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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Survey: Oakland principals like to control their own budgets | The Education Report



"A survey of Oakland principals by a local advocacy group found support for the district’s unorthodox, largely decentralized school budgeting system, known as RBB; it also found that one-third of the principals surveyed didn’t feel prepared or equipped to run their entire school budget, as they’re expected to do."

Here is a summary of the findings, straight from the memo:

• 93.3% of principals surveyed value having decision-making authority over their school site’s budget

• 93.1% of principals surveyed responded that if budget cuts have to be made, the principal with the school community should have the primary responsibility for making these decisions

• 86.4% of principals surveyed prefer to have control over the number and type of positions at their schools (principal with community decides staffing instead of according to central office formulas)

• 82% of principals surveyed believe that changes to OUSD’s budgeting system are necessary

• 77.8% of principals surveyed believe that General Purpose dollars should be equitably distributed among all OUSD students

• 67.3% of principals surveyed feel that they have the ability, or are prepared, to completely run their entire site budget, including personnel decisions