Review of TEA Budgeting Guidelines

Moving from teacher to assistant principal to principal, one learns many new things and has a broader perspective of the district and how it functions with each move. However, the one area I felt least experienced with even through each of these moves was preparation of the campus budget and understanding the district budget.  In talking with my colleagues, they reported having the same experience.  Therefore, the first thing I discovered while reviewing the TEA Budgeting Guidelines was simply that they exist.  I think a course like School Finance should be required as part of the Principal Certification course work as I know principals would feel much more confident beginning in their roles with this information. Currently, my district uses a fiscal year that ends on June 31st.  However, this has made it difficult to project the costs for personnel for the upcoming school year because in HRS we are still placing surplus teachers throughout June.  When the Deputy Superintendent for Business does the budget rollover in preparation for the next school year, these surplus teachers are counted twice and personnel costs are inflated.  Therefore, he is urging the district to move to a fiscal year that ends August 31st.  Reviewing section 2.10.2 Change in Fiscal Year has given me more information on how the process to change fiscal years would need to take place and is definitely something I can see myself using within the year. Another area of the TEA Budgeting Guidelines that I plan to review thoroughly is section 2.12 Budgeting for Grant Programs.  I do not understand grant programs as well as I would like to and accounting for personnel that are paid for through grants is something I work with regularly in HRS. This is another area that could help me in my role immediately.