Week 5 Assignment, Part 1

1.) Ethics violation of the Educator’s Code of Ethics

*Standard 1.3; Administrator submitting eight food receipts for a trip lasting several days that had consecutive numbers. (fraudulent request for reimbursement)

 *Standard 1.2; Superintendent in El Paso directed a $450,000 contract to a company run by a person with whom he had a personal relationship. (misappropriation of district (tax payer) monies for personal gain or advantage)

 Standard 1.10; District administrators allegedly moved certain students from one high school and placed them at another in the district in an attempt to improve student achievement and prevent public negativity.

 *Standard 2.2; District employees telling other employees that they were going to be non-renewed under the reduction in force(RIF) that the school board was only discussing. These comments caused great stress and were not true. (False statements about colleagues and school business)

Standard 2.3; In small districts administrative spouses are hired and supervised by their spouse. (hiring and evaluation of personnel)

2.) Consequences:

The short term consequence for the administrator that submitted the meal receipts with consecutive numbers was non-renewal of her contract. The long term consequences in the district thereafter included more stringent guidelines for submitting meal receipts to include writing your name, meal and date of the meal on the back of the receipt. Additionally, the business office has included this in the beginning of the year training and the point is crystal clear, in order to be reimbursed for meals you must turn in one receipt, itemized, write your name on the back and include the date.

The short term consequences for the superintendent that directed the large contract towards a person with whom he had a personal relationship includes a jail cell and pending federal charges as well as negative publicity, nationwide. The long term consequences are yet to be determined but I would imagine that contract in excess of a specific dollar amount will be scrutinized and researched more thoroughly with a transparent lens. Policy and procedures may be adopted and practiced to ensure that future fraudulent or misappropriations of school district funds are prevented.

 The short term consequences for the employee that was sharing false statements about the district and district personal to potentially impacted district employees included a written disciplinary directive and removal from the work place with pay for the day while the situation was investigated. The long term consequence for this employee is a difficult situation to work in considering the nature of the incident. As an at-will employee this incident could impact future employment.

3.) Preventive Actions

To prevent future fraudulent requests for meal reimbursement training could have been provided that specifically detailed how the receipts were to be turned in to the business office. The details would make it clear that someone is paying attention and potentially deterred anyone from trying to submit a false claim. This type of preventive action would clearly promote the highest standard of conduct, ethical practices, and integrity in decision making, actions and behaviors (SBEC Superintendent Competency1).

To prevent gross misappropriation of district funds such as in the case with the El Paso Superintendent the district could have a multi-pronged test in policy or in procedures that is transparent and includes a statement that refers to existing relationships with a business or company. This type of preventive action would address, specifically, the strand from the SBEC Superintendent Competency 1 that states applying laws, policies, and procedures in a fair and reasonable manner.

 
To prevent false statements from being made by employees especially during programmatic change (reduction in force) the district could make public the minutes of all board meeting and discussions that pertain to the status of these types of potential situations. An example of this publication could be a link on the district website that is shared with all employees through email. This preventive action would represent an interaction with district staff, students, school board, and community in a professional and ethical manner (SBEC Superintendent Competency1). Employment is a serious matter and transparency is essential during these times that include tough and difficult decisions.

Week 5 Assignment, Part 3

School Finance, competency 8, has been an area of many personal deficits. While it still remains one the areas in which I can grow the most, I do feel now that I am dangerous enough to enter into conversations about school finance. My studies and explorations during this last course have been wide spread. I am by no means ready to take over the business office, but I am much more confident and understand better how to build a budget that is goal-driven, supported by annotations in the needs assessment and that will ultimately assist the district in achieving its goals. The last time I self-assessed myself on Competency 8 I had no areas of strength, five areas I felt confident, and six areas that I felt needed improvement. As I near the end of this school finance course I now feel competent in all but two areas. I still feel I need to improve in two areas, personnel management and technology effectiveness in school district operations. I will continue to pursue all of the areas in Competency 8 in my future studies and experiences in educational leadership.

I gained a great deal of knowledge from the lectures, interviews, reading and resources. As I look back on week one, I learned about the history of school finance and that tough times are actually not new. I know that there are state funding formulas that are intended to ensure equity, equality and adequacy in resources to all school districts regardless of size. The intent of these formulas is noble but in reality these efforts fall short of meeting the intended purposes. I reviewed two different District Improvement Plans (DIP). I gleaned from this exercise that if used properly school districts can better spend their monies on identified needs and as a result increase the return on their investment.  

Week two brought to light the benefits of different types of budgeting. Different budget development processes may work better for different aspects of school business. There are two dates mandated by the state and all other budget timeline dates are determined locally. It is up to the Superintendent to develop the process and then facilitate the organization through it over the course of the year. The TEA School Finance 101 manual is a very useful document full of a great deal of information.

Week three I found myself diving deeper into the dollars and cents of two school districts by reviewing their financial snapshots and financial summaries. Equality doesn’t always equate to equal funds and resources. Comparing WADA to ADA, reviewing allocations too expenditures, noting compensatory education allotments and developing an understanding of funding and facilities debt payment are a few of the areas I explored.

