|
The complexity of the task of allocating resources within a school is directly related to the quantity and type of resources available for reallocation. It is easier to allocate money than it is to reallocate, which requires taking from one area of the school to provide in another. Before starting the process, school leaders should examine the situation in which they will be working to determine if the context is conducive to school-level resource allocation. Addressing problems in this area in advance is helpful because changes in school district resource allocation and accountability processes may be needed before the work can proceed.
 Allan Odden, Professor of Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, discusses the need to adequately fund strategies that work at the school level.
For the purposes of this booklet, the term "resources" is defined as people, time, and money. Effective organizations allocate resources to support their priorities. School districts, however, for various reasons have often operated differently. (Miles & Roza, 2002) Historically, most districts have allocated resources through a process embedded in union contracts, Board of Education promises to special interest groups, and inequities in the way the districts are funded.
Marguerite Roza, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Reinventing Public Education, discusses within-district funding inequities
.
Union contracts often require staffing formulas to insure that class size limits are enforced. Even if there is no union contract, many districts use formula staffing. This means allocating teachers and support personnel on the basis of numbers of students in a grade or, in the case of assistant principals and counselors, the number of students in the school. Someone or a group of people decide that one teacher is allocated to a school for every "x" students in each grade. An assistant principal is allocated for every "x" number of students in the school. For example, if the formula requires one teacher per 32 students at grade 4, the 33rd student enrolling in the fourth grade generates a new teacher which results in an increase in the school's budget. The formula may provide one assistant principal for every 600 students in a middle or high school. The 601st student means that another assistant principal is allocated. When the point on the scale is reached that requires an additional staff position, the budget increases significantly. (Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2002)
Special programs for specific students also create funding inequities from school to school. States, foundations, and other private groups often fund special drop-out prevention programs, substance abuse programs, and other non-academic programs to solve or prevent social problems. Programs begun under grant funding are often continued once the grant is gone because the program has a constituency and thus lobbyists for the funding. No one asks the crucial questions. Does the program work? Does it support the school's improvement goals? Instead it is blindly refunded with general fund money year after year. The school looks for additional money to fund new programs to address unsolved problems, and the cycle is repeated. This contributes to program build up, program on top of program, all costing a significant amount of money.
Kathleen Ware, currently the chair of the Education Department at College of Mount St. Joseph, discusses how Cincinnati discovered funding inequities among its schools.
Some funding inequities come from the way states fund school districts. When accountability measures were introduced to schools through state legislative actions in the late 1980's, the tests were and still are in the academic areas, usually mathematics, reading/language arts, and science. Other areas may also be tested, depending on the state learning standards. Funding, however, often does not reflect that priority. States frequently fund vocational/technical education at a higher rate than academic education. Through special funding, other needs are met, such as a state emphasis on reading at the primary level. When these funds are withdrawn, usually through a political change in the legislature or governor's office, the programs frequently remain.
|
