TEA budget guideline reflection

One of the first thing that stands out in my mind after reading through the TEA guideline is the fact that the budgeting process is comprised of three separate phases: 1) planning, 2) preparation, and 3) evaluation. The critical components of these three phases are listed respectively:

1. -defining both district and campus goals and the development of programming that helps attain those goals.
2. The allocation of budgetary resources to these programs is the actual preparation phase.
3. In the evaluation phase we typically determine whether the resources used were successful in creating the effect we sought.

I was unfamiliar with the different types of budgets in use throughout Texas school districts. I guess I assumed because it was so heavily tied into state regulations that the state of Texas has a very specific “fill in the blank” format to use. I had no idea there were that many budgeting approaches in use. Our district predominantly uses the site-based budgeting concept. A great deal of control is given to campus administrators as far as budget development and resource allocation is concerned.

In reference to my aforementioned assumption, I also learned specifically what state guidelines are outlined concerning the school budget. The following concepts are outlined in TEC concerning school budgets:

1. The superintendent is the budget officer for the district.
2. There are specific dates that the budget must be both prepared and adopted by.
3. The budget must be adopted in a public board meeting.
4. A summary of the budget must be posted on the district website (or central office if no website is available).
5. No funds may be expended other than provided for in the budget. Amendments are possible by the board.
6. The budget must be prepared under state guidelines and generally accepted accounting principles.
7. The budget generally must be adopted prior to adopting the tax rate.
8. If a tax rate is adopted prior to budget adoption, there must be a published open meeting to discuss the rate.
9. The adopted budget must be posted on the school website where it must remain linked until the third anniversary of its adoption date.

There are additional requirements but the above form the basis for state regulation of the budget process.

I could pretty much utilize ANY information that would guide me in budget development as I have never had control over anything other than function 36. Some of the things I learned were that although there definitely is state regulation and guideline, there still remains a large amount of local control over the process.

Secondly, exposure to the different budgeting approaches will better enable me to ultimately come up with an approach I feel comfortable with. With that being said, I love empowering people. I believe the site-based approach is the style for me.