As Per Course,
"Welcome to Education Finance!
As a school leader, it is important to understand the funding structure of the Ministry and how money is distributed to Boards and allocated according to student needs. (Warning, this can be dry material if you are not already interested in numbers! But, it is one of the many things that can create significant issues later.) It is good to have the system and provincial prospective as you consider your instructional leader role through the lens of accountability and education finance.
Familiarize yourself with this Ministry of Education web page: https://www.ontario.ca/page/education-funding-2022-23
Be sure to skim the Grants for Student Needs Funding Memo.
Then please comment on the following:
As a school leader, how would you ensure that administrative practices and budget responsibilities align with the Ministry's funding structure yet are reflective of the Board Improvement Plan, personal School Improvement Plan and are reflective of the School Effectiveness Framework? What opportunities are there for supporting equity within your school/school board? Describe the process you would use to prioritize use of funds in your school."
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As per discussion,
"The idea of being a leader who needs to run financial point for a school that could be over 1000 members in the building at anytime (more when considering school stakeholders) is terrifyingly interesting to me. I feel budget is that one point in the Principal's decision-making process that can sometimes make or break the beginning of another year. Not to state the obvious, but its difficult to give everyone what they want. Granted, I think as people have likely mentioned, it is integral that the vision of the school is realized, discussed and prepared for at the end of each year (before september, discuss what ideas of the school's vision shall remain and what shall change for the incoming year-when you have a consistant staff). Over the summer it give time for reflection, connection and preparation of what may come. Furthermore, as a leader it is important to establish that recieving funds in general is expected to be received as a good thing, and even though a group may expect to see it used here, if there is no way to allocate there responsibily or in an equitable manner, then it needs to be realized that there is a grand underappreciation for what is happening, maybe this vision didn't account for the voices OR maybe individuals invovled in the vision's realization didn't reflect as hard on the vision as they needed to. As a principal it is first and foremost of the process, to have your vision created by/with your staff; from there, the process shall lead to an actualization of programs and initiatives that pre-exist versus those that call for start-up funds; in the event that the vision and these initiatives do not align a principal needs to take inventory of the school and weigh the allocations of human resources vs. funding; the third step of the process is to establish an inventory of what is needed from an observational level and take stock on what is preceived as needed on the operational level by those leading the initiatives. Finally, through this process, perspective taking, and inventory, the principal SHOULD be mostly confident with the allocations they provide. In the event there is a disagreement with the decisions, principals should reflect on the following components of The School Effectiveness Framework (2013) as base decision drivers.
Indicator 4.1: A culture of high expectations supports the belief that all students can learn, progress and achieve.
Indicator 4.2 A clear emphasis on high levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy is evident throughout the school.
Indicator 4.3 Teaching and learning in the 21st Century is collaborative, innovative and creative within a global context.
This being for the simple reason that the Ministry of Education's five-point plan is reflecting a focus point on the following areas:
Area 2-Creating student strength in base literacy skills in mathematics as well as accessibility of texts (B02, 2022)
Area 3-Student's wellness as mentally vulnerable individual and their ability to overcome challenges to mental wellness (B02, 2022)
Area 4-The use and establishment of learning opportunities outside the class provided by thrid-party education groups. (B02, 2022)
These focus areas are very clearly applicable to many different faucets available to teacher and student resource development within the school community. As a principal our budget decisions best reflect (firstly), the stakeholders (in the most equitable manner possible) and local-epistemologies, the ministry of education's five point plan, and the school effectiveness framework as our anchor in that/those decision(s).
To conclude, the opportunities that currently befall our school in the way of equity are those in the areas of ESL. To be frank many of our students are English language learners, however there is a great deal of ability that gapes between the students. The material should remain consistent to avoid students trying to play the system to their own benefit, but teachers need to reflect on the goals and principles of Growing Success. Using this, teachers and staff are expected to keep in mind that we can apply various learning resources and assistive tools; in some cases we need to apply for funding. My wife being the ESL course Lead Teacher actually was able to allocate funding for the program "THINK", for my English department, we are working hard to create things in house and develop depth for varying levels of differentiation to take place while still reaching learning goals in a hollistic manner."
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