The School Library Media Manager, Chapter 9—On the Job: Managing the Budget

The School Library Media Manager, Chapter 9—On the Job: Managing the Budget

There are several ways that budgeted money can be distributed—a specified amount can be given per school or a designated amount allotted per pupil. Library media programs may have to compete with art, music or physical education programs for a share of this money. The school district’s budget is planned out the year before and usually the superintendent presents the proposed budget to the school board for their approval.

            “Public schools can be defined as service institutions, but measuring the quality of their services can be difficult.” (Woolls, 148) Between the struggling economy and the poor performances on state mandated tests, many people seem to think that the schools aren’t succeeding. Well-known businessman, Peter Drucker thinks this is because the schools haven’t had to earn the right to exist. They were just given the money to run their programs through property tax revenues. But with the struggling economy, tax payers are demanding better results on the standardized tests and holding educators responsible for the outcome. Budgets for schools are shrinking each year and that of course, affects the library media program.

            School districts may have different ways of showing the expenditures but many use line-item descriptions. “This means that each item of the budget is placed on a line next to the account number and the description of that item.” (Woolls, 147) Usually they will show the preceding year’s expenditures, the current year’s expenditures and the next year’s expected expenditures. Library media specialists should find out who in their school is in charge of the budget, consult them and ask any questions, in order to make sure the budget is completed correctly.

The Fiscal Year

All ordering and processing of the orders should be done before the end of the fiscal year or the LMS will lose that money for the year as well as have the same amount charged to next year’s budget. The library media specialist needs to work closely with the person in charge of the school’s budget to make sure everything is ordered, processed and charged in a timely matter and allocated correctly. Each LMS should be aware of everything purchased, so if there is a discrepancy at the end of the year, the LMS can challenge it. It would be terrible for band uniforms to come out of the library’s budget!

Writing Specifications

            Being very specific when writing up orders (especially technical equipment orders) and including as much as you can about the items you wish to purchase will help ensure that you receive good quality equipment. Different companies may bid on the contract, so you must be diligent about making sure the equipment is what you need and that it is high quality so they will last. If the equipment provided is not high quality then the LMS must write up the reasons for rejecting the contract and for sending the equipment back. This can take more time so being very specific from the start will hopefully help the LMS receive the right equipment the first time.

Cost Accountability

            Figuring out the cost of equipment and services are important to help discern future budgets but also to prove to parents and students the value of the library media program. The author uses an example of the cost of the books circulated. In her example, if the average cost of a book is $24 and 200 of them are circulated each week for nine weeks, teachers and students have borrowed 24 x 200 which equals 4,800 x 9 which equals $43,200 worth of books! Another good reason to calculate the cost is if a library needs an extra clerk, by figuring out how much it costs the LMS to check-out books as opposed to a clerk, the money saved could be calculated and the position justified. This is especially important if the LMS is not able to collaborate with teachers or help students because there is no clerk to do the more mundane tasks.

            Whether or not the LMS is in charge of the budget or not, they must take an active role in pursuing the funds they need to keep the library media program functioning at peak performance.

Writing Proposals

            Sometimes the money needed to expand the LMP is not in the school’s budget and a well-thought out, detailed proposal can sometimes be used to solicit more funding.  This proposal might be for local funding, state funding or even national funding and it might even be included in a bigger proposal that involves more than one school.

            The key components of a good proposal should include the specific needs, goals and objectives, a plan of action, an evaluation plan, a list of facilities and available resources and a budget plan. Enlist other teachers, library media specialists and even your principal to help evaluate the need. Also, look at other schools and districts to see what they in place as a comparison to your school’s media center. Providing facts and examples will help give the money people a better understanding of what you are trying to do and where and how the money will be used. Make sure all your goals and objectives are able to be measured or at the outcome predicted. Write a “step-by-step plan of realistic activities to meet the objectives and alleviate the need.” (Woolls, 155) When writing a proposal, a LMS should always include relevant data to support their choices and include a timeline whenever possible.

            There needs to be a plan in place for evaluating the activities. This isn’t always easy and asking someone who specializes in measurements and tests might be a good idea. They can help the LMS build a specialized evaluation plan. The LMS should be ready to present a presentation on the project to the appropriate group of people, in case he or she is asked. They must also be willing to share information with others like parents or the newspaper and television media. More than likely the public relations person at the district level will handle this, but the LMS should be prepared just in case the need arises.

            Be sure to include a description of the space available for the implementation of the proposal and any additional resources that are available. Everyone working on the project must be listed and any added staff must be listed as well. Job descriptions, resumes, length of time that they would work on the project must all be included, as well as permission to use the person’s name that is listed on the proposal. If at all possible, try to enlist people who have worked on other similar projects, so they are known to the people who are funding the project.

            It’s important to anticipate all the costs, so there are no surprises at the end. Make sure you have the support of the school district so they won’t reject the proposal after all your hard work. It’s important to pay attention to detail and stay on top of deadlines. Make sure to include all pertinent paperwork. Attention to detail will help the proposal not be delayed.

            Whether or not the proposal is accepted, it gives the LMS an opportunity to practice writing and presenting a proposal and eventually, a proposal is bound to be accepted.

            I can’t say that I am looking forward to writing proposals, but I think it is a challenge that I will have to face, and I know I can do it with the help of others. It’s important to know how to plan and implement a budget. I used to have to do this at Borders, so I already have a little experience with budgets.

Citation:

Woolls, Blanche.  The School Library Media Manager.  Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.