Executive Summary
School funding significantly depends on the economic state of both the state and the whole country. In turn, taking into consideration that COVID-19 has affected the economy of the entire world, budgeting is expected to decrease significantly in the next several years. In order to determine the direct impact of budgeting management on schools, the Brooklyn Latin School is considered in this research study. In fact, the combination of personal interviews, surveys, and questionnaires was used in this case with the purpose of collecting data. Analysis of responses received from both students and educators demonstrates that it is possible to raise attainment on a school budget by reducing reliance on local property taxes and making schools more sustainable.
Introduction
As one of the most crucial parts of any schoolās activity planning and control system, budgeting is an effective tool that is used to provide high-quality educational services. In spite of the fact that financial resources do not have a direct impact on the educational process, they significantly affect access to education and teacher performance. For instance, a vast amount of money should be spent on administrators, materials, and facilities on a regular basis to offer children the opportunity to improve their knowledge in different areas. In order to determine the role of budget management, this article takes into consideration the Brooklyn Latin School. Opened in 2006, this educational institution is widely known as one of the best public schools in New York City. It is based on complex budgeting management and planning, which is why it would be useful to analyze this school from the perspective of budgeting practices.
Literature Review
The legal right to an equal education has been discussed since the end of the past century. At the present time, it is believed that all people, regardless of their gender or socioeconomic status, should have the same rights to education (Martorell et al., 2016). Nevertheless, school funding is still considered one of the main issues in the country, thereby resulting in inequity in education. In other words, this problem is a major contributor to low student achievements and poor educational performance (Weisburst, 2019). For example, it is assumed that a 10% decrease in a schoolās budget has the same influence on student outcomes as āreplacing an educational facility full of average educators with all educators in the bottom 10% of candidatesā (Conlin & Thompson, 2017). Accordingly, school funding is linked with school achievements, which is why it is important to invest a large number of financial resources in schools.
Moreover, school funding is strongly associated with the potential earnings of students. In fact, the salaries of adult Americans who were studying in well-funded schools are 7% higher than the salaries of people who were educated in educational institutions with poor funding (Brunner et al., 2021). It can be explained by the fact that schools that experience budget cuts do not have the opportunity to hire an appropriate number of highly qualified specialists and utilize essential educational resources. In turn, well-funded schools meet the educational expectations of students by offering updated educational technology, art supplies, and extracurricular activities (Jackson et al., 2015). Even though teachers from schools with poor funding usually aim to replace the lack of appropriate resources with creative teaching strategies, students still suffer from a low level of educational foundation.
Currently, the process of public school funding in the U.S. is dependent on federal, state, and local governments. Simultaneously, when it comes to the proportion of financial investments, nearly 47% of school funding relies on the state, whereas 45% of financial resources are received from local governments (BenDavid-Hadar, 2018). Finally, the federal government takes responsibility for the rest of the funding. In other words, American educational facilities are mainly sponsored by the state and local government. Taking into account that school funding depends on taxes, educational institutions located in wealthier areas are more likely to be sponsored better than those from poor states (Lafortune et al., 2018). Such a considerable disproportion in school funding across the country is perceived as one of the primary national issues presently.
Poor level of school funding is the main reason why representatives of educational facilities are required to make larger classrooms. For instance, the majority of schools experiencing issues with funding have classrooms including over 40 students (Hong & Zimmer, 2016). At the same time, such a high number of students in the same class cannot be served in an appropriate manner. It is usually recommended to place no more than 18 students in the same classroom to offer educators the opportunity to dedicate attention to each student (Gigliotti & Sorensen, 2018). Consequently, poor school funding is the main contributor to larger classrooms.
Despite the fact that the economy of the U.S. has already managed to recover after the Great Recession, it is currently impacted by the negative consequences of COVID-19. The outbreak of this pandemic has made local and federal governments cut school funding by at least 8%. However, it is predicted that the amount of financial resources will be minimized even more in the next several years. For example, a total of $50 billion in education budgets are expected to be reduced due to economic losses caused by COVID-19 (Gerrard et al., 2017). As a result, it will cause a significant decrease in student achievement levels. In addition, approximately 750,000 teaching positions are predicted to be eliminated (Lee & Polachek, 2017). Thus, it is essential to note that school funding will become a significant social issue in the near future.
Methodology
In order to determine the role of budget management in educational settings, it is important to use the quantitative approach that is based on an analysis of numerical and statistical processes. In this case, assessment of the impact of school funding issues requires the identification of responses of both students and school employees. Hence, interviews and surveys should be used to achieve this goal in the first place.
In the context of the survey population, a total of 807 students and 31 educators were taken into consideration. Firstly, questionnaires were used with the purpose of collecting different types of data. It consisted of 5 open-ended questions and 18 closed-ended questions regarding the direct impact of budgeting on the quality of educational services (Vargas, 2017). Secondly, educators were also required to give personal interviews in order to share information related to budgeting management. To analyze the data received with the help of interview sessions, it is vital to follow a specific algorithm (Sharma et al., 2019). In fact, this algorithm includes a combination of actions, such as reading the transcripts, conceptualizing the data, segmenting received information, and analyzing those segments.
Results & Discussions
The findings of this research study demonstrate that the Brooklyn Latin School is likely to face considerable educational issues due to the overall decrease in budgeting costs across the whole country. However, there are effective interventions that can be implemented in order to raise attainment on a budget. For instance, it is important to strive for parental engagement, constantly monitor test knowledge, as well as consider collaborative learning as a tool to engage struggling students (Proston, 2017). In case these recommendations are followed, the Brooklyn Latin School would be able to recover from the outbreak of COVID-19 with minimal financial losses. Furthermore, it is predicted that school funding will increase in the next five years. It can be explained by the intention of school representatives to reduce reliance on local property taxes and make schools more sustainable (Noble et al., 2020). The five-year operating budget plan for the Brooklyn Latin School is presented below.
Revenues
Expenses
Conclusions & Recommendations
Subsequently, school funding determines the quality of educational services from different perspectives. In case the school lacks appropriate financial resources, it is required to take appropriate measures to develop plans for future syllabus, instructional procedures, and guidance services in a limited way. In addition, cutting budgeting is predicted to result in the lack of highly qualified educators serving their functions in schools, as well as the lack of appropriate educational resources. Taking into consideration that the global pandemic has affected the economy of the U.S., the Brooklyn Latin School and other American schools are expected to face considerable financial losses. Therefore, it is essential to use the combination of several interventions related to the increase of budgeting costs.
For instance, it is recommended to strive for parental engagement, constantly monitor test knowledge, as well as consider collaborative learning as a tool to engage struggling students. Also, reduction in reliance on local property taxes and making schools more sustainable are effective interventions in terms of increasing budgeting costs. As a result, educational facilities would be able to improve the quality of provided services, thereby increasing student outcomes.
References
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