Financial Planning and Budgeting for Schools

Marshall M. Stewart, Ed.S.

On the local, site-based level, I have experience in budgeting for the coming school year. As assistant principal, I worked closely with the school principal to lay out a plan to finance copier usage, paper purchase, copier contracts, athletic gates/proceeds, fundraising, business partnerships, grants, and expenditures. A former principal tasked me with developing a plan to erase a negative balance of $18,900. Most of this red was due to yearbook issues and a poor process of acquiring and accepting bids for projects; nevertheless, the school erased the deficit and posted a positive balance of $10,00 by the next school year. When I left that district, the school had an operating balance of $25,000 and a total school balance in excess of $100,000 (in all accounts). I describe myself as a fiscal conservative, always looking for the best, most economical means of achieving results while maximizing each dollar. I am a firm believer in base pay for administrators while using all extra personnel moneys for increasing teacher salary or supplements. This is the central means of attracting and retaining the best teachers. I believe that establishing a trust with county commissioners is the single most important factor to insure before ever asking for moneys for school projects. Insuring that each dollar is used exactly for what it is purposed is paramount to asking for additional resources. Data must be specific, continuous, and supportive of all funding requests that are presented to a commission or to entities who provide grants. At a central office level, as district curriculum and instruction specialist, I worked to procure grants for various classroom, grade level, and school projects. In Iredell County, I served on an expansion and construction committee for Lake Norman High School. On the planning books for over a decade, our committee finally worked with the state and county officials to construct this much-needed 1500 seat high school in the Lake Norman area. The completion of this school alleviated overcrowding at South Iredell High School, where 1700 students were attending a school built for 850. Continuous school maintenance and being proactive in addressing capital issues allows for a greater longevity in school facilities. As a result, far fewer capital requests have to be made, and when such is made, understanding and acceptance of the projects is often more palatable to commissioners and tax payers.  M. M. Stewart, 2018