Episode 34: Introduction to school budgets

Today we're going to talk about school budgets, what's included in them, what's not, and what you'll need to do to prepare them.

 

My guests are:

• Hannah Levy, Ministry of Education finance advisor – Otago/Southland
• Mārama Stewart, former tumuaki and Ministry of Education leadership advisor
• Adrian Edwards, Ministry of Education finance advisor.

 

This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.

 

You can learn more about this topic by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz

 

Show notes

Episode themes:

• Principals need to prepare their school’s budget, and their  board signs it off.
• The FISH (Financial Information for Schools Handbook) has a handy annual financial table with key dates around statutory deadlines and requirements for reporting.
• Your budget is based on your total income, but many of the items in that total income are tagged for usage.
• General categories included in your budget, and what’s not included.
• What to think about when you’re preparing the budget.
•  

 

Additional information

Pourato https://applications.education.govt.nz/pourato

Funding and financials https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/funding-and-financials

Day-to-day financial management including link to Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH) https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/funding-and-financials/day-day-financial-management#paragraph-9126

Kiwi Park training model https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/administration-and-management/school-annual-financial-statements#paragraph-5782

 

Questions

1:06 [Hannah] Can you remind us where new tumuaki can go to understand what they need to know about school finances.

 

1:55 [Hannah] When it comes to a school's budget, what are a principal's responsibilities?

 

2:28 [Hannah] In terms of preparation of the school budget, what does a principal need to do?

 

3:49 [Hannah] Does Pourato have information about staffing in it as well?

 

4:27 [Hannah] What are financial delegations? What does that mean?

5:25 [Hannah] You touched on the FISH there, the Financial Information for Schools Handbook. In the FISH there's a basic kind of annual financial timetable. Is that something that you'd recommend a new tumuaki take a look at to make sure they're doing everything they need to be doing? 

 

6:08 [Hannah] And that timetable also outlines some key dates around kind of statutory deadlines and requirements for reporting. What are those statutory deadlines and requirements for financial reporting?

 

6:56 [Adrian] What is a school budget at its      most basic level? 

 

10:08 [Adrian] What does the budget outline, what are the general categories?

 

11:12 [Adrian] Is there anything that's not included in a school's budget?

 

12:20 [Adrian] What about fundraising and things like that, would that be included in your budget?

 

13:22 [Hannah] What should a tumuaki and the board be thinking about when they're preparing the school's budget?

 

14:38 [Mārama] When you were getting your head around the budget process in your schools, how did the budget process work?

 

18:12 [Mārama] And what kinds of things did you think about when you were preparing that budget, in terms of      what you prioritized and how to make that all work?

19:35 [Hannah/Adrian] Did you want to add anything about depreciation?