Board Goals

Statement of Principles

This Board is committed to the principle and practice of involving all stakeholders in the important process of educating our students. Together we can develop and nurture their enormous talents. Together we can prepare our young people to cope with the challenges of the 21^st Century.

This Board pledges itself to developing policies and supporting programs that are focused on ensuring student achievement in a well-disciplined school environment. This Board will exercise its oversight responsibilities to ensure that staff measurably enhance student learning and provide for well-disciplined schools in which learning can take place.

This Board will expect students to do their part in their own education. It will expect students to actively pursue their studies and promote the learning of others by behaving in an orderly and respectful manner. This Board recognizes that learning self-discipline is a part of growing to adulthood and it accepts partial responsibility for helping students mature. However, it will not tolerate student acts that result in constant disruption and/or damage to others and will deal with them forcefully to ensure an orderly school environment.

This Board is committed to working cooperatively with the parents and families of our students. Parents and families play a central role in the development of our students. We expect them to do their part in encouraging learning, regular school attendance, good work habits, and self-discipline in their children.

This Board continues to look to the community for financial support for the important job of educating our young people. However, financial support is only a small part of the community's role in schools. We expect and will encourage our community to assume ownership for its schools. To that end we invite community participation in school governance. We encourage volunteerism and business partnerships for the mutual benefit of our students and communities.

Providing quality education to the students attending the Cleveland Heights University Heights City School District is far too important an undertaking to be left to the schools alone. Parents, families, community members and students must join this Board and its staff if we are to be successful in preparing our young people for successful and productive lives in the 21^st Century.

This Board continues to be committed to achieving "Excellence in Learning through Excellence in Teaching." The Board's Goals for Fiscal Year 1998/99 are a continuation of the goals established last year, as follows:
 

1. To ensure a quality education in support of our communities' commitment to quality integrated learning.

2. To prepare students for full participation in community life. The Board is emphasizing competency and proficiency in basic studies and targeting test results for measurable improvement.

3. To develop a wide range of alternatives for students who are unable to conform to the District's high standards of conduct.

4. To ensure that each student is capable of mastering assigned work at the highest level of instruction he/she is capable of undertaking, the District will improve standards for promotion, retention and student placement.

5. To support the P.S. 21 process of involving community and staff in the development of a new long-term comprehensive plan for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District.

6. To promote better communications between schools and their stakeholders by

• Developing and implementing a proactive schools' marketing plan

• Increasing opportunities to communicate with our public with a particular emphasis on listening to their concerns about and suggestions for improving schools.

• Develop and implement a "customer relations" program.

• Enhance staff understanding of and commitment to the mission and goals of the District.

7. To focus program and staff development activities on the following:

• Enhancing student achievement in the basics.

• Identifying and implementing best practices to ensure student achievement (particularly at the pre-K-5 level).

• Developing and implementing a plan to increase the effective use of technology to improve learning and teaching.

• Providing a systematic program enhancement and enrichment for gifted and talented students in the regular classrooms in our elementary schools.

• Ensuring the effective implementation of the State's new special education policies and procedures.

8. Continue multi-year fiscal planning to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of District programs and services with special emphasis on:

• Working cooperatively with the Board's Lay Finance Advisory Committee.

• Developing and implementing a program-based budget for the School District.

• Maximizing the potential of the District to obtain alternative sources of funding for District programs and services.

9. Develop a comprehensive technology plan in order to access State SchoolNet and SchoolNet Plus funds. The comprehensive technology plan will identify the information system infrastructure, the hardware and software used by the initial implementation, and the schedule to be followed during the implementation.  

The Fiscal 1998/99 budget will continue the use of a modified program budgeting approach so that costs associated with educational programs can be monitored to ensure compliance with the objectives and priorities of the system.

The process of attaining the "site-based" or "school-based" management also continues this year. The process places more decision-making authority, and attendant responsibility, with the managers and personnel responsible for achieving the results required in the School Board's strategic and action plans--school principals and staffs and department/program managers and staffs.

Because we will have finite resources, guidelines are established at the system-wide level. These guidelines are specified in Section 7, Planning Guidelines for Developing the 1998/99 Budget.

The necessity of overall limits increases the importance of quality decision-making at the school and operational level where managers and staffs have the information and perspective to ensure that limited resources are used effectively to achieve the required results.

The roles of managers and staffs in using this knowledge is as follows:

• Identify the required results in each planning/budgeting area.

• Determine the strategies and approaches to achieve those results.

• Identify the goods and services required in each program and activity.

• Estimate the dollar values of the required goods and services.

• Establish priorities to ensure that budget limits are maintained and that the highest level of results is achieved.

The Budget Office is ready and eager to assist any budget manager in developing the budget request.

The proposed 1998/99 operating budget will be developed in accordance with budget guidelines developed by the Superintendent.

