Goal Driven Budget

A goal driven budget is a budget that is carefully decided based on many stakeholders and initiatives for the school district.  A goal driven budget is an alignment of the Board of Trustee goals with the district improvement and campus improvement plans so that the end product is successful implementation of the district goals.  Dr. Arterbury describes the purpose of a goal driven budget as assisting in the attainment of a shared vision for the school district and every campus.  He also states, “Every district and campus has a goal driven budget in the sense that effectively teaching math is a common goal and we expend funds for teachers and materials to address the teaching/learning process for math. However, we would like to encourage you to think about the budgeting process as part of the total planning process of the school district (Arterbury).”  Every school district should create a budget with goals in mind.  The school board, superintendent, district wide campus improvement committee, and many others are stakeholders in such a task.  As both the district and campus level improvement plans are made, they should reflect the goals and mission of the school board.  Dr. Arterbury explains, “The district and campus goals should reflect the Board goals and the budgeting process should reflect a commitment to expending funds to achieve those goals. That would result in a goal driven budget (Arterbury).”

A goal driven budget not only requires many stakeholders, but it also requires efficient communication.  The superintendent is the leader of the budget planning process with the school board members, as well as with the campus principals. 

In the HISD district improvement plan, the budget does not seem to correlate with the goals with ease.  For example, in the goals regarding hiring and retaining highly qualified staff, the only mention of the budget or finances is in the description as how a purchase order will be the documentation for the payment of the walk through software that each campus principal uses for teacher observation data.  One goal of the district improvement plan is to keep the budget balanced in light of the reduced funding by the state of Texas.  This section simply takes on the task of allotting monies that are available in a frugal and meaningful manner.  However, there is no specific goal or vision for these funds.

 

Reference

Arterbury, Elvis. "Week Two Video Lecture." EDLD 5342 School Finance. Lamar University. Beaumont. 04 Sep 2012. Lecture.