How to Promote Financial Accountability in Public Schools in Arkansas - Term Paper Example

Lecturer How to Promote Financial Accountability in Public Schools in Arkansas Letter to the Audience Hello! As a matter of fact, every problem has a solution. This is why I am writing this report to provide well thought recommendations on how the misappropriation of school resources in Arkansas can be eradicated. I hope you all know the contributions of education in the country. I believe you also know that no school can run without money whatsoever. With the on-site school budget system, it applies that each school as been responsible for their own budget making processes. However, there have been cases of misuse of the available school funds. It is for this reason that I am writing this paper to shed more light on this matter and gives recommendations on how school resources can effectively spent without any embezzlement. I hope it will be of much value to you. Thanks. Executive Summary Educational provision is one of the most important responsibilities of the federal government of the United States of America (USA). Educational accomplishment is one of the ways through which individuals can attain self-fulfillment as they strive to attain the American Dream. It is actually for this reason that the federal government, through the Department of Education, has taken the initiative to support educational provision especially in all the public schools in the nation. This has been effectively done by allocating g and devolving a lot of funds to support the education sector. Meaning, all the public elementary, middle and high schools in the country are given funds by the federal government. Although such moneys can be given under different categories, it is worth to note that the federal government gives them out as grants. However, this is allocated based on several factors such as the specific needs of the school and the enrolment rate (Milakovich and George 71). However, with the increased economic challenges facing schools, it has become inevitable that the government grants are not enough. For this reason, each school has been charged with a mandate of looking for extra funding from other sources such as local taxes, donations from the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), well-wishers and the local business community members who are ready to chip in and support their local schools to meet their budgets. Moreover, each school gets extra funds from the levies that it charges each student based on the services that they offer. These include tuition fees, library charges and membership levies. All these are essential in helping these schools to meet their financial demands. Since these schools require funds to cater for their needs, they need to utilize them appropriately. Hence, each school should come up with measures to ensure that their resources are properly used. This is the only way through which these schools can be in a position of providing quality education to all their learners. When school money is appropriately used, it means that the workers should be given adequate remuneration and the necessary support which can motivate them to serve the learners. This can be of great benefit to the learners who will be provided with high quality educational services to benefit them at personal level (Sullivan and Sheffrin 59). Nevertheless, there have been several cases of misuse which has made it extremely challenging for the state to accomplish its educational goals. Such have been attributed to the irresponsibility of these school administrators who, instead of managing school resources, consciously and greedily opt to misuse them. Education Funding in Arkansas Just in the rest of the USA, Arkansas education system is composed of the public and private schools. While private schools are self-supporting, the public schools heavily depend on the federal government for funding. Thus, the government provides finances to schools annually in aid of the foundation and all the other programs offered by these schools. In order to effectively disburse these funds, the federal government has come up with a well-structured formula to ensure that all the schools are given the right amount of funds which they deserve based on their individual enrolment rates and their diverse needs. However, since schools in Arkansas require adequate resources as compared to other states, the government grants provided to them have not been enough to effectively sustain their expenditures. This kind of challenge has been attributed to the increased expenditures which have resulted from the high enrolment rates in the public schools within the state. Besides, it has been caused by the financial crisis which has been facing several schools within the state. This has made it necessary for these schools to look for other sources rather than depending on the government grants. This is the rationale for charging levies on tuition, library, transport and accommodation services offered by these schools. Budgetary Process in Public Schools in Arkansas In Arkansas State, the budgeting process in the public schools is decentralized to the school levels. Meaning, the State Department of Education has adopted an on-site school budgeting approach. Under this arrangement, it is the responsibility of each school principal or administrator to spearhead and supervise the budgeting process. Hence, while drafting the school budget, the principal has to comply with all the requirements which state that they should include all the teachers, departmental heads and representatives from each section to represent the interests of their respective groups. This is necessary since their involvement in the budget making can enable the principal to produce an inclusive and responsive budget which incorporates all the priority areas for each of these departments. The other thing that needs to be done by the school administrators in the state is that they should seek for the support of the office of the school bursar. Meaning, they should liaise with the bursar since they have professional skills in budget making ad can offer the necessary guidance on how to effectively organize the budget. In addition, the school principal should work hand in hand with the School Management Board and the State Department of Education. It is these organs which approve the budget before it is eventually accepted for implementation. However, after the approval, the principal should ensure that the budget is implemented as per the law. The Challenge/Problem Misappropriation of School Funds Even if the law requires that the school administrators should be responsible for the use of finances, several problems have been experienced in the past. A lot of cases have been witnessed in which school resources have been diverted from the right projects for which they were meant to unnecessary and unplanned expenditures. Although this has not been seen throughout the country, it has become a major threat in public schools. Once the available resources are not properly spent, it means that the entire education process in the school might be paralyzed. The following are some of the major issues that have been revolving around the public school funds usage amongst the schools in Arkansas State: Several principals have been accused of embezzling school funds. Meaning, they have been involved in the misappropriation of the school resources that have been allocated for certain programs. Instead of using them as planned, they have resorted to diverting these moneys to areas which suits their own interests (Colander 287). For instance, in Murrell Elementary School in Pulaski Special County School District, the principal was found to have used school funds for personal projects. Instead of putting the school money for use in the specific project for which it was intended, it was used for an irrelevant program. This was a very unlawful act which put him into lots of problems (Sullivan and Sheffrin 67). A part from the embezzlement of school funds, there has been a problem of wastage of school funds. Although the law gives a clear guideline on how exactly school funds should be spent, a lot of principals have resorted to