In March of 2011, Austin Texas made plans to eliminate jobs in the public schools. The reason for the reductions were the same as they have been for the past three years, reduced tax revenue requires budget cuts. As noted in an article in the Statesman, language teachers were among the personnel targeted. But with an increasing student population, the priority of laying off teachers becomes a questionable strategy.
Before going further, a couple definitions are necessary. One is “school administration”; the other is “central administration”. School administration refers to the principal, vice principals, and support staff in the school building. Central administration refers to the superintendants, supervisors, curriculum staff, and human resources staff who are not in school buildings.
Several articles written between 2000 and 2010 consistently show central administrative expenditures of around 67%, an article in the CBS Interactive Business Network are a good example. The next question would be to breakdown the 33% of the budget that is spent out of the classroom and school building.
Technology is one area of the budget. For Montgomery County Maryland, there is a central administration technology plan that is budgeted from 2007 to 2012. This part of the budget concerns computer and online technology for the schools and the administrative systems. This was a top-down plan that was put together by the administration, not a set of plans developed according to the unique needs of each school.
An examination of the Falls Church Virginia Public Schools budget for 2012 shows expenditures for office space and “professional services”. One may wonder why the school system has to rent office space rather than occupy facilities already built for the city and/ or school system.
The point is that the taxpayer might question the priorities of a public school system that “pleads poverty” and cuts teaching positions as a result of lower tax revenues and reduced budget. It would seem that the first priority of a public school system would be to fully fund the building and school staffing requirements of the jurisdiction. The next step would be to fund superintendant and other oversight offices necessary to make the school system operations consistent. If there are still funds available to the jurisdiction, the next area to fund might be human resources, once again to make sure there is a consistent policy in place in regard to certification, insurance and retirement.
The Prince Georges County Maryland Public Schools budget shows expenditures of over one hundred fifty seven million dollars for “administration” and “mid-level administration” expenses in the 2011-2012 school year budget. The detailed budget displays a better breakdown of expenditures, and a great deal of expense to actually develop the display of the budget. There are two separate offices for “Performance Management” and “Business Management”, one may at least question why these departments couldn’t be combined and placed with the county administration to avoid duplication.
In each county and each state with current financial concerns, it might be constructive if the taxpayers and the elected officials work together to develop a system of priorities in regard to budgeting educational services. The first priority of these discussions might be to establish a specific ratio of students to teachers, and of student load for facilities. These ratios should be established as absolute standards and should be the first priority in budgeting. A second tier of priorities would include an agreed set of central administration services that are necessary. A third tier of services could be designated to relieve the administrative load of the schools but could go back to the schools in the event of constrained budgets. This set of agreements between administrations and constituents would be useful in establishing systems to deal with economic downturns and the resulting budget issues.
Donald Marchand - Currently, I am a teacher. I teach Social Studues at a small school in southern Maryland. But I think I've been a lot more in my life. ...
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