Roles and Responsibility Of Superintendent In Budget Process

Roles and Responsibilities Of The Superintendent In The Budget Process

    After interviewing Mr. Dansby, I realized that the role of the Superintendent involves a lot more political knowledge and business management than education and instruction knowledge.  During our conversation, we discussed how some districts have actually tried to use business executives to run school districts. Overall, these business professionals have not been successful because the nature of a school district is vastly different than most business models.  This past summer Mr. Dansby was in Austin a few times during the legislative session. This was important because he was able to report to the School board and help guide them in their decisions about utilization of resources and possible changes to revenue sources throughout the district. 

    The responsibility of the Superintendent in some districts is the budget officer of the district.  Being that FWISD is a large district, there are other resources and other people that the Superintendent can depend upon to help.  In smaller districts, the Superintendent needs to be knowledgeable about not only the allocation of resources, but also the pending legislative decisions that could impact the district.  Since TEA is constantly amending their processes, Mr. Dansby recommends that a Superintendent should keep their own summary of finance that changes as predictions and actual patterns change.  I believe that the TEA template is a great guide.  Mr. Dansby feels sometimes as if the budget is never done.  It is an ongoing process.  The conversations about budget do not ever stop and are a topic on every agenda from central office, principal meeting, SBDM team meetings, and certainly the Board meetings.  The budget process begins in March and does not stop until the budget is approved the end of June.  Even then, the discussions continue as the CAFR is released and audits commence in June and July.  After I heard this, I think one of the first things a new Superintendent should do is look at the CAFR as one of the first assignments/tasks on the job. 

     All stakeholders need to feel and be part of the budget process.  In smaller districts, that input looks vastly different than it does in larger districts.  Regardless of the size, communication and transparency is key.  A Superintendent is rarely fired for academic issues.  Most times the issues revolve around budget concerns.  The communication with the Board and strong confidence in the CFO are critical to success.  The budget process typically involves revenue sources and expenditures and the teacher organizations do not really get involved in the budget process.  I believe a Superintendent should keep communication lines open with the teacher groups, but they do not have direct input to the budget issues.  Their issues are about staffing and personnel.  The Superintendent needs to communicate with the Board and make sure the spending and resources align with Board goals and the campus principals and district office administrators need to make sure their goals and campus plans align with the district plan.  This includes allocations of resources.  I believe that this is another reason why the Superintendent needs to make sure the Board has the opportunity to review the campus plans with transparency and openness.  Everyone needs to be on the same page.