EDLD 5342 Week 4 Assignment

Week Four Assignment, Part 1 – Understanding FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) in School Finance

Directions: Throughout this program, you have been asked to utilize your blogs and your faculty section blog to post your reflections and share your insights and progress. In this activity, you will be asked to post to your blog, your faculty section blog and to your group Wiki and comment on at least one other group’s wiki. Your faculty and Instructional Associate will assign you to a Wiki group for this activity.

Using the lecture/interview, the Glossary in the Resource Section, possible insights from discussing this with an appropriate district leader, and information from links like the one below to FIRST:

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3864

Collaborate with your Wiki group, and write a one – two page group paper that identifies and justifies your group’s opinion regarding the three most important components of FIRST.

After developing your group paper, have your Wiki group do the following:

• post your group opinion paper to your Wiki group,
• post a reflection on the faculty section blog, and
• Comment on at least two other cohort Wiki group submissions. 

Workspace

Write your reflection on Part 1 of your assignment in the box below. The box will expand as you type.

“The purpose of the financial accountability rating system is to ensure that school districts and open-enrollment charter schools will be held accountable for the quality of their financial management practices sand achieve improved performance in the management of their financial resources.  The system is designed to encourage Texas public schools to manage their financial resources better in order to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes.  The system will also disclose the quality of local management and decision-maki8ng processes that impact the allocation of financial resources in Texas public schools.  An evaluation of the long-term effectiveness of the system should disclose a measurable improvement in the quality of Texas public schools’ financial decision-making processes.”  (19 TAC Chapter 109, Subchapter AA, 109.1001. Purpose of Financial Accountability Rating System) The first important component of FIRST is the school district financial management report.  This report gives TEA an overview of how funds are being utilized within the district. The second import component of FIRST is the amount of funds in the general fund account.  Currently districts are required to have 60 days of operating expenses available.  Districts that have this cushion are in better position to be able to handle changes in funding and economic conditions. The third important component of FIRST is the actual accountability rating given to the district.  This rating ranges from Superior Achievement down to Suspended—Data Quality.  This rating is based on standard indicators and gives an overall picture of the district’s financial health.

Week Four Assignment, Part 2 – Comparing Economy of Scale in Large and Small Districts

Directions: Throughout this program, you have been asked to utilize your blogs and your faculty section blog to post your reflections and share your insights and progress. In this activity, you will be asked to post to your blog, your faculty section blog and to your group Wiki and comment on at least one other group’s wiki. Your faculty and Instructional Associate will assign you to a Wiki group for this activity.

Using the lecture/interview from Week Four, the Glossary in the Resource Section, and information from Week Four Snapshot District 1 Example and Week Four Snapshot District 2 Example, have your Wiki group do the following:

Write a one – two page group pager that includes:

• Analysis of data regarding Total Revenue per pupil in each district;
• Analysis of Total Operational Expenditures per pupil in each district;
• Analysis of average teacher salary in each district;
• Your group’s analysis of the contrasts between large and small districts and how economy of scale may address these contrasts

To share your responses, please:

• post your group analysis paper to your Wiki group,
• post a comment about your paper on the faculty section blog, and
• Comment on at least two other cohort Wiki group submissions. 

Workspace

Write your reflection on Part 2 of your assignment in the box below. The box will expand as you type.

As indicated in the lecture an “economy of scale is a concept that indicates that increasing the size of an organization can result in a lower per unit production cost.”  With this in mind we must consider the impact of an economy of scale on school districts and the costs associated with the education of our children.  Obviously the larger the organization, or in this case the district, the more funding they would receive.  This would be realized in a lower operating cost per student.  To further explore this concept let’s look at two district with very different demographics. District 1 is a very small district servicing 830 students with a total staff of 130.  Of the student population, 43% are considered economically disadvantaged; therefore one would make the assumption that the district is relatively lower income with relatively low tax base.  The average teacher salary in district 1 is $39,771.  The total revenue for the district is $8,823,250 which equates to total revenue per student of $10,529.  The total operating expenditures for this district was $7,216,335 which equates to a total operating expenditure per student of $8,611.  Because the total operating expenditures is so great per student it reduces the amount of funds available to dedicate to the improvement of instruction or learning per student.  A total of 54% of the funds are dedicated to instruction. District 2 is a very large district servicing 32,326 students with a total staff of 4,582.  Of the student population, 53.9% are considered economically disadvantaged.  The average teacher salary in district 2 is $50,307.  The total revenue for the district is $329,638,930 which equates to total revenue per student of $10,316.  The total operating expenditures for this district was $284,664,004 which equates to a total operating expenditure per student of $8,908.  A total of 62% of the funds per student are dedicated to instruction. In comparison, district 1 appears to be in a better financial situation per student with total revenue of $10,529 per student.  This is $213 more revenue per student than district 2, however district 2 has a larger student base which spreads the operating cost more and results in a lower total operating cost per student.

