Final Reflections on Lessons Learned in School Finance

By far, this was the most challenging course to date in the superintendent certification sequence.  This was also the course I was most excited to take because it is the area where I know I need to grow most, especially in the subsections of Competency 8 dealing with working with the board of trustees to establish a district budget and using forecasting to project budgetary and personnel needs effectively.  I have not been disappointed by the course.  I know that I have much more to learn about school finance, but I believe this course has provided me a strong foundation from which to begin.

I have recently moved into central administration from campus administration and have promoted quickly to an executive director position.  While I am so grateful for and excited about this opportunity, I am definitely the new kid on the block, working alongside assistant and deputy superintendents who have been in their roles for 15+ years.  It is imperative that I understand school finance and how it impacts my department.  The concept of differentiated staffing that was introduced in the lectures has been one that has really stuck with me and one that I keep coming back to.  I think it has some possible benefits for my district, and I want to learn more about it to see how it could be applied to increase efficiency in my district.

The assignments that have helped me the most in this course are those which dealt with the funding formulas and the annual audit. I had the opportunity to attend the public hearing for my district’s FIRST report at the same time we were studying it in class so that was incredibly insightful.  Collaborating with my peers through the wiki and blog discussions has also provided me with additional learning opportunities.  I often felt like I had a new perspective or better understanding after reading their posts.  Since many of them work in smaller districts than I do, it has also been interesting to see how those districts confront funding issues differently than we do.