EDLD 5342 School Finance Week 5 Parts 1, 2, 3

EDLD 5342 Week 5 Part 1

When identifying situations regarding administrator ethics as they relate to financial issues in education, Dr. Arterbury stated in the EDLD 5342, Week 5 lecture, “It is almost impossible for anyone to

illegally take money or resources from a school district without ultimately being caught. The checks and balances of the system are virtually foolproof. Invariably someone knows what a violator is doing. We all know that doing the right thing is the right thing to do.”  With that in mind, I have chosen five standards from the Texas Administrative Code Educators’ Code of Ethics, (TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 – Section 2) that I have seen abused or upheld by educators.

When looking at the standards in Texas Administrative Code Educators’ Code of Ethics, (TAC, Chapter 247, Rule 247.2 – Section 2)  1) Professional Ethical Conduct, Practices and Performance the general ethical conduct is relatively easy to correlate to issues regarding finance.  For example,  (H) Standard 1.8. The educator shall apply for, accept, offer, or assign a position or a responsibility on the basis of professional qualifications.  This standard can be violated when an administrator in a district contracts with an unqualified family member or friend to fulfill a role or service in a district.  An example of this occurred when a central office administrator hired a family member to provide professional development/consulting services to a low performing high school.  The family member was not qualified to provide the training and technical support, as they did not have the training or academic credentials required.  Furthermore, in this instance the family member was paid at a rate that exceeded the acceptable fee for like in kind services.  Consequences for the administrator in this situation were termination, loss of administrator certification, and legal charges that resulted in incarceration.

(E) Standard 1.5. The educator shall neither accept nor offer gratuities, gifts, or favors that impair professional judgment or to obtain special advantage. This standard shall not restrict the acceptance of gifts or tokens offered and accepted openly from students, parents of students, or other persons or organizations in recognition or appreciation of service.  When my son was in high school, his swim coach provided coaching to team members outside the school day.  The parents, out of gratitude, tried to present him with an expense paid family trip for spring break.  The coach did not accept the trip because he did not want to have any ethics violation.  While he would never have let this gift impair his professional judgment, he was holding himself to a standard so that nothing could ever be questioned.  Those educators who find themselves in violation of this standard, at the least lose credibility in their particular area and at the most find themselves facing legal consequences.

(C) Standard 1.3. The educator shall not submit fraudulent requests for reimbursement, expenses, or pay.

An example of the violation of this standard occurred when a supervisor over an extended day program at a local middle school, paid teachers for hours they did not work.  The supervisor allowed teachers to “pad” their timecards with extra hours or fill out time cards for payment when they did not work at all.  The supervisor in this instance was fired by the district and the teachers who participated were required to repay the money they received.

The Standards in the Texas Administrative Code of Ethics (2) Ethical Conduct Toward Professional Colleagues are more difficult to relate to finances.  (E) Standard 2.5. The educator shall not discriminate against or coerce a colleague on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, disability, family status, or sexual orientation. A violation of this can occur that affects finances when a supervising administrator discriminates against an employee and it is reflected in their salary.  An example occurred when a Superintendent for a local education agency hired a female principal at a salary less than her male predecessor when both had the same qualifications and experience.  The female principal filed gender discrimination charges against the superintendent and won her case.  Her salary was set at the higher rate and she was reimbursed for the back pay she should have received.  The superintendent was forced to resign.

 (F) Standard 2.6. The educator shall not use coercive means or promise of special treatment in order to influence professional decisions or colleagues. I have seen the abuse of this standard by a central office administrator who used state compensatory education funds to purchase technology items as a reward to cam\puses and principals who cooperated with efforts to promote the administrator’s initiatives.   Because the funds were spent on items that were not acceptable purchases with state compensatory education funds, the district was audited by the Texas Education Agency.  The administrator in this situation received no negative consequences, as a result, and continues to reward teachers, administrators and campuses with the allocation of goods and services based on personal favors. 