Week Four Assignment, Part 3 – Analysis of Differentiated Staffing on a campus of your choice

Directions: In this activity, you will be asked to post to your faculty section blog and to your group Wiki and comment on at least one other group’s wiki. Your faculty and Instructional Associate will assign you to a Wiki group for this activity.

Using the lecture/interview from Week Four, the Glossary in the Resource Section, and data and observations from a campus of your choice, discuss and share your observations, select a campus from your group, and develop a 1 – 2 page group paper describing how differentiated staffing might impact and/or improve the goals of that campus.

To share your responses, please:

• post your group paper to your Wiki group,
• post a comment about your paper on the faculty section blog, and
• Comment on at least two other cohort Wiki group submissions. 

 Workspace

Write your reflection on Part 3 of your assignment in the box below. The box will expand as you type.

According to the week four lecture “differentiated staffing is a concept that proposes specialized use of personnel.”  An example of differentiated staffing within my district in the area of instruction would be the use of instructional aides within the classroom to provided instructional support.  The teacher of record is the master of the content and the instructional aide can offer the specialized delivery (ie.  Oral testing, etc…).  The special education teacher, who is the master of learning styles, can provide content mastery and more specific instruction on a one on one basis.  This concept allows the teacher of record to cover more material within a class period allowing more learning to occur.

Week Four Assignment, Part 4 – Understanding Personnel Salaries in District Budgets

Directions: Throughout this program, you have been asked to utilize your blogs and your faculty section blog to post your reflections and share your insights and progress. In this activity, you will be asked to write an analysis and post to your blog.

Using the lecture/interview, the Glossary in the Resource Section, possible insights from discussing this with an appropriate district leader, and data that includes total personnel salaries in your school district for the current school year, write an opinion in the box below that includes your opinion on the following:

• Your insights and analysis regarding the district’s total personnel salaries as a percentage of the total district budget;
• Your analysis of the positive and negative impact associated with a five percent salary increase for all personnel.

Workspace

Write your opinion analysis of Part 4 of your assignment in the box below. The box will expand as you type.

The total budget (actual revenue) for Hamshire-Fannett is $16,787,052.  The total payroll is $10,692,784 which constitutes  68.29% of the total budget.  An overall 5% increase in personnel salaries would be $534,639.20.  A salary increase is always favored by the faculty and staff however there are pros and cons to increasing salaries.  Some of the positive impacts would be increased staff morale and possibly less turn over.  Also an increased faculty salary could mean that teachers would have additional funds to further their education and in turn improve instruction.  Some of the negative impacts would be an increase in the total operation expenditures per student as a result of increased total salary expenditures.  This in turn would in effect reduce the amount of funds available specifically for instruction.

After you complete the above opinion piece, do the following:

• Post a comment on your opinion on your blog,
• post a comment on Part 4 on the faculty section blog, and
• comment on at least one other student’s comment on their blog. 

Week Four Assignment, Part 5 – Interview with Superintendent and/or Business Manager on Financial Audits

Directions: Throughout this program, you have been asked to utilize your blogs and your faculty section blog to post your reflections and share your insights and progress. In this activity, you will be asked to write a summary and reflection of your interview and post to your blog.

Interview your Superintendent and/or Business Manager about the Annual External Financial Audit of the district’s operations and ask the following:

• how is the external auditor selected?
• how does the auditor conduct the audit?
• what does the audit conclude about district financial procedures and actions?
• how are the results communicated?

Following the interview, write a summary and reflection on your interview below:

Workspace

Write your summary and reflection of Part 5 of your assignment in the box below. The box will expand as you type.

The external auditor for Hamshire-Fannett is West, Davis & Company.  This firm was selected through a bid process and has had extensive experience within the realm of school finance.  The auditor conducts the audit by reviewing financial reports of the district and other documents.  Auditors can request review of any documents pertaining to the audit process and has full access to all district accounting records, supporting documents and financial data.  The external audit revealed that Hamshire-Fannett is in superior financial standing and has done very well at managing the funds appropriated to the district.  No major issues were found to be addressed.  The results of the audit are communicated by report to the district and presentation to the board by the auditing firm. I was very pleased to know that my district is in a very good financial situation and could withstand potential budget cuts or changes in the economy.

After you complete the above opinion piece, do the following:

• Post a comment on your interview on your blog,
• post a comment on Part 5 on the faculty section blog, and
• comment on at least two other student’s comments on Part 5 on their blog.