Who Controls the Money?

Managing a school's vast budget is one of the jobs administrators often find most difficult. Despite this, I've come to realize that few Master's in Leadership programs offer training in budget background, how to juggle conflicting priorities among staff and parents, and which decisions are out of an administrator's control. Fortunately for us, these are just the issues we've been tackling in our School Finance and Operations class this term.

For most teachers, the school district's budget is a mystery. We recognize that there are many things we wish we could have in our classrooms or programs; but generally we expect the pained look on our admin's face when we ask for funds - and are not surprised when none are forthcoming. But is the withholding of funds a random decision by an administrator with thousands (or millions?!) of dollars at their disposal? It certainly feels that way, when you're asking for money for textbooks or new iPads. If that administrator really wanted the best for kids, they would find the money, wouldn't they? Well, as we've been exploring (and which any of us who have to juggle our own personal finances must have suspected), it is never that simple.

Schools receive money based on the number of students who are actually attending the school. This is one of the many things that is calculated in September and has to be submitted to the government by September 30 - a time during which you may notice that every administrator and all clerical staff are frantically muttering about "1701s" - the form on which the information is entered. Along with the general per-student allotment that schools receive, there is additional funding provided for English Language Learners (ELL), Aboriginal students, and some of the Special Education categories (generally health-related designations receive funding; learning-related designations do not). This means that learning support teachers (and all related staff) and ELL teachers are also muttering frantically about 1701s. Everyone needs to ensure that every possible student is accounted for, since those dollars are precious and need to cover so many necessary and valuable programs.

So, how does the Ministry of Education know how much money to budget for passing out to districts in September? Projections are actually calculated in March for the following year, and staffing and per-student funding amounts are decided then. Anyone who has been in a school in September knows that there are almost always huge changes in enrollment from June to September, so these projections are really just best guesses. But that's why so much effort goes into ensuring that every student is accounted for by the end of September!

Something that caught me off guard when examining a budget in detail was the fact that the vast majority of a school's funds goes toward staffing. It makes sense, of course, but somehow I had always thought of the budget simply addressing the things that are needed in the school, not the people. Education is all about people, after all, and without those teachers, education assistants, custodians, secretaries, and administrators, none of the rest of the system would be possible. There's never enough money in the budget, but as long as we are able to fill our schools with the people whose life work it is to help kids succeed, then we're spending our money well.