Budget Whirrings

Budget time again. Actually, we began our preliminary budget discussions back in February for the next year. There is always so much to consider: from provincial initiatives to district initiatives right down to the money spent in schools. Because we first look at the provincial education plan, then filter that down into the district and finally into the schools, we have a pretty good idea of what we will be spending our money on each year.

That is not the problem. The problem comes when enrollment projections let you down or government spending is cut. Then every school needs to shift spending, always trying to balance the budget. Our school division prides itself on planning for the future and coming as close as we can to our projected enrollments. We are lucky in that our budget is as our treasurer likes to put it - transparent. That means we must be open to criticism, at the school level and at the district level. This criticism assists us in making decisions and forces us to think ahead and to think outside the box. I have learned so much in the last 3 years and I can see where I still need to go.

At this point in the year, I am working at two ends - providing a balanced budget to central office for discussion as well as planning the staffing and focusing my spending on the projects that are most important for our school.

Up to this point, and for the past two years, I've been saying to anyone who will listen that reading is our big deal at my K-9 school. I've also been living it. At first, we had a reading expert come in and instruct us in reading and being reading teachers. During this time, we also designed our reading program. In the beginning, only a few staff were open to the idea, but as results started to manifest themselves and become evident, more an more of the staff and parents were buying in. I know that there is always room for improvement, but I can see that next year, we will be ready to go in September and our tiered reading groups will be formed in late June. That only leaves the newcomers to be tested and put into the tier groups.

We won't stop there. Next year, we hope to begin working on the writing and the math, building intervention strategies for those as well. We have the model now - we just need to expand it into other areas.

As for my virtual grade 7 - 12 school, we are working on high school completion and critical thinking. I'll save that for my next blog.