Budget Process in Schools - Research Paper Example

 A Reflective analysis on Budgeting I was told that there was a decline in the number of students participating in field trips. I was quite surprised to hear that as it is one thing students look forward to. I tried to penetrate deeper and found out that it was because of financial reasons some families discouraged their children to participate in school trips. I thought it was not fair for the progress of students who cannot afford it as they also miss out on the research and findings their fellow class mates made. I planned to interview a school administrator in order to know how field trips budgets are made and if it can be reduced so that more students could participate. I met with Mr. Green, a supervisor in one of the local schools, and he agreed to do an interview with me. The purpose of the interview was to know how school trip budgets were made and what could be done to improve it. Therefore I constructed questions within the budgeting parameters. I would begin the interview asking the number of field trips the school made during a schooling year. This would give me a basic idea how much parents annually spend on field trips. Next I would ask how much, on average, the school trip costs. This would tell me whether it’s affordable for most middle class families or is it something above their limits. I would also ask for the method the school uses for budgeting. For instance some organizations overestimate their budgets by entering a higher cost for every item rather than the actual costs. Because it is uncertain what the actual cost would some up to, budgeted costs are therefore kept higher. I would also ask if it’s the students or the school that bears the cost of the staff accompanying the students. Different schools have different policies but in the ones in which the students pay, their per head cost rises as they are paying for each extra individual accompanying them. Sometimes students also pay for things they really do not need or barely utilize. For example sometimes they pay a lot of money for rented music system and CDs. These things are not obligatory and I feel a trip could be made if these luxuries are avoided. So I would ask Mr. Green if there were things that really were not being utilized and could be removed. This would also help reduce the overall cost of the trip. I would also ask if it was possible for the school to sponsor it. This would of course encourage more students to participate especially when it is free of cost. I would also ask if the school had earlier made any attempt in getting a school trip sponsored by a private organization. There are many organizations and individuals who do sponsor students and schools when they lack the resources to make it successfully happen. Making an effort to get it is the first step and then eventually someone comes helping out. I would also inquire if the school provides financial assistance to those who really need it like maybe a fatherless child. It becomes very hard for a single mother or a family with many children to send their children for such trips. So is the school doing something about it would be my question. These were a few questions I prepared to make myself familiar with the budgeting process for field trips (Morris, 2010). The interview was scheduled to take place in the school’s meeting room. It was generally used to train staff and was also for weekly staff meetings. However I would just be interviewing Mr. Green without any other staff member involved. On the day of the interview I got to the school on time and waited for Mr. Green. He soon came in and after settling down I started interviewing him. Interviewer: So tell me Mr. Green, how many field trips does the school makes annually? Interviewee: I would say about six to eight per year. Interviewer: Could you inform me what generally is the average cost per student? Interviewee: on average each student pays around $120 to $130 dollars for each trip. Interviewer: Usually do all the students go or is it just a small percent? Interviewee: Not all but generally 75% students do go. Interviewer: Who prepares the budget for these school trips? Interviewee: It is the administrator and his staff that makes it. Interviewer: Are the costs overestimated or taken at its actual price? Interviewee: It is slightly overestimated but not by much. There have been occasions in the past when the school had to bear the additional expenses incurred so we decided to overestimate them. Interviewer: Who pays for the staff accompanying the students? Interviewee: okay let me tell you how it works. First we try to find out how many students would actually go. Then we estimate the total cost of the trip. When the cost is forecasted then we divide it by the number of total people going (students and teachers). So it is among the students that the cost of teachers is divided. Interviewer: What type of expenses do you normally encounter? Interviewee: Well mostly it’s the meals, transportation, music system, accommodation and things like that. Interviewer: Do you think sacrifice some things like music system or maybe cheaper accommodation so that it becomes more affordable? Interviewee: Well we have not thought about it as we think music is something that keeps the