Final Paper: Lower Charter School’s Budget at a Glance

Lower School’s Description

Explore Lower Schools is an educational institution in Brooklyn that provides education services to kids. The school has been in operation since 2002 and has seen many kids from the community undergo basic elementary education. The school is embedded in an institutional program that believes in the ability of students to meet high expectations when the necessary resources and environment are available to them. All the workers, including the school staff and teachers, work towards fostering the much-needed stable environment: Final Paper: Lower Charter School’s Budget at a Glance.

Specifically, the school accommodates students from grades k to 5. As referenced from the school website, the school provides that its common care is aligned to foster rigor and critical thinking among students and equip them with the necessary skills for future college life (Explore Schools, 2024). Further, the school operates a substantially longer learning calendar than the typical one to offer additional instruction to the students.

The school embodies quite a number of activities that students engage in, such as arts, physical education, and music. Essentially, this prepares the students to identify their interests early in their lives and shape their careers accordingly.

The leadership structure of the school features two principals. Currently, Casey Dean is a Co-Principal with Marcus Findlay. The structure features a director of operations resident, special populations coordinator, K-2 academic director, and dean of students. These positions are held by Claudine Beaubrun, Kenya Bushell, Milda Theodule, and Erica Kaylor, respectively. At present, the school has 342 students in various grades.

Many students who have passed should have positive feedback regarding the school. Of interest for this term paper is the budgeting process of the school. The paper reviews the budgeting process of the school in the next sections by reviewing the provided budget, its discussion, resource management, and a personal take on better management of resources. Even though the school operates both lower and upper sections, the budget under discussion is that of the lower section.

Lower School’s Budget Explanation

The budget for Lower School is categorized into various subsections. The first subsection relates to the raising of revenue. Revenue is a crucial component that requires budgeting as it is the main source of resources upon which the school runs. A large part of the revenue relates to the funding that the school receives to support the learning of the kids since the school is not out to make profits.

Based on the school’s budget, a total of $6,052,151 funding is received to support the general education of the students. For students with special needs, $ 471,028 is allocated. The two provide an annual budget of $6,523,179 which is lower than the budgeted figure of $6,979,846.

Based on the budget estimations, the school is unlikely to operate within the budget by the end of one year. However, this can be explained considering that much of the resources are utilized at the start of the year compared to the period when normal operations are running.

The second aspect considered in the budget is compensation made to teachers and other staff. The budget provides for the teachers’ salaries, tutoring expenses, and additional payments that may be made during the budgeted year. The budget is well planned for this aspect to the extent of providing for a teacher who will be hired to fit into the science faculty. Further, this aspect caters to incentives that go a long way to motivate the staff.

For instance, an incentive that provides for the principal leave coverage is envisioned in the budget to offer support for the principal. An annual budget of $ 3,867,655 is budgeted for compensation, which is slightly lower than the school’s forecast. The third aspect considered in the budget is the acquisition of contracted services.

Essentially, these are payments made to services provided by individuals who are out of the school’s payroll. They include academic consultants, substitute services, special education consultants, paraprofessionals, and other contracted services that may be deemed necessary during the fiscal period. Notably, the annual budget for this aspect is $138,500, which is equal to the school’s forecast.

The fourth category of the budget relates to curriculum expenditure. Every educational specialty provided by the school is allocated funding under this aspect. An annual budget of $106,365 is envisioned towards this end, while the school does a forecast of $110,865. Notably, this points to overbudgeting, which means the school may struggle to fund curriculum activities.

Therefore, the school will need to seek extra funding for the efficient running of the school activities. Another category considered in the budget is the services provided to the students outside education, such as uniforms and field trips. The annual budget for this aspect is $56,000, which is lower than the forecasted expenditure of $60,500.

Another category considered in the budget supports the school’s operational activities, such as office supplies. Notably, this category is forecasted to consume $42,500, which is lower than the provided budget and, thus, a budget saving that can be used to fund the overbudgeted categories.