I agree with Dr. Arterbury’s statement in the EDLD 5342 Week 5 lecture when he says, “I firmly believe that reflection is a key to personal professional improvement and success…” In following a practice of self-reflection and using the SBEC Superintendent Competency 1  indicators  a superintendent or administrator can keep themselves free from questions.  The indicator I consistently reflect upon from this competency is:

Is ‘this’ what is best for kids?  (serve as an advocate for children)  I have found that if I run any idea, situation, or expenditure through that filter, I will always make the ethical decision.  Doing what is best for all children is why I am an educator.  It requires me to do all the additional Competency 1 components.  Because of kids I will model and promote the highest standards of conduct, make sure I understand the ethical policies and procedures, take action when there are ethical issues that impact education, apply those laws and policies fairly and reasonably, and interact with all stakeholders in a professional manner.

Part 2

In EDLD 5342 Week 1, I responded to the DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10 , Competency 8 Area:  The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application, with the following responses:

The superintendent knows how to:

Week 1	Competency	Week 5
I	apply procedures for effective budget planning and management	C
I	work collaboratively with board of trustees and appropriate personnel to develop district budgets.	C
I	facilitate and evaluate effective account auditing and monitoring that complies with legal requirements and local district policy.	C
I	establish district procedures for accurate, effective, ethical purchasing and financial record keeping and reporting.	C
I	acquire, allocate, and manage resources according to district vision and priorities, including obtaining and using funding from various sources.	C
C	use district and staff evaluation data for personnel policy development and decision making.	C
C	apply knowledge associated with personnel management, including requirements related to certifying, recruiting, screening, selecting, evaluating, disciplining, reassigning, and dismissing personnel.	c
C	manage one's own time and the time of others to enhance district operations.	C
I	develop and implement plans for using technology and information systems to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of school district operations.	C
C	apply legal concepts, regulations, and codes as required.	C
I	use revenue forecasting and enrollment forecasting to address personnel and budgetary needs accurately.	C

Following the interviews, lectures, assignments, and collaboration with my cohort team members, I would re-evaluate myself by changing all my “I” responses (improve my knowledge or skills) to “C” responses (competent).  In this course, I have learned that my colleagues are a valuable resource.  My interviews with the superintendent and the Director of Finance regarding the current budget issues and the assignments in this course were beneficial and a great learning experience.  My cohort members all rallied together to problem solve, communicate and support each member of the cohort team.  From this course, I have really learned that superintendents must work together to problem solve and communicate with one another in order to handle the specific issues they are presented with on a daily basis.  No one person can know everything and superintendents must depend on trusted colleagues and district experts for help.  I cannot move any of the week 1 “C” rated competencies to “S” (strengths) because of two reasons.  First of all, I learned that in order for these competencies to become strengths I would need much experience working with the specific details, so I think it would be impossible to rate them as strengths without much more experience.  Secondly, I am not able to rate any as strengths because the course did not really guide me to learn the content at the depth I thought it would.  I realize that much of the information in Finance will need to be reviewed over and over again for me to really process it as Dr. Stephens stated in the EDLD 5342 Week 4 lecture.  However, the technology and course product problems interfered in my ability to learn the material. 

Part 3

In reflecting on the School Finance EDLD 5342 course, I have learned as much about myself and my cohort members as I have the topic of school finance.  From the Competency 8 Self-Assessments, I have learned that there is still so much I need to learn about the school district budget and finance process.  For the most part, this information can only be acquired through experience.  I have learned that working with an experienced, ethical Director of Finance is essential to a school district operating effectively in financial decisions.  From the lectures and interviews, I have learned that communication and transparency with the Board of Trustees and the stakeholders is critical to helping everyone understand the processes and decisions.  From the weekly assignments and activities, I have learned that without the collaboration of competent, caring team members problems cannot be solved.  A superintendent must have a network of colleagues with which they can discuss, problem solve and share.  That is what happened for me in this course.  The problems we encountered with the coursework resources, communication issues, and posting problems, made us work together more, talk more and problem solve as a team.  I am now (not then) thankful for the problems.  The problems forced me to reach out to others and not work as an individual.  Lastly, the wiki and blog postings have been somewhat repetitive.  I find the use of the wiki and blog very beneficial, but the repeated posting to the courseware and then to the personal sites has been repetitious.  As I reflect, I am sure that superintendents have to repeat the same information many times to many different groups – making sure that they are consistent.  In that way, this process was helpful to me in that it made that process real.