Week 5, Part 3: Final Reflection and Lessons Learned

Throughout this course I have been continuously assessing and reflecting on my knowledge in Competency 8, in regards to being able to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application. The knowledge that I have received in this course is invaluable to my growth as a current campus and future district leader. This growth is demonstrated when reviewing how I scored my self-assessment from the first week, and how it has changed after completing it during the fifth week of this course. At the beginning of this course, when completing my self-assessment, I scored myself mostly in need of improvement in all but a few areas. This was due to my lack of experience in school leadership and therefore a lack of exposure to district finance, budgeting, and fiscal responsibilities. While I feel that I have grown exponentially in my knowledge in relation to Competency 8, I believe I can score myself no higher than “Competent” in these knowledge and skills. I believe this to be true because this is only my second year as a campus administrator, and I fully believe in order to rate any of these knowledge and skills as a “Strength” I must have experience in actually practicing them on a daily basis. While I can definitely see a direct correlation between the “transfer of learning” that must take place for me to move from an effective campus administrative position to that of an effective district-wide leader, in order for my knowledge to grow from “Competent” to an area of “Strength,” I need to gain real-world experience in dealing with knowledge and skills associated with Competency 8.

Accessing the lectures, interviews, readings, and resources were critical to understanding the concepts in this course. Through the lectures and interviews I have gained understanding on what a “goal driven” budget is and why it is important. I have learned about some valuable resources that the TEA website contains, such as the various sections within the TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM RESOURCE GUIDE, and the information included within it. Of most benefit to me were the face-to-face interviews I was able to hold with my district’s Superintendent, and Chief Financial Officer. Interviewing them allowed me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what fiscal responsibility looks like, how it is implemented, and what their (Superintendent and CFO) roles and responsibilities are. Another key understanding I gained in these interviews was how important communication with stakeholders is throughout the process.

Each week during this course I feel that I have grown exponentially through my participation in the required activities. I have learned about school finance history, how it has evolved, and how litigation has helped to form our current finance system. I understand how the terms equality, equity, adequacy, and economy of scale are related to finance. I also have learned the following acronyms and their meanings: ADA, WADA, M&O, and I&S. I’ve been able to practice and learn why a goal driven budget is important, and how funds should be allocated based on district goals towards student achievement.

Posting reflections and key understandings on my blog, as well as posting comments on others’ key understandings, has helped me to grow and learn what is required in this course. One of the most important components of this course was the utilization of the group wiki process. I was placed in a wonderful group of dedicated individuals, who were devoted to growing and improving our learning using a collaborative approach. I felt my group was unique in that we are located in various parts of the state, are from large and small districts, in which some members have a few years of administrative experience and others are experienced administrative veterans. From my experience in this course, this made for a versatile group of educational professionals that provided an optimum learning experience.

Overall, this has been a very demanding course for me as School Finance is not high on my interest level. But, as a school leader and future district leader, this course has increased my interest in School Finance, as well as has provided essential information that is important to my successful continuation in the profession.