Finance and Budgeting in Public Service Sectors
- Online and asynchronous
- This course will require between 7-10 hours of work per week
- Workload Rating: Standard
Wood, R. C. Thompson, D. C., & Maiden, J. A. (2023). Money and schools (8th edition). Routledge.
This book is available to purchase from:
- amazon.ca (Kindle, hardback, & paperback)
- the ebook is available to rent or purchase from VitalSource
Course Description
This course introduces students to educational finance and explores how funding reflects values of educational systems. It explores different approaches to budgeting used in organizations (line-item; percentage add-on; zero-based; planning, programming, and evaluation systems; performance-based; school site; outcome-focused; and student-based budgeting) and will include a range of practical activities such as budgeting for different areas (such as human resources, instruction, student activities, infrastructure, transportation). Participants will use evidence-based decision-making to analyze funding decisions within formal spaces such as schools, and informal spaces such as community organizations.
Learning Outcomes
The primary learning outcomes for GDE/PME 862 are as follows:
- Students will be able to use finance terminology and explore the relationships between schools, values, and money.
- Students will be able to summarize eight common approaches to budgeting.
- Students will be able to prepare a budget based on specific contextual factors (revenue, expenditures, programs).
- Students will be able to apply budgeting models to human resources, instruction, and student activities, understanding implications of resource allocation strategies.
- Students will be able to apply budgeting models to infrastructure, transportation, and food services and understand the legal liability, risk management, and fiduciary responsibilities of leaders.
- Students will be able to analyze funding in a climate of change, school choice and public education, and implications of tax-funded public service sectors to equity issues.
- Students will be able to evaluate different perspectives, demonstrate openness, and navigate the complexity that comes with multiple perspectives.
Assessments
Discussion and Case Study Analysis Posts
All Modules (50%)
Team Debates
Each debate will have two teams of 2-3 students (one team of 2-3 for affirmative, one team of 2-3 for opposing). Topics will be distributed, and teams can sign up for the debate that interests them most. There will be 3 posts for this assignment that happen concurrently across Modules 1, 3, and 5.
Modules 1, 3, 5 (30%)
Final Assignment
Choice of two assignments (5 pages not including references):
- Budget Activity: A budget for a school district is provided that requires cuts to programming. As a leader, you will need to decide a rationale for what is cut and also explore the implications for three different stakeholder groups (choice of parents, teachers, students, community organizations, policymakers/ ministry of education).
- Policy Issue: You will explore a policy issue through the lens of finance and resource allocation.
Module 5 (20%)
How does this course support learners outside K-12 teaching contexts?
This course outlines foundational principles of financing large, complex organizations. It provides an overview of the budget triangle (revenue, expenditure, program). Eight approaches to budgeting used in organizations are explored (line-item; percentage add-on; zero-based; planning, programming, and evaluation systems; performance-based; school site; outcome-focused; and student-based budgeting). Understanding these different approaches to budgeting is important to learning the skills to plan and implement a budget in any organization across sectors.
Each student’s professional practice and goals are unique. We highly encourage students to reach out to their course instructors at the start of the term to discuss the relevance and application of course learning and assignments to their own learning goals and context of practice.