Superintendent's Role in the Budget

According to lecture this week the Superintendent has the role of preparing the budget and communicates proposed actions of the professional and support staff to address the annual goals proposed by the Board of Trustees. Based on that information, it was not surprising while interviewing the Deputy Superintendent for Business Operations and Management he described the Superintendent as being crucial in the whole budget process.

            The Deputy Superintendent went on to say the Superintendent sets the tone of the budget and is crucial to a smooth budget process. A Superintendent directs staff on appropriate responses to budget problems. He or she serves as a referee between departments. Then ultimately the Superintendent makes the final decisions on what to cut or what to add to the budget before taking the budget to the Board of Trustees for approval.

I found it extremely interesting the Deputy Superintendent described the Superintendent as a referee between departments when dealing with varying goals. I can see how the Superintendent has to serve as a referee especially in these hard economic times for districts. There is only so much revenue coming into the district and only so much money to go around to each department. Currently, in our district our Superintendent made it clear his goal is still to improve instruction while saving as many jobs as possible. Every budget decision in our district was driven around that goal.

Based on this week’s lecture and interview with the Deputy Superintendent of Business Operations and Management it is evident what the Superintendent’s role is in the budget process. The Superintendent is the crucial to the entire budget process. He or she sets the tone of the budget and ultimately has the responsibility of what to cut or add to the budget before taking it to the Board for approval.