Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 5

5.  I can write an outcome driven budget that is specific in supporting curricular and school improvement goals.

Types of budgets.
There are a variety of ways to create budgets. Alice Warner describes six:

• lump sum
• formula
•  line or line item
• program
• performance or function
• zero-based (Warner, 1993)

While it is good to know the distinctions among these budget types, they can basically be divided into two groups - those that are arbitrarily created and those that are outcome driven. How does budgeting work in your school: Are you given a sum of money and then told to make the most of it, or do you develop an effective program and then ask for the money to support it? If you are doing the former, change to the latter.

Get out your spreadsheets, and clearly show decision-makers how much money your program requires if it is to be effective. How can anyone give you what you want, if you yourself can’t determine it or communicate it? Be sure they know the consequences in terms of student learning of an unfunded or underfunded budget.

Know and follow district budgeting schedules. If your capital outlay requests are due February 15, then have them in on the 14th.

Good budgets have three components:Good program-driven budgets have three major components:

• goals - this is the effect my funded program will have on student learning
• specificity - this is how much money I want, and this is exactly how I will spend it
• assessment - this is how I will be able to tell you if the money you give my program helped it met its goals

Too often budgets have relied on state or national standards as a rationale for funds for resources and collection building. (The Colorado study shows..., Information Power says..., School Library Journal reports...) Just as there is cynicism about the political process across the nation, so is there a general distrust in statistics. The belief that statistics don’t lie, but liars can use statistics is deeply and widely felt. (After all, 86% of all statistics are made up.)

Use local needs and objectives:
Communicate information about standards and studies, but build a budget based on the specific needs of your individual curricula, students, and teachers. The fact that Mrs. Green’s science students need more current and varied resources for their solar system unit will carry more weight that any state rule or national standard.

Relate your budget to your district’s or building’s long-range plans.

Use an advisory group (see section 10)
Remember that media budgets which come as a recommendation of a media/technology advisory committee carry more weight than those developed by the individual media specialist. Who wants to turn down a whole group, especially if that group includes parents, students, and teachers?

Warner, A. “Library Budget Primer”. Wilson Library Bulletin. May 1993

Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 4

4.  I can describe the “consequences” of an under-funded budget in concrete terms.

 What won’t happen may be as important as what will happen
While it would great if national studies and research about the importance of school libraries and technology were universally read and believed, we need to make the case ourselves that inadequate or reduced library funding will have an impact on school programs, the classroom curriculum, and student achievement.

Specificity and goal orientation
This is easier to do if your budget proposals are specific and goal driven. In visiting with the person or team that makes budget decisions, you can say things like:

• I won’t be able to purchase the 25 books that support the revised 9^th grade history class the teachers requested.
• Teachers will only get one ink cartridge for their printers this year instead of 3 as in past years.
• Only four students will be able to use the research terminals in the library at a time.
• With the reduced clerical staffing, I won’t be able to maintain the school webpage.
• Students will not be able to participate in the state’s children’s book award program.

You will need to use your very best interpersonal skills to make sure these predicted outcomes don’t simply sound like threats. Give budget decision-makers the entire budget and be open to their ideas about how to economize.

Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 3

3. I understand the concept that school district budgets are a “zero sum” game.

There is only so much money to be distributed.
In light of the current political climate about taxes, those of us in public education should revisit David Lewis’s Eight Truths about budgeting. His first Truth is just as applicable now as it was when published in 1991: “It is a zero sum game.” When talking about public library budgets, he explained: “There is no more money...The important truth is that those who provide the cash...will not give the library any more. They can’t because they don’t have it.” Schools, as well, seem to have reached a level of funding that the public is unlikely to substantially increase (if not decrease).

Does this mean no additional funds for your media or technology program?

Getting more money for your program means spending less money elsewhere in the school.
Mr. Lewis suggests a way that middle managers (like librarians and technology coordinators) can get more money for their programs: “You can take it away from somebody else. If you believe in what you are doing, you have an obligation to try this.” Gulp.

I think this puts an awful lot of us outside our comfort zone. Aren’t we really “givers” of resources, skills, information, time, and effort? Fighting for an adequate budget, especially if it means butting heads with co-workers like department chairs, band directors, coaches, custodians, or union reps, certainly feels like being a “taker.” Want to make an enemy? Threaten the funding of a program that is owned by another educator.

But look carefully at the second part of Mr. Lewis’s statement - “If you believe in what you are doing, you have an obligation to try...” Folks, we better all believe deep in our hearts what we are doing is in the very best interest of our students and community, that spending what is necessary for an effective library and technology program is better than buying new textbooks or violins or smaller class sizes.

You have to believe in your mission.
So here’s the deal. You really need two psychological weapons when fighting to make your program a budget priority: a thick skin and a deep-felt mission. Without them, you’ll get eaten alive; with them, you can accomplish anything.

Strong feelings and fearlessness are of course greatly helped by a strong rationale for your budget. Today’s budgeting committees really need to be asking questions like:

• What programs teach the skills that will be vital to tomorrow’s citizens?
• What programs, skills and attributes does your community believe are important?
• How many teachers and students will benefit from a particular spending decision?
• Are there other sources of funds for activities which could be considered “non-essential?”
• How might a budget decision affect the school’s climate? the school's goals? the school's mission?
  
• Is there research to support the effectiveness of a program or specific spending decision?
• How much budgeting is being done out of respect for sentiment or tradition?

As librarians and technology coordinators, we need to do our homework. Our budgets must be specific, goal driven, and assessable. They must be both accurate and easy to understand. And I hope our budgets are supported by research and sound reasoning. It’s up to us to let other educators know what the Colorado study (among others) found out about the impact of libraries on student achievement, about Krashen’s research on how libraries help improve reading scores, and what research says about the impact computer technology has on teaching and learning. It is up to us to know and understand the curricular aims and objectives of the entire school and how we can help teachers meet them,

Finally a last quote from Mr. Lewis, something to think about when you have a few quiet moments: “It is unacceptable for others in your organization to misuse resources that could be better put to use by you.” Thanks, Mr. Lewis, for helping us see that we need to learn to be effective “takers” if we want to be good “givers.”

Lewis, D. “Eight Truths for Middle Managers in Lean Times”. Library Journal, Sept. 1991.