School budget

[Fangsalot89]

Does anyone know if you can request to see a breakdown of the school budget by department? It’s a particular dept I’m actually interested in.
The school website doesn’t show this and I wasn’t sure if it’s something that’s well out of bounds for a parent to ask to see.
It’s a CofE state school rather than private.
Thanks

Can you check the governor minutes on the website, if it is a large expense they may have had to agree the expense

@ineedaholidaynow that’s not a bad idea thank you!

Or if the minutes aren't on the website you can ask to view them

@ineedaholidaynow brilliant thank you! I’m so clueless about this 🤣

[quote Fangsalot89]@ineedaholidaynow sadly that doesn’t sound like what’s happened. It’s plausible I guess but the information I’ve been given is leaning towards more of the budget being used for this thing. Our school is quite hot on naming donations but then I guess they could have asked to be nameless ☺️[/quote]
Has money been spent on something that isn't for the school? It's up to the HT how they spend the total funding they get, unless the school is in deficit or not providing something it has I don't think it's right for parents to be questioning how the money is spent. That's what the governors should be doing

Or it could possibly have been bought with Sport Premium funding, again should be on the website

Some fundings can be carried over from a previous year.

I'm a chair of governors and would happily welcome a discussion on something like this with a parent......as long as it was a calm and measured discussion.....not a rant at me. We have nothing to hide as governors and the more interest parents take the better.

You will probably find the money spent had to be ring-fence for the certain thing....e.g. sports premium has certain constraints on the spending, catch up funding, money to support covid efforts- e.g. some of that could be used for IT to support home learning.....etc

Just call them and ask.

Something it might be is sports premium is ring fenced and quite a lot of money so even though there are no books you have to find something vaguely sports related to spend it on.

[quote Fangsalot89]@admission Thank you. I’m interested to know the budget allocation for a particular subject in a primary school vs an expense which I find totally pointless.[/quote]
Realistically, a primary school budget isn't going to get that granular, because primaries don't have "departments"/"subject" budgets in that sense.

All a budget will tell you is how much is spent on various types of staffing (teachers, TAs, etc) and then running costs split into buckets. There won't be "department" budgets - there isn't a budget for English, PE, Spanish etc. It's very possible you won't even be able to identify which bucket the item you are interested in falls into.

A subject in a primary school?

£50-£200 per anumn

Only the governors on the finance committee will see budget breakdown at the level you are requesting.
You are looking at one tiny aspect of budget whereas the HT runs the whole budget and makes decisions accordingly. V often those decisions are made in response to the way grants are organised and ring fenced. It may be that your LA has made some exceptions to grant use as a response to COVID.
You won't agree but I think your request is presumptuous and overstepping the mark. If you want to know that level of detail become a governor and ask to be on the finance committee or train as a teacher, serve your time and become a HT.

I have a few friends who are primary school govenors, they seem to know about budgets. Befriend one, or become one.

[quote Fangsalot89]@admission Thank you. I’m interested to know the budget allocation for a particular subject in a primary school vs an expense which I find totally pointless.[/quote]
I’ve got experience of primary school budgets as I was a staff governor for a while plus a member of SLT where budgets were determined prior to presenting at governor meetings.
The allocation was not specific to particular subject areas, 80% goes on staffing costs, a % to general resources, a % as contingency a % to outside agencies eg SEN support. Where schools have children with EHCPs a section will detail spending on that, but that’s about as specific as it gets.

Could it have been paid for by the PTA? Some PTAs just give any money raised to the school to spend how they see fit, but others like to keep more control over it, as legally it's the PTA that the money belongs to, not the school.

Schools are subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

By the time fixed and expected costs are taken out (staffing, electric, gas, water, service level agreements, insurances, subscriptions etc) there is surprisingly little money left.

Could this thing have been paid for by the PTA rather than from the school budget?
I’m a governor and specific details aren’t usually broken down like that, it’s written as teaching resources, rates, staff salaries etc etc we don’t see a breakdown of the actual costs.

Just to reassure, the terms of reference will indicate when Governor permission is needed for expenditure. Often it's set at £1000. So governors do have oversight.

Not paid for by the PTA I’m aware of that much. Perhaps it was a grant etc. I hope so but it’s exceptionally frustrating to be pushed into buying the necessary basics but then they have the money for this extra which is not. It’s a series of issues with the head to be fair.

Is it a standalone Primary or part of an Academy group?

The Head doesn't get to decide large expenditure. The Head suggests a use for the budget and the governors agree or decline the suggestion. Ultimately, the governors (of which the Head is one) are accountable for school expenditure.

@Lougle

The Head doesn't get to decide large expenditure. The Head suggests a use for the budget and the governors agree or decline the suggestion. Ultimately, the governors (of which the Head is one) are accountable for school expenditure.

Well the head can sign off on expenditure up to a certain amount preset. Only if it's above that would it come to governors. But the ht would have presented the budget at finance meeting and will report on variance. So if the HT had saved some money this year and decided to spend it on XYZ and it is under the agreed limit then they can do that....as they have been tasked with running the school.

@Mumdiva99 yes, which is why I said 'large expenditure' and also said that there is a limit set beyond which it goes to governors.

A few years ago my child’s school bought into something called Leader in me. Some parents did manage to find out the cost, it was really expensive and left a bitter taste as the school was often discussing budget cuts.