Mirror Lake Media Center Budget MEDT 6461 Budget Project

Kimberly Ward

Proposed Three-Year Budget for 2018-2019 / 2019-2020 / 2020-2021

Mirror Lake Elementary school is located in Douglas County and has been open for sixteen years.
The student population at Mirror Lake Elementary School has decreased the last several years and
currently is at 468 students consisting of 40% African American, 39% Caucasian, 10% Hispanic, 5%
Multi-Ethnic, 5% Asian, and less than 1% American Indian and Pacific Islander. With Douglas County
becoming a Google district starting this school year, 2018-2019, the county is providing Mirror Lake
with Chromebooks, 1 for every 2 students. This will be a great addition to the seven laptop carts
containing 28 computers each that is already in use at the school. At this time, Mirror Lake does not
have any IPads for student use. Also, the school does not have a S.T.E.M. lab. The current media
specialist plans to create a Makerspace area in the media center this year that will provide a space
for students to collaborate, use various technology, and practice engineering skills to help support
STEM standards.

Last year the media specialist at Mirror Lake flipped the library from books organized by authors’
last name to books being grouped by genres. In doing this, the media specialist realized that the
sports and graphic novels sections were sorely in need. Also, with the push of STEM in the
classroom, STEM books need to be purchased along with updated science and social studies books.

The Accelerated Reader (AR) program is also a huge school-wide initiative used to purchase books
for students. Students at Mirror Lake are required to checkout two AR books on their Lexile at a
time and regularly take and pass AR tests at 80% or higher in order to meet the school’s 30 book
goal by the end of the year. Each month students are able to earn various prizes, such as,
bookmarks and pencils if they are on track to help motivate them to keep reading. Students with
the two highest number of AR books in each class receives a medal at the end of the year awards
ceremony. All the students who meet the school’s 30 book goal get to attend the end of the year
waterslide party. The waterslide is rented by the PTA. Fundraising is also done twice a year through
Scholastic Book Fairs. It does not cost the school anything to run it other than time. The book fair is
very successful at Mirror Lake due to student interest in the media center and reading.

The yearly library budget for Mirror Lake Elementary is $7,000. The state of Georgia allots every
elementary media program $5,000 a year. In addition to those funds, the media center receives a
total of about $2,000 annually from the two book fairs conducted throughout the school year.
Decisions regarding media center initiatives, funding, and spending are made by the media
committee, which is made up of six teachers, one teacher from each grade level, and one
administrator. Budgeting and money spent is also decided on by teacher and student input.
Teachers are encouraged to send emails regarding materials and resources they would like to see
added to the media center. These books are typically selected based on the state standards and
information related to topics taught in the classroom. There is also a jar for students to place book
request in that they would like to see added to the media center’s book collection. Below is the
proposed three year budget for Mirror Lake Elementary School.
Mirror Lake Media Center Budget MEDT 6461 Budget Project

Kimberly Ward

2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 TOTAL

Print Materials
Books $2,150 $2,200 $3,050 $7,400
Periodical / Magazine $500 $500 $500 $1,500
Subscriptions

Digital Materials
Ebooks / Online Subscriptions $1500 $1500 $1750 $4,750

Equipment
iPad (10 each year) $1,500 $1,500 $3,000
iPad Cases (10 each year) $250 $250 $500
Video Camera $300 $300
Green Screen/Lighting $100 $100
Microphone (2) $100 $100
Headphones (10 each year) $100 $100 $100 $300

Makerspace
Arts/Crafting Supplies $300 $300 $300 $900
Legos Core Sets $250 $500 $750
Snap Circuits $500 $500

Administrative Supplies
Book Covers, Label Covers, Office $300 $300 $300 $900
Supplies, Incentives

Total $7,000 $7,000 $7,000 $21,000

PRINTED MATERIALS:
BOOKS:

The school needs to purchase various books in print, fiction and non-fiction, yearly to be used
with our Accelerated Reading program that is implemented throughout the building. A focus
will be on graphic novels, sports, STEM, and current science and social studies titles. Teachers
may request books based on the interest and curriculum needs of the students to support the
content standards. Books are also purchased each year for the Reading Bowl.
Mirror Lake Media Center Budget MEDT 6461 Budget Project

Kimberly Ward

MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Magazines such as Scholastic News, Time Kids, National Geographic kids, Sports Illustrated for
Kids, are all magazines that students enjoy reading for interest, because the content applies to
them. This is a way to encourage reading for students who are not novel readers. They can
check the magazines out or read them in the media center when visiting with their classes.

DIGITAL MATERIALS:
EBOOKS & ONLINE SUBSCRIPTIONS:
With all the new technology being added to the school, there is an increased need for eBooks
and online subscriptions. EBooks will give students the availability to read books not provided in
print in the school library. They will be able to login to the database and read the book from any
ereader device whether at school or at home. Also, SWD and ELL students will benefit from
eBooks due to the read aloud option provided. Online subscriptions are needed for sites such as
Encyclopedia Britannica Online and PebbleGo to help support teaching and learning the state
standards within the media center and the 21st century classroom.

EQUIPMENT:
IPADS & CASES:

In order to keep up with the demand of 21st Century learning, ten IPads, five each year, will be
purchased for checkout and to use in the media center makerspace. Students will use the IPad
for reading eBooks to help meet the school’s Accelerated Reader goal, research, coding, or just
for fun. They will also be used to access APPS to support state standards that are not available
on a regular computer or Chromebook. The cases are needed to help protect the IPads from
damage.

VIDEO CAMERA, GREEN SCREEN, LIGHTING, & MICROPHONES

The video camera, green screen, lighting, and microphones will be used in the media center and
available for classroom checkout for various projects and presentation to support state
standards and 21st century learning.
Mirror Lake Media Center Budget MEDT 6461 Budget Project

Kimberly Ward

HEADPHONES:

Headphones needs to be purchased to replace the ones broken over the years. They should be
available for students use with the new Chromebooks or any other device. Teachers will be able
to check them out on an as need basis.

MAKERSPACE:
ART & CRAFT SUPPLIES:
This school does not have a STEM lab or a makerspace in the media center, therefore, one
needs to be created for students to make creative projects tied to literature using arts and craft
supplies. The majority of these items are consumables and need to be replaced each year.

LEGO CORE SETS & SNAP CIRCUITS:

Lego Core sets and Snap Circuits will be added to the makerspace over the next three years.
These two items would provide students with the opportunity to learn coding and engineering
skills to support STEM learning while practicing problem solving skills and meeting state content
standards.

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPLIES:

BOOK COVERS, LABEL COVERS, OFFICE SUPPLIES:

The book and label covers are bought to repair books to help make them last longer. Office
Supplies are needed to keep the media center running.

INCENTIVES:
Various items need to be purchased as incentives for meeting the Accelerated Reading
program, such as, bookmarks, pencils, and medals. It is a huge push for every student to meet
this goal in order to increase reading fluency and comprehension.