According to an article written by Trisha Powell Cain, Alabama k-12 schools receive just over twelve thousands dollars per student in 2022-2023 school year. This amount was just barely enough to keep up with inflation. That seems like a lot of money coming into schools, until you account for the amount of money that is spent by schools. Everything from school supplies, teacher salaries, utilities, technology, and administrative cost. That millions of dollars for even the smallest of schools. All that money passing through school means that it is imperative that school administrators be capable of financial management. However, studies have shown, “school heads lack sufficient skills of managing school financial resources to enhance the quality provision of education. (Ephrahem, 2021)” There are a lot of important aspects of financial management that leaders in education need to consider. It is important to make every dollar matter as much as possible to allow the school to function at its most efficient.
First, with an abundance of money coming in and going out of school districts, for many different purposes, It is important that leaders know how to collaborate and delegate responsibilities. The financial decisions in the school should not be left up to just one leader, but school officials should seek the input of staff, parents, and stakeholders to make sure that all needs are being met. Leaders should be getting people involved in the decision making progress at each level. After all, one leader cannot possibly know the needs of the entire school. Our school has a budget committee that makes budget recommendations every year to how curtain funds are going to be spent. This committee consists of administrators, teachers and staff. People rotate on and off of it every year. This morning we had a meeting to amend the recommendations of the budget committee because of some unforeseen reasoning.
Leaders also need to understand the legal aspect of school finances and the ramifications of not meeting legal responsibilities. One example that was mentioned in this unit was the legal requirements to go through the bid process if the expenditure was going to meet the required threshold. I am not familiar with the bid process but as a teacher it seems confusing and at times unfair. After all, the point is that schools can get the best “bang for their buck”. However, many times the winners of the bids seem to provide a less than ideal product or service. Regardless of one's feelings about the bid process it is still the law, and needs to be followed.
Leaders need to know how to keep careful track of the funds that come in and out of the school. Most school districts hire some expertise in this department, but it is still beneficial for leaders to have a little knowledge in record keeping, and technology that is used to keep up with the financial records. In fact, record keeping is one of the biggest areas that leaders are not trained appropriately for. At the end of the day, every decision made in a local school falls on the administrator. It is important that leaders know exactly what is going on.
School leaders need to work on collaboration, record keeping, and the legality of financial management. Every dollar that a school can save is a dollar that can be spent toward the important expenditures in the school setting. After all, we live in a world where so many times teachers have to use their own money to purchase materials for the classroom and have to send a long school supply list hom, hoping that some parent will buy a little extra.
Ephrahem, G., & Bhoke-Africanus, A. (2021). Effectiveness of school heads’ financial management skills in provision of quality education in secondary school. International Journal of Education and Research, 9(3), 20-28.
Crain, T. (2024) Alabama K-12 spending barely keeping pace with inflation. Alabama Daily News. https://aldailynews.com/alabama-k-12-spending-barely-keeping-pace-with-inflation/
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