Michael Kennedy

Budget Paper
11/9/2013
The role administrators play when working with the budget can vary greatly between different
positions throughout a school district. However, the responsibility necessary to operate a successful
budget is held by everyone. In a large school district, such as Dubuque CSD where I am currently
employed, there are many areas from which the district receives its funds. As of last year, the districts
total revenue was approximately $117.2 million. Deciding how that money is to be disbursed is left in the
hands of administrators at the central office. These decisions are also conferred with and overseen by the
School Budget Review Committee.
In speaking with individuals at the districts central office, most budgeting is fairly standard and
predictable. It can be easily predicted what the costs of teacher salaries and benefits, materials, and food
programs will be. Data from past fiscal years can be used to predict these costs. However, building
operating costs can often be difficult to predict, due to the District having multiple buildings that are older
and require a higher degree of maintenance. Because of this, the District designates a certain portion of
their budget as a contingency to deal with any issues that may arise.
Another area that the District has included contingency funds has to do with the strategic plan
that has been recently introduced. Throughout the past two years, the district has invested a large amount
of money in 21st century learning, which has included the upgrades and additions of many pieces of new
technology into classrooms. In past years, the District had given individual schools money to spend on
technology as they saw necessary. Now, the central office controls this money and has it budgeted
specifically for this project. Because this is an ongoing process, staff is continuing to evaluate the
effectiveness of the technology, and asking for supplemental tools to assist the effectiveness of this
initiative. This process is dynamic and evolving, so there must be extra monies available to tap into for
supplemental technology pieces. All of these funds are available from the same funding pool.

In the Dubuque CSD, it is the responsibility of building Principals to manage and balance the
budget of their buildings. Although building Principals have a smaller budget to deal with, the level of
responsibility is similar to that dealt with at the central office. My building Principal has three separate
budgets to work with. The first of these is the budget that is handed down to him from the central office.
Our building is given an allotment of funds to be used throughout the school year, specifically for
academic purposes. This money can go towards hiring support staff, buying educational tools, gas money
for field trips, etc. At the end of the year, the budget must balance, otherwise and negative funds are
carried over and deducted from the next years budget. Another fund that our buildings Principal must
oversee is our school event fund. This money comes from fundraising and is used for student activities.
Finally, we also have a hospitality budget, put together by the culture & climate committee, which is used
to purchase staff member gifts for birthdays, bereavement, etc. The biggest responsibilities for overseeing
these budgets is to make sure that purchases are deducted and coded for the correct fund, and that the
budgets balance at the end of the year. Ultimately, Principals in the District approve all budget
expenditures, but must be able to validate all expenditures with the finance department at the end of each
school year.
In looking at the different responsibilities associated with budgets, Ive come to realize that the
most important factors to balancing a successful budget are similar to having a personal budget. Simply,
make sure you do not spend more than you have, make sure you use the correct funds when purchasing
items, and be sure to leave extra money on hand for future unforeseeable costs. For me, I think that the
first budget that I work with as an administrator will be managed very conservatively. After the first year,
I would have a better feel for how quickly funds should be spent, as well as what expenditures can be
afforded and which cannot.