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?