Principals in Prince George’s County Public Schools set the course for their campuses — but only have say over 2 percent of the school’s budget. That figure would jump to 50 percent under a proposal from Superintendent William Hite.
The primary goal of the new plan is to “weight” funding coming from central office to schools, based on at-risk populations and high-need classrooms. But another prong allows principals, once they receive these weighted funds, much more discretion over how to spend them.
They can’t paint the walls hot pink or cut vegetables from the school menu, but principals could make decisions about whether to beef up the English department or hire more math instructors.
Traditionally, county schools have received central-office dollars based on student enrollment and staffing ratios.
“That formula did little to address students’ and schools’ diverse needs,” said Hite in a letter to parents and the community dated Monday. “It’s a simple fact that every school is not the same. For too long, however, our funding system suggested otherwise.”
Termed “student-based budgeting,” the alternative formula establishes a baseline per-pupil figure before weighting for low-income and English language-learner parents, as well as kindergarten, first grade, and sixth through ninth grades, which officials feel need more resources. In addition, both low-performing and high-perfoming schools will receive more resources per student.
Student-based budgeting is already piloting in eight schools this year, with principals figuring out their budget proposals for fiscal 2013. But officials want to expand the system to all TK schools so that they can hit the ground running next year.
“Right now we hold principals accountable but really give them no flexibility in the needs of students,” said Matthew Stanski, the district’s chief financial officer.
Principals are receiving some training on student-based budgeting each month, alongside their supervisors, and central office has already met one-on-one with 40 percent of principals. Stankski said that “some don’t need it,” but that training can range from how to efficiently schedule a school, to comply with state regulations, and can involve using Microsoft Excel to plot a budget.
Despite school officials’ enthusiasm, not everyone in the community was thrilled to hear of the budget switch-up.
“We’re talking about millions of dollars that will be thrown into the hands of a principal who has never managed a budget,” said Bob Ross, a member of the county’s PTA and the president of the Prince George’s County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “I think they need to let the pilot program run for another year to see what results are coming out of it.”
Schools are submitting their initial proposals to central office this month, and Hite will present his proposed budget to the school board in December.
Prince George’s County Public Schools face a roughly $43 million budget shortfall for next budget year as both enrollment and tax revenue drop. The new funding formula would not affect the size of the budget request, just how the money is used, Stanski said.