Week four dealt with financial accountability and district discretion of spending. Everyschool district is required to have an external audit on their financial records and business practices. This report is sent to the state annually. School districts are accountable for academic achievement and financial integrity, the FIRST report. This report is made up of twenty-two indicators and each one is scored on a scale. The sum of all the scores is collected and then a rating is determined based on a rating system. While school districts do not have sufficient funds, they do have the discretion to develop a staffing pattern and set teacher pay scales. Every district is a little different in this respect because they all have slightly different philosophies and or student needs. The economy of scale lesson showed me how large schools benefit from having the flexibility of buying in bulk. Small school districts must provide the same supports but they do not get the bulk discount and as a result have fewer resources to use in other areas.

The assignments for this course have taken me to many places. I have spoken with the Deputy Superintendent, Superintendent, and Chief Financial Officer several times. They were very willing to share their knowledge and unfold our situation in my district. After speaking to them I began to realize that school finance is a chore even for the three of them. To completely wrap my head around every aspect of school finance would be impossible. I was ignorant and now after this course of study I am barely dangerous. I know some language and that there are reports out there with volumes of information. The next step for me is to harness this new knowledge and integrate into my current role and in future positions of leadership. The budget can have a tremendous impact on organizational goals and student achievement if leveraged and used properly.

The wiki experience has been exactly that, an experience. Everyone is on a different schedule and gathering a group consensus proved to be tough on each individual. However, the discussion board and blog comments were enlightening. Cohort 5 is made up of people from school districts of all sizes and people from all aspects of school leadership. This dynamic made for interesting comments, insights and reflections.  

Week 4 Assignment, Part 5

On Wednesday, May 2, I interviewed the district Chief Financial Officer. I specifically asked him the following questions. His responses follow each question.

How is the external auditor selected?

A Request For Proposal (RFP) is posted. When the window for RFP’s closes they are reviewed by the CFO and the two directors in the business office. They independently review the same RFP’s and score them with a common rubric. The scoring for each category is done on a likert scale. Once all of the RFP’s have been score by all three business directors the top three are chosen for further review. They are put in a comparison table so that all three RFP’s can be viewed side by side. The CFO and the two directors discuss the pros and cons for each RFP and then they make a recommendation to the Superintendent as to which RFP would meet the needs of the district.

How does the auditor conduct the audit?

Typically, they collect information from the business office in June/July. They usually request a sampling of various reports, purchase orders, and procedural documentation. They ask questions constantly, verify postings and check for accuracy of reporting.

What does the audit conclude about district financial procedures and actions?

Ultimately, the findings of the audit determine if the district has met the standard. If a district does not, the audit would list the deficient areas. The CFO showed me the unqualified report that the auditors present in the final summary of the audit in the report to the board.

How are the results communicated?

The results are communicated in a written report. The audit report is presented to an adopted by the board in December or January and it must be sent in to the state by the end of January.

Reflection:

The external audit is a quality control measure required of school districts. In theory it is a safeguard of tax payer dollars and encourages school districts, superintendents and school boards to be fiscally responsible with the funds that they are charged with managing. In my district we have not experienced financial difficulties or financial exceptions found in the external audit. As a matter of fact the district built a new elementary school (800 student capacity) without raising taxes. The funds were taken out of the fund balance and the building was paid for in cash. The fund balance is currently in good shape having more than the three months of operational funds available. External audits, sound business practices, and tough decisions by our school board have enabled our district to maintain a sound financial status. My CFO showed me on the TEA website where all school district audits are posted. They are not a secret but you do not know what you do not know until you know. It was interesting looking at other school district audits and comparing them to my district.

Week 4 Assignment, Part 4

The total budget for this school year in my district is $77,623,281. This amount is about six percent less than it was last year, a result of the state reducing our funding. Our budget is like all other school districts, the greater majority of the budgeted funds are spent on personnel salaries. This year 74%, $57,441,228, of budgeted funds are spent on personnel salaries. As far as my insight on the percentage of the district budget spent on personnel salaries, we budget less for personnel salaries than most districts. This is a decision made to provide and enhance our educational services throughout the district. I do not know what the impact would be if we spent at least 80% of budgeted funds on personnel salaries. I would imagine that the number of personnel could increase and that the pay scale would be adjusted with a bump up in salary for each position.

A five percent increase in personnel salaries would have both positive and negative impacts. The only real positive impact that I can imagine would be in personnel morale. A five percent increase would more than likely cover medical premiums and still leave them with more money in each paycheck. The negative impacts would be that the money would have to come from somewhere. Would the additional $2,872,062 come from additional taxes, the fund balance, or from cutting all other expenditures? I do not think that it would be wise to apply the adjustment to only one of the above listed fund sources. It would be better to generate the $2,872,062 from multiple sources so to alleviate the impact felt in these other areas. There are only two ways to make the suggested pay raise happen, bring in more money or spend less in areas other than personnel.

A five percent is a significant increase for personnel. Pay raises that I have heard of are much less, 1%-2%. These smaller increases are practical for school districts and easier to fund. From the employee’s perspective the 1%-2% increase barely covers the increase in insurance premiums. A five percent increase in personnel salary would be welcomed by personnel but would definitely place stress on the school district. Depending on the need of the district, the budgeted increase in personnel could be spent on additional personnel rather than increasing current staff salaries. Just a thought.