The budget provides for staff development budget as the seventh item in the budget. Notably, this allocation seeks to empower the staff with relevant skills to keep the school up to date regarding developments in the education sector. The section is allocated $63,525 against the annual budget of 60,025, indicating a case of overbudgeting.

The last aspect considered in the budget is business operations, whereby the school anticipates meeting costs related to recruitment. An allocation of $62,000 is made towards this end, which is equal to the school’s forecast.

The budget overview shows that an annual budget of $ 4,345,545 is provided against the school’s forecast of $4,347,545. Notably, this indicates that the budget will be fully utilized to the extent of having a budget deficit of $2,000 to fill. Based on the budget utilization so far, it is likely that these provisions will be realized. The budget has provided for various courses that are Title I compliant, and thus, funding received under Title I can be used for this purpose.

According to Shores & Steinberg (2022), Title I funding should be used to support educational strategies that are evidence-based and effective. The need for this is to close the gas that may potentially negatively affect the success rate of some students within the school. Examples of costs that can be met using this funding include instructional support, schoolwide recruitment for behavior improvement, and after-school programs to ensure students are safe. A lower budget has some of these costs under the staff development category, such as instructional staff development and contracting of special education consultants.

Further, the school has directed part of the funds towards parent engagement and homelessness to include parents in school activities. For instance, part of the budget meets curriculum night snacks for parents. However, the amounts used in these activities are minimal, indicating that the school could do these to comply with legal requirements.

Given an opportunity to allocate resources for the school, more funding could be used to engage parents, as they are crucial stakeholders. Essentially, those facing homelessness could be accommodated in the schoolwork and paid to ensure their kids operate fairly with those of other parents. However, I would maintain most of the budgeting items as they are because the budget is based on historical experience, and altering it significantly could lead to a bigger budget that the school may find difficult to finance.

Discussion of the Lower School’s Budget with the School Principal/Assistant

The lower school budget is well stipulated, and every channel of expenditure is reasonable. However, budget cuts, in my view, would be necessary to eliminate the budget deficit realized in the end. Notably, this could be done by reducing expenditure allocated to less important courses. For instance, the allocation set to meet staff development and administration development can be combined to undertake development under the same umbrella.

Essentially, this could save the school funds and do away with the budget deficit. Additionally, the budget deficit could be reduced by obtaining additional funding. Notably, this is where the aspect of grants offered to the school comes in because they are not factored into the budget.

It could be prudent for the school to include a provision for grants in the budget based on the historical grants it has received. In this interest, there is a need for the principal to offer guidance on how the school utilizes grants, as they are not included in the budget.

Management of Other Resources

Other school resources include fixed assets. The school has maintained a similar forecast for these assets to the annual budget. However, it is important to note that fixed assets are subject to depreciation due to continued use and wear and tear.

Thus, to effectively manage these resources, the school management should seek to incorporate these costs into the budget. Essentially, these would make the budget more realistic and effective in managing all the resources.

Philosophy on Resource Allocation for a School

My philosophy on allocating resources to a school is informed by the need to maintain equity, excellence, and sustainability for the school. Essentially, this is a major lesson acquired during the semester. There is a need to prioritize all students and ensure they have access to high-quality education. They should be presented with equal opportunities and be able to take advantage of the opportunities irrespective of their diverse needs and backgrounds.

Thus, resources should be allocated strategically to foster an inclusive environment that supports social-emotional and academic achievement growth. The funding decisions should be influenced by the need to maximize the impact and prioritize the underserved communities. The philosophy is further informed by the need for a professional staff; thus, opportunities for staff development should be available.

Essentially, running resource allocation by my philosophy, as shaped during the course, entails balancing long-term needs with immediate needs. With this, every student will likely thrive in an ecosystem that helps them reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to society.

References

Explore Schools Explore Lower School (2024). https://exploreschools.org/explore-lower/

Shores, K., & Steinberg, M. P. (2022). Fiscal Federalism and K–12 Education Funding: Policy Lessons from Two Educational Crises. Educational Researcher, 51(8), 551-558. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221125764

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