source: www.chaffey.edu

I teach a graduate course in School Finance. The culminating project for the class is for students to work collaboratively to design their own school. The sky is literally the limit… The caveat is…they must be able to apply their learning from the class on budgeting to their new school. I was so impressed with their school presentations. I defiantly saw their learning from the course as they discussed the nuts and bolts of a school…

After each presentation, I asked them to reflect on the experience and discuss any hurdles they encountered during the process. Almost everyone mentioned that the budgeting process was the most difficult. In addition, they reported that it was equally challenging to justify financing their ideas…. The lesson in this experience, for me, is that we are faced with the same task everyday. Granted, we do not have an unlimited budget in most school districts, but sometimes an unlimited budget is not really what it appears…

What do you think? If you could design your own school, how would you explain your budgeting process? This makes me think of the Cosby Show from the 1980’s when Cliff had to show Theo the importance of a budget, costs, and….. life…

Enjoy …