Financial Management for Schools

Catalog description

Financial management concepts and techniques for educators: district and school level budgeting process, hands-on budget preparation workshop, and budget management. EDLDR 579 Financial Management for Schools (3) Public schools are funded almost exclusively from revenues received from local, state, and federal taxes-public funds-and school administrators are accountable for the proper usage and stewardship of these funds. This course examines the fiscal management concepts and techniques needed by educational leaders in order to plan, control, and evaluate their operations effectively. The primary means for managing the fiscal resources of the district is through the annual budget. Administrators and other educators use the budgeting process to plan educational programs for the upcoming year, to allocate the available funds among competing programs, and to control expenditures in order not to exceed allowable limits. The primary purpose of the course is to acquaint students with the central importance of budgeting in management of schools and districts and to show how mastery of budgeting will make them more effective educational leaders. Procedures for identifying the necessary budgetary activities, as well as constraints, are discussed to provide a management context for the process. Emphasis is placed on the critical, and often neglected, step of formulating expenditure and revenue estimates to teach students how budget numbers are created. Budget modification and analysis techniques are reviewed to provide skills for changing and explaining budget amounts. Monitoring procedures that prevent overexpenditure of budgeted funds are also discussed.