indiscipline behaviors. They do not comply with such regulations since they just spend without even following their own budgets. This has been common in the use of federal grants which are always been allocated for specific programs within the school. However, these school heads divert these funds to some projects for which they were not intended. Such a case had been witnessed in Warren High School, Bradley County School District who had decided to use federal grants for rewarding his relatives, teachers and students. It was unlawful to do it because the federal funds should not be used as gifts. Lastly, many school administrators have been found to have engaged in fraudulent activities. Instead of having a well structured and properly organized school budget, there has been a tendency of school administrators engaging on shrouded activities and cover ups in the use of school funds. Meaning, instead of having a budget and records for all the school revenues and expenditures, many administrators have opted to defraud the schools their funds. This has been perfected by their tendencies to violate the budget making procedures. These include the requirement that they should be giving back the monthly returns to the government. Hence, they have been getting a room for engaging in fraudulent activities without being noticed. Rate of Funds Wastage in Schools in USA Rate of Funds Wastage in Arkansas State in 2011 Sources of School Revenues in Arkansas State Remedial Measures As school administrators, it should be the responsibility of the principals to ensure that the school resources are effectively used for the specific projects for which they were meant. It is improper and a sign of gross misconduct to intentionally engage in fraudulent activities, wasted, misuse and embezzlement of school funds. Such misconducts have paralyzed the smooth operations of public schools in Arkansas. Hence, in order to ultimately resolve such a menace, the following actions should be taken: First, the School Management Boards and District School Management Boards should be instituted to act as oversight authorities. They should be charged with the responsibility of overseeing and monitoring the budget making process and ensuring that the available school funds are appropriately utilized (Sullivan and Sheffrin 83). If each school has an active board, then it can be able to produce a good budget and standard budget since it can not be submitted to the government without being endorsed by the board chairperson. By working closely with the school boards, each principal would be in a position of advancing the interests of the school rather than their own. This is necessary for a proper use of the school resources as the principals would be closely monitored on whatever expenditures they make. Secondly, each school district in Arkansas should be equipped with a strong and well organized Financial Risk Management Committees. These are panel of community members, educators, accountants, government officials and other professional bodies who are stakeholders interested in educational provisions in the state. Given that many principals have failed to discharge their mandates well, such bodies need to be put in place. They would be helping in ensuring that no school administrator is involved in any form of corruption, fraud, theft, wastage and misappropriation of school funds. If such committees are given the authority to monitor the usage of school funds, then each principal would act responsibly. Thus, it would become an absolute way of preventing any mischief amongst the misguided principals who might be misguided to siphon their schools of their resources. Besides, the other important action to take to prevent the misuse of school funds in Arkansas is to provide professional trainings on accounting to all the school heads. According to recent researches, most of the school heads have been misusing school funds because they lack the basic accounting and budget making skills. This implies that they are only having teaching, but not management competencies. However, it can be very unfortunate if the person who is charged with all the responsibilities for the management of school resources and making its annual budget does not have the necessary skills for making budget. Hence, in order to sensitize them on how effectively they should be spending school resources, they should be granted an opportunity to study accounting and book keeping courses. When all the school administrators in Arkansas are given such training, it will provide them with all the necessary information about how to ensure that all expenditures are made in compliance with the required standards. Thus, the state will get rid of any loss of funds within its schools. Moreover, the misappropriation of school funds in Arkansas can be avoided if each school principals is encouraged to abide by the ethical codes of conduct required from them as school administrators. Although they are the school administrators, they should not work in isolation. Meaning, when it comes to important exercises such as budget making, they need to foster a team work and collaborate with all the school stakeholders. They should learn to accept that it is not advisable for them to dominate the budget making process. Instead, they should seek the opinion of all the representatives since they are the ones who are aware of the priority areas which need to be financed in the irrespective departments. If this happens, there will no longer be a case of dominance by the school principal who might require drafting a school budget to suit their own needs. This justifies how team work can be a remedy to this menace which has been a nuisance in many schools in the state. Last, but by no means the least, the misappropriation of school funds in Arkansas can be eradicated if policy makers are put in place to ensure that the principals, in their respective budgets, comply with certain regulations. Once the government can provide guidelines and rules on how school resources should be spent, each and every school principal would be expected to strictly abide by it (Colander 211). In fact, these set of rules should be stringently enforced in all the schools. In any case a principal is proven to have engaged in the misuse of school resources, they should be appropriately punished by being taken through a legal process. Thus, it will not only make hem to act as examples, but instill discipline and fear on other school administrators who might be planning to rip schools off their legitimately acquired resources. Conclusion For sure, no school can operate without money. Each school needs to have adequate resources to use in its day to day expenditures such as tuition, transportation, food provision, field trips, purchasing of school materials like school bus, books, laboratory equipments, just to mention, but a few. It is for this reason that all the public schools in Arkansas have been relying on the government for funding. Even if the authority to make use the school resources rests heavily on the school principals, there have been cases of financial misappropriation (Milakovich and George 49). A large number of these administrators have irresponsibly acted by wasting school sources, engaging in theft, embezzlement and defrauding these learning institutions. This has indeed posed a very great challenge to the operations of these schools. Hence, as discussed, this can be ultimately resolved by mandating the School Management Boards, District School Management Boards and the Financial Risk Management Committees with the responsibility of overseeing the use of school resources within their areas of jurisdiction. Besides, each school principal should be provided with adequate training on how they can properly utilize school resources without any unnecessary wastage and be encouraged to avoid any unwarranted mischief which might cost them their careers in the long run. Works Cited Colander, D. Microeconomics. New York: McGraw-Hill Publisher, 2005. Print. Milakovich, M.E. & G. George. Public Administration in America. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Sullivan, A. and S.M. Sheffrin. Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. Read More