School Funds Management - Coursework Example

School Funds Management School Funds Management Misappropriation of School Funds Although school administrators are charged with theresponsibility of managing school resources, several cases of fund misappropriation have been witnessed in the entire countries. In most of these situations, it is the school principals who violate the educational policies and use the school moneys for their own projects. Even if the law is very clear on how effectively school funds especially the federal grants should be used, a lot of principals have, in their conscious minds, opted to violate such stipulations. Instead, they have been using these resources on the projects of their interests. However, since it is condemned by the law, any of these administrators who have been proven guilty has had to face the full wrath of the law (Konyama, 2013). In 2013, Mr. Trevor Courtney, the principal of Mascenic High School was charged for misappropriating the federal grant which had been allocated to his school during the 2012/13 calendar year. Although the money was meant to cater for the predetermined foundational and categorical programs, the principal decided to redirect the funds to other uses. By doing this, he was contravening the laws which require that such grants should not be used for any other project rather than the specified ones. Despite his vast wealth of experience in the teaching profession, Mr. Trevor decided to use this money for providing incentives and rewards to the school employees and students. In other words, a total of $3,800 was used to purchase Neuxus 7 tablets, iPods, iPads, visa and prepaid cards for the employees. Besides, he used a lot of money to acquire various school equipments such as flat TV screen, refrigerator, drier, Viking stove top and washer. Moreover, he extravagantly allocated huge sums of money for staff development tours which were organized in different parts of the country. By acting in such a manner, Mr. Trevor was violating the rules governing the use of federal grants in schools. As an administrator, he failed to acknowledge that the law is quite categorical on the way such grants should be spent. In fact, he should have known that it is against the federal spending policies to use school grants to buy incentives and rewards for the school employees. At the same time, he was very wrong for channeling these funds to the purchasing of school facilities and taking teachers to expensive motivational tours. This was a clear sign of the misappropriation of federal grants which had been allocated to his school to help in supporting the smooth flow of education. Therefore, what he did was not appropriate since he was contributing to the wastage of school resources which would otherwise be used to benefit the deserving learners rather than pleasing a small number of teachers and employees. Due to this misconduct, Mr. Trevor was sacked immediately the completion of investigations and auditing of school financial records. The other incident that captivated my attention was the embezzlement of the federal grants for Roosevelt High School, Dallas, Texas. As an irresponsible school principal, Dr. Leicha Shaver failed to channel federal grants to the appropriate use. Instead, she contravened the law by diverting the funds to unintended purpose. Instead of using the funds for the right purpose, she took a total of $2,000 of this grant funds and gave it out to the learners during the infamous student award ceremony in which her learners grabbed a lot of cash money and bagged numerous awards such as gift cards and electronics (Milakovich & George, 2007). On the other hand, she was found to be guilty of using school resources to provide her relatives and close friends with stipends which as non-school employees, they did not deserve whatsoever. This was not only a sign of nepotism, but also an abuse of office and misuse of public funds. Otherwise, as a concerned school administrator, Dr. Shaver was supposed to appropriate utilize these funds for the intended purpose. However, what she did was a sign of irresponsibility and violation of the violation of the laws governing the expenditure of federal grants for public schools. In each of these cases, the government, through the Department of Education suffered a huge financial loss. By mishandling school resources, these principals were not only reaping the school district off its resources, but also directly contributing towards the diminishing of education provision to the American children. Therefore, they deserved to be subjected to the due process of the law and be made to account for their actions through fining and imposition of appropriate and justifiable punishments. In fact, the teachers should not be engaged in misusing school funds. They are properly remunerated personnel. In Arkansas, elementary school teacher earns an average of $44,000 while their high school counterparts bag $54,000. On the other hand, middle school teachers earn $46,000annually. This demonstrates that school teachers and all the other employees are properly paid. Therefore, no administrator is justified to embezzle school resources whatsoever (Button & Provenzo, 2009). For instance, Mr. Trevor and Dr. Shaver were misguided for using school revenue to motivate teachers and other categories of school staff. It was a sign of irresponsibility. Risk Management in Arkansas In Arkansas, public schools still depend on the federal government as one of the most reliable and guaranteed sources of funding during each year. However, there are other sources of revenue which are got from the state government, local taxes, school levies and donations from well wishers. Each of these comes from individual Americans’ contributions either through taxation or donation. Therefore, there is need to put up measures to properly utilize them for the intended purpose. Meaning, the school administrators charged with managing them should be accountable at all times. However, in case of such fraudulent activities, the following measures are taken: i. The District School Management Board and School Management Boards are charged with oversight mandates to check on how school finances are used. For instance, in Pulaski County Special School District, the School Management Board has authority to participate in the school budgeting process. Before the budget is sent to the ministry, the board, through its chairperson, should review it and endorse it. However, the same oversight role should continue even during the implementation of the budget to ensure that funds are used as anticipated. ii. The other important strategy used to prevent any financial risks in this district is the institution of Financial Risk Management Committee. This committee is doing a very crucial role in helping to review any case of financial misuse which might be suspected in any school. Its existence helps in preventing school administrators from any misconduct because they do not leave anything to chance. iii. Putting in control appropriate control measures to ensure that the federal grants are appropriately spent. The school district has succeeded in achieving this by implementing an organized grant management strategy to help in guiding school administrators on how to spend the federal grants (Konyama, 2013). This helps in preventing any cases of misuse, theft and wasted of funds in public schools in Pulaski Special County School District since it compels the school principals to spend the grant in line with national policies and guidelines. References Button, H. Warren & Provenzo, E.F., Jr. (2009) History of Education and Culture in America. Prentice-Hall. Konyama, J. (2013) ‘Global Scare Tactics and the Call for US Schools to Be Held Accountable.’ The American Journal of Education. Vol. 120, No. 1 (November 2013), pp. 77-99. Milakovich, M.E. & G. George (2007) Public Administration in America. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Read More