Perspectives of Central Office Staff, Principals, Teachers, and School Site Councils on Resource Allocation and &quot;Budgeting for Student Achievement&quot; Implementation in 2010-11. A Report Prepared for the Los Angeles Unified School District
Author: Haxton, Clarisse L.
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Districts,School Councils,Educational Change,School Funds,Principals,Resource Allocation,Program Implementation,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Central Office Administrators,Academic Achievement,Research Reports,Strategic Planning,Interviews,Statistical Distributions,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Performance Factors,Educational Equity (Finance),Funding Formulas,Educational Finance,Budgeting,School Surveys

As part of the evaluation of the Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR) project (called Budgeting for Student Success, or BSA, in Los Angeles Unified School District), the American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted surveys of principals, teachers, and members of School Site Councils (SSCs) to gather information on their attitudes and perspectives regarding key components of the BSA model. AIR also conducted interviews with central office staff and Pivot Learning Partners (PLP) staff involved in BSA implementation to gain insights into the successes and challenges they experienced in 2010-11. Based on the authors' surveys of principals, teachers, and SSCs, a substantial percentage of principals and teachers perceive resources to be inequitably distributed across schools. Their findings indicate that principals in BSA pilot schools may have been more aware of the inequities than principals in non-pilot schools. Across pilot and non-pilot schools, both principals and teachers reported understanding how resources were allocated to their schools. The survey findings highlight several positives about BSA implementation. The vast majority of principals and teachers felt they had discretion over how school funds were spent and had the autonomy to meet the instructional needs of their students. Pilot principals reported greater autonomy over their school budget and instructional program than their non-pilot peers, and they reported that they have district support for developing their school budget. With respect to transparency about budgeting and resource allocation, teachers and SSC members reported understanding how resources are allocated to schools and reported that they had an opportunity to provide input into developing school budgets. Based on their interviews, there were several successes in implementation of the BSA initiative during 2010-11, including the following: (1) an expansion in the number of pilot schools; (2) an increase in flexibility at the school site over the use of categorical resources; (3) an increase in budget transparency;  (4) progress towards changing the district's planning and budgeting calendar; and (5) providing initial planning and budget-related trainings to BSA pilot principals. There were also several implementation challenges and lessons learned in 2010-11: (1) Leadership and staffing are critical; (2) It is imperative to have a clear message and consistent communication with the central office staff and outside the central office to principals, teachers, SSCs, and community stakeholders about the BSA reform to facilitate understanding and buy-in; (3) Adequate support and training of both central office and school staff are needed to build capacity and buy-in for BSA implementation and ownership over the BSA approach; and (4) Well-developed tools are critical to facilitate budgeting and planning in the BSA model, and shifting from the old system to a new, pupil-based budget system is more complicated than district officials had anticipated. Appended are: (1) BSA SSC Survey; (2) 2011 BSA Interview Protocol for Central Office and PLP Staff; and (3) Graphics of Survey Findings. (Contains 1 table, 15 figures and 10 footnotes.)