Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 7

7. I can list the areas for which I need to budget.

 A simple form, done in a spreadsheet, can be a useful tool for organizing a library budget. No single program's budget will look the same, so this ample form will need to be modified, of course.

Budget form

Item	Relevant data	Rationale/goals to be met/department requesting	Amount requested
Library books and reference material maintenance*	Collection size Replacement % Average cost per title	Maintenance of current collection (See part 8)
Library books and reference materials growth	User requests/program goals	(This may include new units, building goals, commitment to standards, etc.)
Periodicals	Number of titles	Person or department requesting (as attached list)
Online subscriptions and fees (periodical databases, online encyclopedias, online tutorials, etc.)	Specific titles and amount of previous year’s use.
Pre-recorded video	Collection size Replacement % Average cost per title	(This may include new units, building goals, commitment to standards, etc.)
Computer software	Number of terminals Teacher requests	(This may include new units, building goals, commitment to standards, etc.)
Licenses and support costs (for library systems, servers, etc.)	Specific programs requiring support licenses.
Library supplies/computer supplies/blank video and audio tapes/promotional materials		(Be specific as possible. Show allocation per teacher if the library is responsible for providing.)
Library equipment -maintenance	Current amount Replacement % Average cost per replacement	Maintenance of current inventory. (See part 8)
Library equipment - growth	User requests/program goals	(This may include new units, building goals, commitment to standards, etc.)
Classroom equipment -maintenance	Current amount Replacement % Average cost per replacement	Maintenance of current inventory. (See part 8)
Classroom equipment -growth	User requests/program goals	(This may include new units, building goals, commitment to standards, etc.)
Other items specific to my program or school:

*Maintenance budgets are explained in the next section.

Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 6

6. I know a variety of sources for budget dollars and who controls those dollars including:]

•  Federal dollars
• Grant dollars (all grants, not just library-specific grants)
• Principal’s discretionary budget (and what “budget dust” is)
• PTA/PTO spending
• Staff development dollars
• Foundation monies*

Consider your (re)sources
Schools get funding from a variety of sources. The percentage that any one of these sources contributes to a budget can widely vary from state to state, and even from district to district. But nearly all public schools get some funds from:

• A state aid formula is usually a baseline amount paid to all districts on a per pupil basis. It comes directly from the state budget.
• Local revenue, often from property taxes, is often a large percentage of many states’ school budgets. It is this source of revenue which can create large funding disparities among districts.
• Special bond levies are usually passed to fund new buildings or sometimes large investments in technology. These usually require a public referendum.
• Federal funds in the form of block grants, Chapter grants or special grants. These monies are a small percentage of most school budgets, but are critical to specific programs.
• Private dollars from educational foundations*, parent organizations or endowments are becoming increasingly important to districts with lots of community involvement and some wealth.
• Private and government agency grants can be a source of revenue for specific projects which address specific needs. Competition for large grants is becoming increasingly fierce, and good grant writing takes time, experience and talent. Rather than writing library or technology-specific grants, you may be better off collaborating with other grant writers who may need library and technology resources.
• Fundraisers can make small amounts of money for those who wish to hold them. Book fairs, candy sales, and car washes are best sponsored by a “Friends of the School Library” than directly by school personnel.

Budget makers need to exercise caution if they rely too heavily on funding sources from outside the regular school operating budget. If library and technology programs are to be viewed as core to the educational process, then funding for them should be from the regular school budget.

Learn about your district’s budget
How much money does your school operate with each year? Where exactly does that money come from and where does it go? How much Block Grant money is available? What other special levies or grants are around? What is the budget for staff development? Your school’s business manager can help you determine these budgets. They are, by law, public information. Visit with your school board representative and get his or her perspective on finance and the budget.

Take some time to learn how local tax rates are determined. Be prepared to take some time if you seriously want to understand these often Byzantine formulas. Learn the difference between capital funds and general funds. Know what tax abatements are. Take a school finance class at the local university. You will be able to amaze your friends, baffle your enemies, and never have to worry about running out of stimulating conversation.

Like other librarians, I have taken my budget requests to my principal and been told there is no money in the budget. My follow-up questions then asked, “Is there money in the budget for textbooks? for band uniforms? for the office copier? for summer school?” If the answer to any of those questions was yes, then both the principal and I knew that the question was no longer one of “is there money in the budget,” but “how do we chose to spend the money in the budget?” An important difference that opens the door to budgeting for reasons other than tradition.

Learn who controls the budget.
Does the superintendent in your district traditionally distribute funds? The building principal? A hands-on kind of school board? Is the money allocated to buildings on a per pupil basis, and then controlled by a site-based decision making committee? Is there a grant committee? Knowing to whom to submit a budget proposal is critical

Budget dust. A good time to ask for money for a special project or piece of equipment is 30-40 days before the end of the school’s fiscal year. Principals and others may be looking for ways to spend the small balances of their discretionary accounts (budget dust).

* My high school has a foundation which is supported, I believe, primarily by "Hall of Fame" winners. The criteria for my high school was: five years of consecutive employment and no outstanding warrants. The more you give, the higher your picture was placed on the wall and less subject to vandalism.

E-mail rapture - two days in...

The district switched its 1400 e-mail, calendar, contact users from Exchange/Outlook/Entourage to Google Apps for Education last Friday night - the E-mail Rapture. Today is Tuesday. This tech director has not (yet) been tarred and feathered. In fact, I am pleased by how smoothly things have gone so far, due in large part to the great efforts of our tech staff (not me!) User accounts and saved e-mail all seemed to transfer very well and we continue to support folks moving contacts and calendar events.

The biggest surprise for me was that the bulk of the questions have not come from our least capable e-mail users, but from our "power-users." One of Gmail's great strengths is its simplicity, but simplicity in this case also means fewer bells and whistles that our long-time Outlook/Entourage users had grown to appreciate. Here are a few of the questions I've been asked over the past couple days. Most involve finding and installing helper apps or enabling Google Labs tweaks.

Stump the Chump Questions

• How can I create subfolders for my e-mail?
• How do I put a picture in my signature file?
• Why are there still messages going to the old email server?
• Why can't I get my cellphone/iPod/Blackberry etc to work with the new email system?
• How can I get the new e-mail program to produce a noise when I get new mail?
• Can I add a view of calendar events on my email page?
• How do I change the colors of my calendar events?
• How do I delete/modify the chat screen on my e-mail page?
• Is the My Day feature from Entourage available?
• How do I share my calendar so specific people can see the details of my events?
• How can I see all the district's e-mail users in my contacts list?

Two features have indeed "stumped the chump." I can't find a way for users to sort inbox messages by name or subject or reverse chronological order. And I can't find a way to have multiple windows in e-mail where one of which shows the actual contents of a message. But according to discussion boards, neither can anyone else.

I am stretching my own ability to search out these little solutions a bit - really sort of fun. Nothing like figuring out a good work around!

So - so far, so good.

Come early in January, we starting giving people practical ways of using GoogleDocs to share information. Then the fun will begin as teachers see the benefits of the entire MAPS Apps solution!

There is no small irony that 15 years ago I was begging teachers to use e-mail. Today I am finding teachers in a panic that they can't get their e-mails, calendars and contacts on their Blackberries and iPods. And on the other end of the spectrum we still seem to have folks who have not yet felt the need to check their email over the past four days. Ah, to have such a care-free life!

Go figure...