Goal Driven Budget

Week Two Assignment, Part 1 – Defining and describing a goal driven budget.

A Goal Driven Budget is one that is developed to fund the District’s and Board’s goals in regards to the education of all children. As Dr Arterbury stated, “the purpose of a goal driven budget is to assist in the attainment of a shared vision for the school district and each campus.” The budget must be developed with purpose of providing the best instruction for all students in the district. All stakeholders must be involved in the budget process but all decisions made must reflect the District’s and Board’s goals for the district. In developing a budget one must start with the end in mind. It must be taken into account that expenditures are never to exceed revenues. The District must determine how much revenue would be allocated for the school year and monitoring it on a monthly basis is a must. Dr Arterbury stated that two key figures need to be in place while developing the district’s budget. Those are, Certified Taxable Values and Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA). The number of students and the type of students a district has is an important factor in the development of the budget. As Dr. Arterbury states, “The certified Taxable Values determine the amount of money the state needs to send to fund a district. The total funds from local property taxes and the total of state funds pay for the program allocations determined by the district’s WADA.” A Superintendent must involve all stakeholders while preparing the budget for a district. State Law states that the Board has no role in the preparation of the budget. It is important that the Superintendent communicates the budget process with the Board and that the development of the budget reflects the Board’s vision and goals for the district. If the proper communication exists between the Superintendent and Board and the Superintendent and All Stakeholders and the Board monitors the budget process carefully one can assure that effective Goal Driven Budget will be developed.