Finance: Superintendent Interview/Stakeholder Groups

I was able to interview Seymour Community School Corporation Superintendent, Robert Hooker about his role in the budgeting process.  He summarized his role in the budget process by saying, “It is my job to predict and project approximate revenue and expenditures for our Board of School Trustees and to pray a lot.  No, really, pray a lot.”  He has been a superintendent in several different districts.  In his opinion, keeping the board informed has been a crucial piece in developing a viable budget.  I shared a bit about the goal driven budgeting concepts I had been learning about through my work with Lamar University.   He was intrigued by the concepts.  He explained that in Indiana, whatever our goals may be, expenditures are in people.  The majority of our budget pays salaries.  Indiana schools generate funds on a per pupil basis.  There are two count days one in the fall and one in the spring.  Funding is determined based on these counts.  Additional funding is generated through a December 1 Special Education count of students with Individual Education Plans (IEP).  I asked if local taxes or property taxes play a role in school funding.  Mr. Hooker shared that local taxes play a role in Debt Service, Capital Projects, and Transportation funding.  These are federal dollars.  Mr. Hooker talked a bit about planning and being prepared for unforeseen events.  For example, in Indiana, funding is received in our district through twelve payments.  Recently, notification was made to schools that one or more of these payments would be delayed.  Schools need to be prepared to make payroll during such an unexpected turn of events.  The school board, in this case, made preparations to apply for some short term loans in the event payrolls could not be funded.  Fortunately, this measure was not needed but a Plan B was needed.  To summarize his thoughts on budgeting, Mr. Hooker cited the importance of keeping the board informed and providing a structure to sequence events for the board.   He said the budget is always about determining what the board has control over.

The second part of the assignment this week was to find out what type of input could be gathered from the following stakeholders:

1.       Central Office Administrators and Staff:  These employees can provide information to inform the budget by reporting information and needs from each person’s job responsibility.  For example, the Director of Technology can communicate technology needs for the district.  Many of these needs are funded through capital projects.  If there are expenses that would fall outside this funding source, this information would need to be communicated.  The Director of Federal Programs would share information about grant money being utilized in the district.  These additional funding sources have impact on the budget planning process.

2.      Principals:  These employees can provide information to inform the budget by communicating instructional needs in addition to physical plant needs.  For example, our district is currently in dire need of additional space for students.  We are growing at such a rapid rate that we have placed a couple of portable classrooms to give the board time to begin planning to accommodate the growing populations.

3.      Site-based Decision Making Committees:   These types of committees do not exist in our district

4.      District Improvement Committee:  This committee can provide information to inform the budget regarding goals and plans within each individual school in the district.

5.      Teacher Organizations:  This organization can provide information to inform the budget in regard to expectations for staff salaries and benefits.

6.      Key Stakeholders:  These individuals can provide information to inform the budget on specific needs.  Each superintendent would identify key individuals throughout the community from which to gather input.  For example, a key stakeholder in our community is The Community Foundation.  This organization funds many initiatives in our community.   Our school district has be a partner in several of these endeavors.  In a recent example, Seymour Community Schools partnered with the Community Foundation of Jackson County to build a facility.  This facility houses our district alternative program in addition to local college classes.  This has been a very successful venture.  It has addressed space issues, program needs, and student goals in a cost effective manner through shared costs.  Gathering input from such stakeholders can help us budget and plan effectively to meet future needs.

7.      Board of School Trustees:  The board can provide information to inform the budget by establishing goals for the district and by sharing needs as communicated by the constituents in each of the districts they represent in our community.

My reaction to this interview and these statements:

Thinking about all of the stakeholders in our community, I can’t believe seeking their input does not play a bigger role in the Indiana process.  The information that each group can provide to inform budget decisions, I would think, would be critical.  As far as I know, we are not prohibited from presenting the budget to these stakeholder groups.  I think it would be a good practice to adopt, required or not. 

For example, in my current position of Director of Curriculum and Instruction, I could provide information to inform the budget on current instructional initiatives and needs. 

The fact that Indiana does not require site-based decision makings, should not prevent us from utilizing best practice.  Collaboration and input, is key to the successful adoption of the budget.

The teachers association has strong ideas and suggestions for our district.  These are usually shared at corporation level discussion meetings.  The association could provide insight early in the process regarding expectations for salary and/or benefit increases.  Our association may be so aggressive because they have never been given a voice in the process.  They are not brought in until the end.  It really is a change in practice that I think is worth investigating.

Finally, my reaction to including key stakeholders is the same.  Establishing lines of communication can only enhance the number of opportunities a district has to establish partnerships.  These partnerships can benefit both parties freeing funds to be used to support and expand current programs and offerings.