The guidelines address constraints, assumptions, and specific procedures for budget development. They are specified in detail to enable budget managers to approach budget requests with a realistic perspective.

A. CONSTRAINTS:

The constraints that affect the 1998/99 budget are as follows;

1. State Aid. State basic aid will not increase.

2. Federal Aid. It is anticipated that the amount of federal aid available to Cleveland Heights/University Heights Public Schools will not increase.

3. Local Income: The property tax levy passed in November, 1996, will generate approximately $7 million dollars.
 

1. Membership. Annual enrollment projections prepared by the Department of Pupil Services are used for preparing the 1998/99 school-based budgets.

2. Class Size and Ranges. Teacher staffing will be adjusted according to enrollment projections. The average class size and range guidelines are as follows:
 

3. Staffing. Staffing level recommendations will be established by the Superintendent. Enrollment data, class sizes, budget requirements, strategic priorities, staff advice, and other factors will be considered in the development of the recommendations.

4. Contingency Funds. A system-wide enrollment adjustment allocation will be provided. Financial needs will be dictated by enrollment shifts or increases after receipt of the October 1997, ADM. In addition, a general contingency fund may be recommended to the Board.

5. Special Education. Special education programs will be provided as mandated by local, state, and federal guidelines.

6. Program Evaluation. Program evaluation will focus on achieving system-wide and school-level objectives; decisions on program reduction, expansion, or elimination will be based on such evaluative data.

7. Equipment. Equipment, furniture, and vehicle purchases will be limited to replacing items that are beyond repair, scheduled for replacement, and/or critical to the educational program.

8. Facilities Rehabilitation. The capital improvement budget will reflect approved projects on the basis of priorities.

9. Facilities Maintenance. Adequate funding will be provided to maintain a safe, healthy, instructionally effective, and energy conscious school environment.

10. Building/Staff Use. The use of buildings and staff is reviewed annually by the Superintendent's staff and revised as needed for planning and budgeting purposes.

1. Funding Level. Principals and budget managers will be required to develop non-personnel budgets at allocation levels four percent (4%) higher than those provided in Fiscal Year 1998/99, per the direction of Dr. Masem, Superintendent.

The allocation limitations are as follows:

Schools: Per-pupil allocations for supplies, services, equipment, furniture, and postage have been increased by four percent (4%) for Fiscal 1998/99.

Requests for additional personnel, goods and services, and capital outlay may be submitted on the appropriate forms. Supplemental requests will not be considered for funding unless accompanied by appropriate Impact Statements and Justifications incorporating the rigor required as listed below.

Impact statements (justifications) are required for all supplemental requests as per item #3 below.

The information required in each impact statement is as follows:

Exact number(s) of persons affected, by type

Specific identities of persons affected

Students - by grade level(s) and/or subject area(s), as appropriate

Staff - by specific job assignment(s)

Specific identification of instructional or other service(s) affected

Special needs requests are to be written on a separate form and submitted to the appropriate Associate Superintendent who will review the requests and recommend which are to be submitted for funding consideration.

D. SCHOOL BUDGETS:

1. Per-Student Allocations. Allocations for materials, purchased services, postage, and capital outlay are as follows:

2. Per discussion with the Superintendent, there will be no separate allocation for furniture and equipment. The allocations shown below are to be distributed as needed between all non-salary accounts and budget transfers between all non-salary accounts within the same fund will be accepted.
 

The October ADM's of the FY 1997/98 membership will be used to extend the per-student allocation to determine total building budgets. Membership used for per-student allocations is as follows:
 

SCHOOL		MEMBERSHIP (amended 11-11-97)
Boulevard		339
Canterbury		455
Coventry		437
Fairfax		417
Gearity		304
Noble		391
Oxford		408
Roxboro		373
Elementary Subtotal		3,123
Millikin (Pre-School Special Education)		59
ELEMENTARY TOTAL				3,182
Monticello		514
Roxboro		587
Wiley		541
MIDDLE SCHOOL TOTAL				1,641
Heights High		2,168
Taylor Academy		121
HIGH SCHOOL TOTAL				2,288
DISTRICT SUBTOTAL				7,112
Cooperative Programs
Bellefaire School		103
DISTRICT TOTALS				7,215

Note (1) - Both estimated revenue and expenditures exclude restricted funds received under the provisions for Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid.

Note (2) - The impact of HB 650 on other types of revenue, such as tuition charged to other school districts, is not yet known.

Note (3) - Amounts that could be transferred from self-insurance funds, now fully insured, including amounts that could be utilized to fund the required budget reserve.

Note (4) - Projected appropriations are reduced by estimated encumbrances ($450,000) and by an additional one-half of one percent to approximate future expenditures.

Note (5) - Estimated amount required to be set aside as budget reserve per HB 412.

Date Prepared: May 11, 1998