Index of SPPS Budget Discussion
http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/spps-posts.html
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My name is Brian Joyce and I have served on the Ramsey Jr. High Site Council and
attended other site meetings.
Site Councils can and at many of our schools do play a very important role in budget
discussions. Principals who want and understand the advantage of shared decision
making find working with Site Councils a lot of work but very worth while.
The major issues Sites deal with now is staffing and supplies. The average site in
St.Paul spends 94 to 96 percent of their budget on people and benefits. Some are at
99%. This means a cut of any size means a persons job is cut. This has been teachers
aids, nurses, librarians, teachers, councilors and custodians. It has meant cutting
back on technology upgrades, cutting back on copying services and of course very
little money to try anything new.
I would recommend getting into a site council if you think schools waste money. Work
on a few SCIP plans and talk with all the different people who work to make the
education of our children happen. I have found it an eye opening and very informative
process. As a Site Council member and Co-Chair I walked the schools halls, watched
classes, talked with students, custodians, teachers, councilors, asst. principals,
area superintendents and parents. I found the majority liked their school and it's
staff but who always saw opportunities for improvement. Education is not an easy or an
inexpensive proposition. To have a first hand say with the person who makes all the
final decisions for their site (the principal) I think being part of a Site Council is
very worth while.
Brian Joyce
The West Side
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To: St. Paul Issues Forum<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: [StPaul] SPPS: Site Councils
NEAT - info about SPPS budget:
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Posted With Permission For Roger Barr:
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I have served on two site councils, advised numerous councils, and
helped the Office of Leadership Development create best practices
that are used by many site councils in the St. Paul Public Schools.
Like all education/budget issues, the answer(s) to this question is
more complex than we would like it to be.
First, it is necessary to understand that a school operates with
funds it controls as well as funds that are administered by central
office. District wide, sites (or schools) see about 49 percent of
the total budget, while central office administers 51 percent. Most
of that 51 percent funds programs or costs that go directly to
schools, such as food service, transportation, nurses, special ed.
teachers and the like. The list of district funding responsibilities
is extensive.
In contrast, most of the (district average) 49 percent that schools
have direct control over goes to funding staff. The site also has
revenue for non staff costs for supplies and so on. Again, the list
of possible funding responsibilities at the school level is extensive.
When schools develop their SCIP or strategic plan, their plan uses
resources (staff and non-staff) allocated directly to the school, as
well as resources (staff and non staff) administered by the central
office. Not surprisingly, most schools approach the planning/budget
process from this perspective: Do we have enough revenue from all
sources to "cover" our current programs next year? Adjustments are
made to programs in accordance to what revenues are
available--tempered by parental input/influence and district
oversight.
With dollars tightening and performance expectations on the rise,
this old method of planning is being replaced by data driven
decision making. More and more, schools are expected to review
performance data and plan based on research, as opposed to tradition
or preference. You will hear data driven decision making applauded
and criticized.
Now, here is how site councils fit into the picture. According to
district policy, the site council's role is to "approve and monitor"
the SCIP, or School Continuous Improvement Plan, which until this
year included the budget. The site council's role isn't necessarily
to CREATE the SCIP and budget, only to approve and monitor it. Some
school site councils take a very active role in the development of
the SCIP/budget. Site council members serve on committees that make
recommendations or even draft portions of the SCIP document. The
principal presents the SCIP to the site council for its review and
approval. It is not uncommon for debate to result in modifications
to the plan before it is approved by the site council and forwarded
to the district's accountability office for compliance review.
It is also district policy that the principal has the final authority
(and the legal accountability) in a building and can overrule the
recommendations of the site council. In truth, some principals
maintain tight control over the SCIP/budget process. In such
schools, the role of the site council "to approve and monitor" can be
diminished to what some frustrated members call a "rubber stamp."
Most site councils lie somewhere in-between the two poles of very
high involvement/influence and very minimal involvement /influence in
the planning and budgeting process. In general, in my seven years of
hanging around site councils, I have seen marked improvement in the
involvement and influence of site councils (read, teachers, staff,
parents, community members, students) in the planning and budgeting
process in our schools. Overall, the focus in the relationship
between site councils and principals is shifting, sometimes slowly,
from "Who gets to make the decision?" to "How do we make a good
decision?"
We still have a ways to go in developing an influential site council
at every school. This is not simply because principals dominate the
process. There is a fairly sharp learning curve associated with
being a knowledgeable and effective site council member. Site
council members move through the system with their children. Thus a
site council can be strong one year, and back to square one the next
as its leadership and skilled members "graduate" with their students.
The St. Paul Public Schools is working hard to train principals to
work collaboratively with their school communities in the planning
process. These efforts have been, are, and must be in the future
matched with similar efforts to prepare staff and especially parents
to assume active and constructive roles as site council members.
Parents interested in joining the site council at their school should
contact their school office and ask for the names of the site council
chairs. It is also possible for community members to join site
councils even though they do not have students in the school. My
organization, Support Our Schools, has helped schools find community
members, and also helped community members find a school site council
to join. Community members who are interested in joining a site
council are welcome to contact me.
Roger Barr
Support Our Schools
10 River Park Plaza
St. Paul, MN 55107
651-603-8858
[EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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SPPS Budget Reduction Forum - Feb. 23-27
Co-Sponsored By NEAT: http://www.stpaulneat.org/<http://www.stpaulneat.org/>
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