RUNNING HEADER: BUDGET ANALYSIS PART TWO

Budget Analysis Part Two: Cougar Connects

Thomas Caggianelli

PEDU – 625

Longwood University

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Goals

As a result of the budget analysis needs assessment and discussions that took place in

Part I of my Budget Analysis paper, the most important need that could be addressed at the

actual school level would be more data-driven decision making in budget development. As

mentioned previously, Manassas Park High School is allocated $179,104.34 to the Cougar

Connects program. Within this allocation that has been set aside for the program, $45,000 goes

towards non-capitalized technology and software. The rest of the $134,104.34 is set aside for the

director of non-traditional education and the program manager of non-traditional learning. The

issue comes up that other accounts have been utilized for the program.

Having the account fully organized in Keynet, the software used by the school district,

will utilizes data during the development of the budget would be a key step to make sure that all

the allocations are being used in the most efficient means. If Manassas Park High School cannot

show that the Cougar Connects allocations are being spent efficiently, there could be loss of

additional funding for the future. Thus, organizing Keynet so that all the lines in the Cougar

Connects can be understood through data by any level would be key.

Finding and implementing where the money is being spent and how much by data used

after the first year of the program would be much more realistic to where it is now in the high

school. The program would need to take the data from what is being spent in the program, and

turn it into useful financial information, such as collecting how many students are using which

program and how much that costs. This data would allow for the accounts to user-friendly for the

director of non-traditional learning and the administration to be able to see where money needs

to allocated, and where it does not to be. This is because there is a possibility that all the

principals and administrators that are involved may not have a strong finance background and

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having a program in place that can be used by all, no matter their background, will be very

important.

Distributed Leadership in Goal-Setting

Upon talking to the Director of Finance, one thing that should not be done in organizing

the software is to not create anything new. While it is important to make sure that expenditures

are as accurate as possible, creating new lines would be wasteful. The best practice would be to

use the template from another program that has been in use for a while. Since the school uses

Microsoft Excel to organize their accounts, copying a template should not be difficult to do.

Upon copying the template, copying the formulas would have to be done as well. Lines within

the Excel sheet can be added based on what the line distinction would be.

After copying the template from the Special Education department and inputting the data

from the Cougar Connects program, and lines for expenditures when needed, it was then sent to

the bookkeeper to evaluate how easy it was understood, before it was confirmed by the principal.

At first the feedback was positive, yet the principal felt as if a few lines could be added together

or be more detailed. This was understandable, since many times within the district, if a program

has been allocated a certain amount of money due to grant from the federal government or

program, it may be under the non-traditional learning account, yet used for the entire secondary

campus. With this suggestion, the director of non-traditional learning and I decided to go back

and detail each expenditure. With each detailed account, we were able to run our idea not only

through the principal, but also the assistant superintendent of learning and assessment. He

appreciated the transparency of the lines and agreed that this would allow more students to be

able to use some of the software that was to be purchased, as well as a better understanding of

the staff that needed to be involved.

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Fiscal Accountability

As reported in Part One of the analysis, the actual amount of money that is used for this

program is relatively unknown, thus why having an organized account with detailed lines is

important. All that was given to the public was that $179,104.34 was put aside for the Cougar

Connects program, yet the actual amount was not known, since money was being taken from

elsewhere to cover the costs of the push-in teachers, home-bound staff, and the instructional

assistants that are involved within this program. In order to justify the amount spent for the

program, these expenditures should have their own line within the Cougar Connects’ account.

This needs to be drafted within FY2019 so that when FY2020 budget development comes

around, the amount of money spent in the program would be much more accurate. This would

show that the school is serious about resourceful with the money allocated to this program and it

also shows a strong commitment to be fiscally responsible.

Once the district officials see how the account is organized, these officials can start the

process of transferring data from the previous year. Some data from the past may be from the

FLIP program, which was the non-alternative program prior to Cougar Connects. With this new

organizational system, the school can see where money has come from and where it is being

spent much more readily. This new system has been recognized and adjusted on how the

director of finance tracks the accounts. As of now, the account has been updated within Keynet

to look like:

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Community Resources

This project was much needed for upper school management, and communication

between central office and the high school. Especially the Cougar Connects program since that

is where the allocations are going. With a new organizational structure, the Director of Non-

Traditional Education has a much more in depth access to his financial data. This should allow

the director to have more opportunities to help in the budget development. This is very

significant because it brings about the understanding of what the needs are and why the

director’s input needs to be taken seriously. This would also allow more than just the principal

and the bookkeeper to analyze the budget and what should be done.

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Final Thoughts

After sifting through this analysis, I never truly understood the amount of work that needs

to be put into the budget development process. I never fully appreciated how much the principal

impacted the budget of their school. The Director of Finance creates the template for a school’s

budget, but the principal truly fills in the pieces. Within the last seven years, the school has gone

through three principals, but only one bookkeeper. This shows that consistency can be attained

regardless who is in charge. Having the same bookkeeper, and keeping things consistent proves

that the school has the fiscal responsibility.

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References

Interview with Finance Director [Personal Interview]. (2020, March 23)

Interview with High School Principal [Personal Interview]. (2020, March 13)

Interview with Supervisor of Non-Traditional Learning [Personal Interview]. (2020, March 12)

I have neither given nor received help on this work, nor am I aware of any infraction of the

Honor Code. ~Thomas Caggianelli