students calm especially during long journeys. They eventually get tired of talking to each other and that is when music helps them. We have not looked into cheaper alternates for accommodation yes but that is one thing we can consider to get the budget down. Interviewer: Has the school approached any sponsor to sponsorship some of the field trips? Interviewee: No not yet. Interviewer: does the school provide financial assistance to students coming from a separated or single parent family? Interviewee: We have thought about it and are still working on it. The problem is that during these hard times there are many families that need financial assistance. We are working something out so that the neediest benefits from it. Interviewer: Thank you Mr. Green that will be all. Thanks for your time. Interviewee: You are welcome. The interview with Mr. Green was very conducive as it gave me a proper insight to how budgets were prepared and followed by the school. Later I analyzed the interview to see what could be done so that other students could benefit too. The school made around 8 field trips every year according to Mr. Green. The cost of each trip was nearly $130. So this means parents spend about $1040 just in field trips every year. For some families this amount is ridiculously high and this is the reason they hesitate to send their children. One alternate is to reduce the amount of field trips to half maybe. In the field trip book by Ronald Morris I studied that a school should not make more than 4 trips to balance out fun with lessons (Morris, 2010). If field trips are restricted to the amount Morris has suggested than the annual cost would be around $520, which still sounds affordable (Morris, 2010). I also found out that there was no need to overestimate the expenses. According to Don Hansen in his cost accounting book, expenses are kept higher in organizations where there are lots of products and people involved. For a school dealing with just sixty to seventy students, this kind of an estimate was not required. In average about $10 to $15 had to be paid extra because of this budgeting technique. I feel that school should bear the responsibility in case a loss is suffered. It was not fair for students to pay that extra precautionary $15 for nothing (Hansen, Mowen, & Guan, 2006). I also penetrated that it were the students who had to pay for the teachers as well. This again adds up to their cost. The school should carefully look into this matter especially when so many children are not able to go. It should either be the school or the teachers who should bear such kind of a cost. In the book ethical school leadership, Spencer Maxcy has given examples of such situations. According to Maxcy a school should analyze each and every detail that brings discomfort to students. Those problems should, step by step, be eliminated and newer techniques should be discovered to tackle such problems in the future. She also said that school should try to work in accordance with the parameters of standard ethics and try to set examples for the students. To function ethically I feel the school should have to look after this problem (Maxcy, 2008). I also feel some of the unnecessary expenses should be given up to make the field trip less costly. I agree with Mr. Green when he says music is important as it helps to calm down students and make them feel relaxed. However I feel it is more important to include more students for the feel trip even if it means to sacrifice the music system. These things are not the ultimate needs for a field trip and the trip could be equally successful with or without them. Andy Leeder in her book tips for trips makes a very good point. She says things considered priority should be fulfilled rather than things that might not come in handy. She says the purpose of the trip has to be fulfilled in order to make it successful. The purpose of field trips is to facilitate students with their research. Hence students are the point of focus and should be a priority for the school rather than a music system (Leede, 2003). The school could also try to find some sponsors to sponsorship the field trips. This would help to facilitate especially those parents who find it hard to fund their children. For this they will have to find out the companies and individuals who fund these types of activities. In the interview with Mr. Green I found out that the school had not approached any sponsor yet and if they make an effort it could lead to more students participating in the field trips (Kelly, 2010). These were some of the things I learned and analyzed after reflecting on the interview with Mr. Green. I learned a lot about the budgeting process and how it could be improved to help students (Kelly, 2010). Reference List Hansen, D., Mowen, M., & Guan, I. (2006). Cost Management: Accounting & Control. Ohio: Cengage learning. Kelly, M. (2010). The Everything New Teacher Book: A Survival Guide for the First Year and Beyond. Massachusetts: Adams Media. Leede, A. (2003). Tips for Trips. London: Continum Publishing Group. Maxcy, S. (2008). Ethical School Leadership. Maryland: Rowman and littlefield Publishers. Morris, R. (2010). The Field Trip Book: Study Travel Experiences in Social Studies. New York: Information Age Publishing. Read More