Goal Driven Budget

EDLD 5342 Week 2- Part 1- Goal Driven Budget

Dr. Arterbury  stated in this week’s lecture that a goal driven budget is a “version of the vision”. To a person like me, who is a bit overwhelmed by the whole topic of budget and finance, that statement makes sense. A goal driven budget is the financial version of the district’s vision.  If we decide that the vision of our family is to become debt free and plan for college for our kids, as well as our own retirement, then our family budget and spending plan better be the financial equivalent of that vision. If not, then we are not putting our money to work to meet our goals….and there will be consequences at some point. A school district has the same responsibility to create a budget that matches their vision and live within it.  Most districts probably say they have a goal driven budget because they have a district plan that spells out their performance goals and then they “find a way” to fund the salaries of employees and programs to meet their performance goals. However, I agree with Dr. Arterbury’s statement that there appears to be a “disconnect between the board goals and district and campus goals”. I have personally seen when “finding a way” means the purchase of huge programs or curriculum with little more than the whim of a director behind them.  My current district, however, aligns the district’s strategic plan with the district improvement plan. The campus plans then are aligned directly to those. Budget considerations are made to fund the goals and activities specifically mentioned in these aligned documents. One example is one of my local projects. I am the chair for the Kindergarten/PreK Roundup for the district. Last year’s committee chose to plan for a district wide and centralized event rather than smaller events at individual campuses. I called a committee meeting this fall to begin planning, our committee chose centralized locations to meet the wishes of the committee and broke into subcommittees that began researching the many needs of this combined effort and are in the process of submitting budget requests. In this instance, even though it is a small initiative compared to some district endeavors, there is an example of strict alignment to the district’s plan and vision, from planning to budgeting to implementation.  A goal driven budget allows you to plan for all the things that are important to a district, one budget line at a time.