 2009-2010, which equates to a $5.5 million dollar reduction to balance the budget for 2014-2015 school year. The following recommendations

Another factor that I would use to help guide the budget decisions is by determining if the district has enough staff to meet the

Correctly name three pieces of legislation which inform work in the field of safeguarding children. 3marks

I feel my mathematics background has allowed me to understand the complexities in Fluvanna’s budget. I believe my knowledge of the specific numbers from the state and locality give me a distinct advantage in Fluvanna. I have personally witnessed and worked through difficulties within our school system’s budget while serving as assistant superintendent. All the while, I kept the children’s and staff’s success on the forefront of my heart to guide my decisions each day. I think my firsthand, in-depth, and detailed awareness of Fluvanna’s finances makes me a true candidate for the

Prior to 1975, no federal requirements existed for students with disabilities to attend school, or requirements for schools to attempt to teach students with disabilities (Salvia, Yesseldyke, & Bolt, p. 25, 2013). However, upon the enactment of several federal laws, such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB), students with disabilities received access to free, appropriate public education which in turn required students with disabilities to participate in statewide assessments. According to Public Law 94-142 (now included in IDEA), it requires an individual education program (IEP) for students with disabilities. The IEP contains items such as present levels of

The state’s tax system is in part used to add taxes to almost everything you buy, which ultimately helps support the public school systems in the state. Alabama is currently ranked 48th in per-student funding. Strangely, it also ranks in the top in the percentage of educational funds that come from inside the state. Even though the state has such a large amount of funds coming from inside state lines to help the schools, it’s not helping. This is where the state’s tax system comes into play. The property tax system is greatly under funded, which is causing the state revenue to provide insufficient funds to help provide a proper school system in lower income areas. For example, in some rural areas in Alabama, local contribution to the school can range from $302 per student to as high as $5,175 per student in the wealthier suburban areas like

Central Office leadership, when constructing a budget, must consider all aspects of the educational process including the effects of management of support services such as facilities, transportation, and food service. Local school districts are allowed to request bonds passed by the voters of the school district zone for specific projects or general projects. The bond proposals can come in through many different avenues such as capital outlay, sinking fund, operating millage are all ways in which this can be done, each having different purposes and ways in which funding can be used. A district must understand the vital impact for effective long-term planning for facility management and transportation. If the district is not effective in

I am also concerned by a lack of multiple stakeholders in the process. From my understanding, teacher, parents, and even deans at the school have minimal if any involvement in creating the budget. If I were principal, I feel that I would prefer some teachers, parents, and deans to be involved in order to more truly represent the school and its needs. Teachers and deans can easily be involved as there is a leadership committee at WCA comprising of four teachers, all deans, and the principal. This committee could be included in the process of reviewing or creating

In high school, decisions are made for students with disabilities. The school is responsible for providing students with a disability a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). In providing FAPE, the school district must ensure that the appropriate and allowable accommodations and modifications are in place to promote academic success. The school must complete the necessary assessments as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) within the required timeframe. Assessments such as developmental assessments, screening tests, individual intelligence tests, individual academic achievement tests; adaptive behavior scales, behavior rating scales, curriculum-based assessments and alternate assessments are all considered appropriate assessments for determining eligibility or educational needs for students with disabilities. At this stage, the parent or legal guardian has the autonomy to make decisions for the student. A parent’s rights and protections are written in the procedural safeguards. The procedural safeguard not only protects the rights of children with disability and their parents but it also provides information that assists in any

Reliable forecasts of revenue are a vital part of the organization’s planning process and are an input into the operating budget. Forecasts of revenue will cover varying time periods and serve different purposes (Baker, 2013). A 5-year forecast is typically used for executive decision making regarding the organization’s future, while a short-range forecast is typically for a single year and is helpful in determining trend and annual changes to the operational budget. For the purpose of this assignment, my method of revenue forecasting was based on utilization as well as trend analysis. This will allow me to calculate some of the factors to determine the unknowns in my budget, using the past trends in other areas.

The research around student choice in selecting their courses and teachers, will allow the school district to build upon the relationships already established. When students are placed into their preferred teachers class, it will reduce the discipline, improve attendance, decrease the loss of instructional time, and improve the climate and culture within the school. If the proposed plan from the previous chapter is implemented, the school district will be able to improve the classroom experiences for each student. Implementation of this plan, along with the data currently provided, would directly impact the students and the teachers.

I think the article gives a good constructive way to budget. Considering that I’m interested in the educational field and being involved in the community, the article is informative with letting me know how to organize an educational setting using a model. Also, the article talks about how the different situations can calculate on what brings in revenue. For example, as said by Redlinger and Valcik (1983), “Coupled with other measures (including teaching evaluations, class dropout rates, and measures of student learning), our return on involvement (ROI) model creates a more robust means for continued and future allocation of campus resources and establishes the basis for performance evaluation publicly available to all those concerned” (pg. 1). Small schools are prone to having more pressure on them for funding.

This paper serves as an overview and reflection of the community assessment assignment process for the Chinatown presentation team with the community issue of gentrification. There will be an analysis of the team’s performance in regards to strengths and opportunities for growth as well as an outlining how roles and responsibilities were formed including collaboration and communication. Further, since our group presented last, there is an inclusion of the positive aspects of our colleague’s presentations and some suggestions for revision if we were to present again. Additionally, there is personal analysis of my role within the team, areas of personal opportunity for growth, and my role within our group. The end of the reflection paper provides an opportunity for potential application of skills in future social work practice and how I will use the principles of community assessment in future practice. Overall, the process of collaborating with colleagues and the intricacies of assessing a community have prepared me for micro and macro level social work practice in communities of any size.