1. Midsouth Elementary School
Budget
Midsouth Elementary School

2. You are the principal of Midsouth Elementary School which has 600 students. The school has one principal and one assistant principal. There are forty (40) teachers in the building, four (4) Instructional Aides and (1) secretary included in the budget. Guidance Counselors are in another part of the budget that you do not have to worry about.   You have been notified that you will see an increase in revenue in your school of $100,000 and the superintendent has tasked you in coming up with a plan to include that money within your budget. The superintendent expects you to give your staff a 2% raise and you need to make sure the benefits reflect the changes you make. You have the option of adding staff, programs and materials/supplies. You have noticed in your school that the cost of substitutes is increasing and could go over budget this year. One other issue is that your class sizes in your electives are a bit high and which has caused your office to receive some complaints from parents. 
Scenario

3. Salary Increases: 2% Raise
Teachers -- $32,000
Aides and secretary -- $2,000
This will be used to keep high quality teachers at our school.
“The individual teacher is the single most influential school factor in students’ learning (Owings & Kaplan, p. 289).
Quality teachers can increase a student’s achievement by 40-60% regardless of demographic background.

4. Benefits and Retirement Increases
FICA contribution -- $2,093
Increase VRS and VRS Hybrid Contribution - $4,024
Health Insurance (HMP & GLI) Increase - $1,805

5. Substitute Costs: Increase $10,000
Cost of substitutes is increasing
In danger of running out of funds this year
Solution
Hire a long-term substitute $17,000
No increase in health or retirement benefits since they are not full-time employees
Provides students with stability even when teacher is out
Provides coverage for meeting throughout the day as needed

6. Professional Development: Increase $19,800
Current Budget: $500
Owings & Kaplan 2013, research shows improving teacher skills and knowledge will raise a teacher’s quality of teaching. Studies have shown up to a 21 point increase on achievement tests with appropriate Professional Development.

7. Professional Development Continued
Additional Costs will pay for:
Professional Development for reading and math - particularly small group
Access to conferences to discover new teaching techniques and materials.
This will include travel costs as necessary.

8. Parental Concerns: Class Size
Currently about 19:1 ratio in classes
Research shows in grades K-3 it is suggested that students benefit from reduced class size of 19 or less, which is already being met. It further shows that smaller class size does not impact achievement after grade 3 (Owing & Kaplan, p. 295).
Due to this no additional staff will be added

9. Parental Concerns: Solution
Direct Professional Development will be administered for a school-wide behavior system to all staff.
This will:
-reduce behavior
-hold everyone accountable
-create school wide expectations

10. Travel: Increase $5,000 This will pay for:
Teacher travel to conferences
Student Field Trip Travel
This will allow students and teachers to experience more things first hand!

11. Purchased Services: Increase $5,000
This will include having speakers come for school assemblies and after-school family activites and talk about topics of interest to include the following:
Character Building
Behavioral Intervention at Home
Dealing with Deployment
Cultural Equity
There will also be requests given from the PTA, Principal Advisory Committee (PAC), and Jr. PAC

12. School Instructional Supplies: Increase $12,000
Pay for 60 Chromebooks
City rate, including ruggedization = $200 per chromebook
20 computers to replace 9 year old computers
Create 2 more class carts to be checked out
Increases the number of devices that can be used during testing time so more computers can stay in the hands of students and assist in learning.

13. ESL Materials: Increase $2,000
Increase in materials specialized for English Speaking Learners
ELL students require more resources to teach to the same standard as a middle-class student.
Increased picture content vocabulary

15. References
Owings, W. A., & Kaplan, L. S. (2013). American public school finance. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.