1

School Budgetary Needs Assessment Survey

Shayla Williams

College of Education

Grand Canyon University

EAD-510: Education Finance

Dr. Angela Smith

June 26, 2023

 2

School Budgetary Needs Assessment Survey

Faculty and staff are amongst the most important stakeholders whose input is needed for the

comprehensive school needs assessment. Their roles and positions directly effect and reflect in the

lives of students. Faculty and staff members spend at least one-third of each school day with students.

They work closely with all students throughout the day to provide rigorous and meaningful

instruction, promote cultural inclusion, close the achievement gap, and develop global citizens. Their

input in the school budget and the comprehensive school needs assessment is imperative because no

one in the school spends more direct time and understands the needs of the students better than the

faculty and staff.

In addition to faculty and staff input, parents and guardian feedback should be considered just

as prominently. Parents and guardians are one of the other major influencing forces in the lives of the

students we teach. The Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, standard eight states, “Effective

educational leaders engage families and the community in meaningful, reciprocal, and mutually

beneficial ways to promote each student’s academic success and well-being,” (PSEL 2015). Their role in

our students’ lives is to love and support beyond the curriculum of the classroom, to develop humans

who are well-rounded people and global citizens, and to enrich, encourage, and guide students to

achievement and success. In the textbook, The Principals Guide to School Budgeting, the author writes,

“Parent representatives must also reflect the diversity of the student population. Among those

populations to be considered are parents of children who speak English as a second language, have

special needs, have special gifts and talents, or come from a variety of socioeconomic situations,”

(Sorenson and Goldsmith, 2018). Parents and guardians are the people closest to our students. They

are responsible for cultivating learning opportunities at home. The input of parents and guardians on

the school budget and the comprehensive needs assessment is imperative and essential because they
 3

know our students intricately, and their input is an educational investment and a proactive action in

the learning process (Nguyen, 753).

The most important group whose input and feedback should be considered are the students’.

The students are directly affected by each and every decision made about their education, and any

alteration made to the educational system. The students are directly affected by the budget, the

structure of the system, and each collective success or failure. Who better to tell us what students

need and what is working or needs improvement, than the students?

By listening to students and considering their input and feedback in the development

of the budget and needs assessment, we create an avenue of operational communication with

students and build relationships with them concerning their own education and our ability to

implement instruction effectively. Considering student input and feedback on budget, resources, and

support also allows students an opportunity to invest and buy-in to educational strategies which

directly effect all stakeholders involved.

Key data that should be considered in the school budget and comprehensive school needs

assessment should begin with test scores and standard analysis for each student. Areas of academic

strength and instructional weakness, both collectively and individually, should be analyzed based on

student state test scores, cumulative district assessment, and classroom records. This will allow

educators and administrators to know which areas of instruction and strategies are effective and

which are in need of modification and improvement.

Other data that should be considered is non-curriculum based, but equally important. The way

the community feels about safety and structure of the school directly corresponds to the success and

achievement of the student population collectively and individually. The comprehensive needs

assessments is a reliable resource to provide substantial data about the quality of living within the

school community, what resources are needed, and what resources can be removed for
 4

ineffectiveness and funds used somewhere else. School climate directly effects school achievement

and analyzing this type of data could change and improve the state of education in a school

indefinitely.

Mariah Kornbluh writes that “those in better-resourced private schools perceived their school

climate more positively concerning safety, teacher–student relationships, and discipline than students in

less-resourced public schools” (Journal of Urban Affairs, 2019). Students comprehend better than any

other stakeholder group what is needed to improve education and assess the quality and ability of the

school.

The input of faculty, staff, parents, guardians, and student population are all essential and

imperative to the development of an effectively implemented budget. The comprehensive needs

assessment can be an effective tool to collect the data needed to execute these strategies. It will help

assess and address the strengths and shortcomings of the current budget and the resources in use.
 5

Click HERE for the SCHOOL BUDGETARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY.

 6

References

Kornbluh, M. (2019). Untold student stories: Examining educational budget cuts within urban school

settings. Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/07352166.

2019.1607748

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author

Nguyen, L., Duong, N., Dinh, H., Nguyen, M., & Nguyen, T. (2021). The role of parents on their children’s

academic performance. Management Science Letters, 747–756. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/

10.5267/j.msl.2020.10.032

Sorenson, R. D., & Goldsmith, L. M. (2018). The principals guide to school budgeting. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Corwin.

School Budget Needs Assessment Website Address: https://forms.gle/THkPdpoiFhZwRqpEA