School district budgeting can be considered a tool that allows districts to outline their mission, find room for improvement, and pursue educational objectives. According to Tomal et al. (2013), the budget provides an estimate of resources and plans for the district’s education program. In the state of Georgia, school districts have a high degree of freedom and independence in their budget planning. In 2007, lawmakers introduced the Charter Systems Act that allows schools to choose the type of management best suiting the local needs (Dyer, 2022). Generally, the act provided every school district with a choice whether they are interested in increased autonomy in exchange for greater accountability for performance.
The Dougherty County school system (DCSS) eventually agreed to transfer to a new system. As their primary approach to planning and organizing budgets, they chose the site-based, also referred to as school site, budgeting (Dyer, 2022). Tomal et al. (2013) define this approach as giving school representatives the authority to allocate funds. Broadly speaking, to make the budgeting process more transparent and relatable to stakeholders, site-based budgeting urges each school to have a decision-maker responsible for budget development (Coffin and Cooper, 2017). In addition, it is implied that there is shared decision-making. Decentralization, in turn, implies greater responsibility and accountability for results.
To conduct the district school budget, the collective of stakeholders should first develop the school district’s strategic plan for the upcoming fiscal year. DCSS makes fund appropriation decisions based on the information received from individuals inside and outside of the district (Dyer, K., 2022). Consequently, decentralization is achieved through assigning revision tasks of programs, accounts, services, and other budget development issues to responsible employees. They monitor if the mentioned issues comply with the district’s strategic plan and communicate the progress to the administration and finance department.
The DCSS budget consists of the revenue and operating expenditures assessment. Generally, revenue includes four primary sources: federal, state, flow-through, and local (Tomal et al., 2013). In the case of DCSS’ budget for 2023, their revenue is primarily based on state and local sources, with the absence of federal sources and a small contribution from other sources. According to Dyer (2022), they represent roughly 70%, 30%, 0%, and almost indistinguishable 0.01%, respectively. The biggest contribution to local revenue is made by ad valorem taxes, which provide eight-ninth of total local revenue (Dyer, 2022). The state revenue is predominantly represented by funds received under the quality basic education Act. Its proportional representation in total state revenue is almost eight-ninth (Dyer, 2022). The revenue summary for the year 2023 is only a half percent lower in comparison to the previous one (Dyer, 2022). Thus, the total revenue amount did not register any significant changes.
To conclude, the DCSS expenditures for 2023 are more numerous than the mentioned revenues. In U.S. dollars, expenditures and revenues are estimated at 143,171,820 and 141,885,181, respectively. The primary sources of spending are caused by the instruction services, which represent almost 65% of the total amount. Instructional activities imply the teacher-student interactions and are not limited to the school territory – teaching may occur at home or hospital or through any type of medium, such as television or radio. In addition, the provision of study materials, teaching supplies, and school equipment, as well as counselors and technology specialists, are included in instruction services.
References
Coffin, S. V. & Cooper, B. S. (2017). Sound school finance for educational excellence. Rowman & Littlefield.
Dyer, K. (2022). Operating budget: Fiscal year 2023. Dougherty County School System. Web.
Tomal, D. R., Schilling, C. A., & Tomal, D. (2013). Resource management for school administrators: Optimizing fiscal, facility, and human resources. R&L Education.