1.Question: With the budget like it is in today’s world, how are principals supposed to operate a school?
Concern: Not enough money to run the school in today’s low budget economy.
2.Question: How is one supposed to become comfortable with managing data?
Concern: Managing data might be hard for one who has not ever managed it before.
How can a principal run a school on a low budget? It's not easy but it must be done! The total dollar amount for M & O (Maintenance and operations) will be defined by central office administration for each campus. This is the money you will have to operate the campus for the year. Different districts have different line items that are assigned to the campus budget. You will probably never have to budget for personnel, benefits, or utilities. You will probably need to cover instructional supplies; professional development; supplies for nurse, counselors, other offices; student clubs and travel, among other things. If your budget is cut a certain percentage, say 10%, then look at each line and consider cutting it 10%. I strongly recommend a school budget committee selected from the SBDM Committee to give input to the process. The faculty need to know that budgeting is not arbitrary, and they need to have a sense that they helped advise the principal in the decisions. After the decisions are made, the second part is to track expenditures carefully so there are no overruns.
ReplyDeleteHow is one supposed to become comfortable managing data? By managing data! No one is born knowing how to do this, and no new administrator knows how to manage data as well as a veteran administrator. There are so many ways to "manage data"; I suppose we are talking about looking at the data and making decisions based on what you see. AEIS data is pretty clear cut: if the 3rd grade African American students are scoring low in math, then put more resources there. If the drop out rate is up, then focus there. If the attendance list shows the same teacher is missing a lot of school, talk to them and figure out a fix. If the budget is low in one line, either slow down spending there or transfer money from somewhere else. Managing data really isn't any more than keeping an eye on it and making data driven decisions. There will always be someone at central office to help you.
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