I submitted my previous school budget in the attachments.

Step One

Review the readings and what you created for your School Budgeting Project.

Locate the 3-5 most important budget decisions you wrote about in your latest discussion board.

Access and review the School Budget I have posted in Module Ten in Moodle 

Step Two

For your assignment, consider the following:

Your district has implemented School-Based Budgeting and has provided you with a budget of $10,000,000 to run your high school (see School Budget posted in Moodle).  For the purpose of this assignment, there are three main categories for you to consider – Salaries and Benefits; Purchased Services; and Materials, Supplies, and Equipment.  You will see that each of the three main categories is broken down into more specific expenditures (e.g., salaries and benefits for professional staff, purchased services for professional development of teachers, and the cost to support the Fine Arts Department), but please note that I have just listed several expenditures that you might see.  This is not actually an all-inclusive list, but for our purposes, please treat it as it is all-inclusive.  You should also notice that each of the three main categories is broken down into a percentage of the total budget (83% Salaries and Benefits, 11% Purchased Services, and 6% Materials, Supplies, and Equipment).  Just so you know, these percentages would typically hold true for most school budgets for these particular categories.

When I looked at what you all had posted for your Budget Hold’em for Districts, most of you have a budget impact that would require you to spend more money for the decisions you made.  We will say, on average, the increase in spending is about 3%.  Given that exercise, for the budget you have now been presented with, you will need to find a way to cut $300,000 from your school’s $10,000,000 budget.  The cuts are necessary because your district will not provide you with an extra $300,000.  The $10,000,000 you have to run your school is the same amount the district spent on your school last year. 

As was mentioned in the last discussion board, decisions are value-laden, and as you know, being a principal can be a tough job.

Step Three

For your assignment, do the following:

1. Take the $10,000,000 School Budget you have been presented with.  Know that you must cut that budget by 3% ($300,000) in order to implement the 3-5 most important budget decisions you made when you played Budget Hold’em for Districts.
2. In the discussion board, list the 3-5 most important budget decisions you made when you played Budget Hold’em for Districts.
3. Re-write your budget, cutting $300,000 from it.  The one requirement for your cuts is that you reduce the number of adults working on your campus by at least one person.  Post the new budget in the discussion board forum.
4. In the discussion board, identify in writing where you decided to make the budget cuts.  Additionally, discuss the following:
   • Why did you make each of the cuts you decided to make?
   • Consider stakeholder groups (teachers, students, parents, and board members) and explain what you believe will be the impact on each one as a result of your decisions.
   • Reflect on this process of being in charge of a school’s finances and discuss how making these kinds of decisions will impact you as a principal of a school.