Dollars and sense: a budget-building framework of transparency for superintendent leadership

Abstract

School superintendents annually need to gain affirmative votes from their governing bodies to approve their district budgets. This paper proposes a framework through which the superintendent can express the district’s educational needs and concomitant resource allocations in conceptual terms rather than in multi-columned ledgers. The framework calls for transparency, the involvement of all stakeholders and simplicity. It posits the superintendent in the vital leadership position of being the catalyst for orchestrating change for continuous improvement across the district. Components of the framework include repositories for concepts including: staffing, programme improvement, curriculum development and capital outlay.