Week 5 Part 3 - Final Reflection

As I look back on this class, it is abundantly clear that growth has been a huge part of the journey.  I will openly admit that the struggle to locate and sometimes understand this information has made a lasting impression.  Not that any other class so far was easy or not a struggle, but for me it is that struggle that solidifies knowledge.  Also the application has been tremendous.  I find myself regularly asking myself, “How would I handle this as a superintendent?”

Notable mentions for the past five weeks include exposure to the template.  It is so complicated and yet so influential in budget planning.  Another includes the group papers.  I loved these assignments.  Our group brought several different perspectives and their insight on economy of scale, WADA, and tax rates was very helpful.  Economy of scale actually came to the forefront of conversation in my district in regards to a Coop for Technology support, Maintenance, and Transportation.  Due to the central location of our school district and that within 30 miles in all four of the major directions there are smaller districts, we could actually save everyone some budget dollars with this concept.  A great idea, and a conversation I never would have initiated without my group and their commitment to good academic work.

Lastly, the first lecture’s description on the history of school finance was enlightening in regards to the Target Revenue from 2005-06.  This symptom of legislation has greatly impacted school districts across the state, and the results are not the original intent of the law.  Not to mention the law also created an incredibly detrimental funding situation, one that currently is being discussed in three separate lawsuits against the State of Texas.  Our superintendent told me that history shows that one of the suits will make it as priority and nearly 700 school districts in Texas will join.  Then the results of the suit will not come to local districts for anywhere from 3-5 years.  That is an incredibly long time, but the good news is that districts at least will have a legal voice in a suit against a very inequitable situation.

What a great class.

Week 5 Part 1 - Code of Ethics for School Leaders

Examples, from around Texas, of a violation of

TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 -1.2 The educator shall not knowingly misappropriate, divert, or use monies, personnel, property, or equipment committed to his or her charge for personal gain or advantage.

Short Range Consequence – leave pending investigation, possible termination based on evidence.

Long Range Consequence – Cash handling procedures revamped. Accountability in administration’s hands rather than employee.  Limit the amount of cash on hand at any campus by requiring daily deposit to Central Admin Office.

TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 -1.7 The educator shall comply with state regulations, written local school board policies, and other state and federal laws.

Short Range Consequence – leave pending investigation, possible termination based on evidence.

Long Range Consequence – Revisit storage of technology.  Revisit keys and access to technology rooms.  Address procedures for each device, where, when and how they are distributed.  Consider GPS tracking for mobile devices.

TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 -1.10 The educator shall be of good moral character and be worthy to instruct or supervise the youth of this state.

Short Range Consequence – leave pending investigation, possible termination based on evidence.

Long Range Consequence – Staff training on behavior with students.  Discuss staffing concerns with coaches being opposite sex of athletes.  Limit one on one situations between staff and students of opposite gender.

TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 -2.2. The educator shall not harm others by knowingly making false statements about a colleague or the school system.

Short Range – Investigation, formal reprimand, discipline action, possible termination.

Long Range – Policy review, Training in proper behavior, Modify or create employee handbook include ethical issues.

TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 -2.4. The educator shall not interfere with a colleague's exercise of political, professional, or citizenship rights and responsibilities.

Short Range – Investigation, formal reprimand, discipline action, possible termination.

Long Range – Policy review, Training in proper behavior, Modify or create employee handbook include ethical issues.

In reflection, as ethical issue arise in a school district the question immediately comes to the forefront, “How could they let this happen?”  I actually think the greater question is what do we do now to ensure we do everything in our power for it not to be repeated.  Mistakes happen, sometimes even bad stuff happens without negligence and without the intent of administration.  Sometimes we just miss something that we should have caught.  But in my mind, with attention to detail comes reward.  We can ask good hard questions up front, and play the role of preventive administrator rather than the role of firefighter.  We should not be putting our fires all day long.  I think you get this with conversation, trust and a vehicle to address issues when they arise.

Ethical behavior is normal, or at least it should be.  I hope that as a leader in a school environment this is a top priority in hiring.  We are currently in a superintendent search and in the process the admin was asked what characteristics we were looking for in the next super of Childress ISD.  I actually offered something found in this assignment.  I believe good ethical behavior is part of a persons character, and cannot be separated from the work environment.  You either are ethical or nor not.  People make mistakes, we are human, but it is how we handle those mistakes where our character is shown.

 

Week 4 Part 5 Interview with Business Manager

Our external auditor has been serving our district for over 15 years.  There is no one in our office that was around when they were selected, and since they have done such a spectacular job over the last 15 years the district has had no reason to pursue a change. Also a change would require a search and possibly be a costly event for the district.  In bigger school districts, they perform a RFP search annually to find an external auditor, this is cost effective for them, buy not for small districts.  Our auditors follow the GAAS standards, Generally Accepted Accounting Standards. Our business manager did not elaborate on this, but from what I understand this is very normal. When I asked about the audit findings, our BM replied with, “A bunch of stuff.”  I glanced at our audit report for the past year and discovered a bunch of numbers that did not make real clear sense for me.  I did however have a conversation with our BM about the two major reports.  She explained that one of those reports looks at the district as if we were a corporation, and that is not very useful for us.  It includes things like depreciation and we do not benefit from that as a school district. This report is only included because of those GAAS standards.  The other major report is very useful due to the big picture nature of the information, the bottom line expenditures and fund balance numbers.  Our audit report is publically presented at a school board meeting in the fall annually.

Week 4 Part 4

I took advantage of our Business Manager’s time with this part.  When I asked her about our district's total personnel salaries as a percentage of the total district budget, she responded with some percentages lower than some other districts in our group. Our personnel salaries totals 75% of our Operating and 72% of all funds.  When I asked her about the impact of a 5% salary increase for all personnel, her response was rather predictable. A 5% increase on all salaries would not break our district and would in fact be a huge morale boost.  The huge question would be where do we cut in order to make this happen.  Our district will receive about a half a million dollars less in revenue from the state in 11-12, and has cut budgets tremendously to minimize the impact of that loss in revenue.  So to implement a 5% raise would have to eliminate expenditures somewhere else.  So although possible it would cause some other program to suffer.