TEA Budget Guide

The Texas Education Agency Budgeting Guidelines contains important information regarding budget procedures. The guidelines were published in 2010. According to the preface, budgeting involves the process of allocating resources to the prioritized needs of the district. In Section 2.2, TEA focuses on the objectives of the budgeting process. The Governmental Account Standards Board checks on financial reporting that provides information pertaining to whether current-year revenues were sufficient to pay current-year services, whether resources were obtained and used in accordance with the entity’s legal adopted budget, and assist users in assessing the service efforts, costs, and accomplishments of the governmental entity. Focusing on these objectives ensures that budget preparation and concepts will center around accountability. These concepts require that budgets be balanced so that current revenues are sufficient to pay for current services, and be in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local mandates and requirements, and give a basis for the evaluation of a government’s service efforts, costs, and accomplishments. The budget guideline covers all things needed in the financial world regarding the education budget. This guide provides excellent framework to anyone wanting to learn about budget.


Reflection:

I am pretty familiar with the campus budget process because I am currently a secondary campus principal. I have served in this position for the last two years and immediately discovered that communication is a vital key in maintaining the budget. On many occasions, I have visited with central administration (finance department) about federal, state, and local guidelines that involve budget. In two years, I have made some significant adjustments in understanding the budget and the praises go to our finance department with just giving detailed information about why procedures must be done in a certain way. Our district has a wonderful finance department that focuses on TEA budgeting guidelines. They have procedures in place to ensure that we are meeting those guidelines requirements. Those conversations with them have been, beneficial because as I looked and read over material in the budgeting guidelines, it helped me recall prior information received from the finance department. Like other districts, we are facing a budget deficit and must make some crucial decisions for the future. We currently use line-item budgeting process and we are making careful decisions that will benefit our district and campuses.