MEDT Budget Project

Jessica Mueller

Proposed Three-Year Budget for 2016-2017/ 2017-2018/ 2018-2019

Flowery Branch High School currently enrolls around 1,800 students. The population is
quite diverse. One of our School Library Media Specialists (SLMS) explained that the current
population is an upper middle class community with close proximity to Atlanta and its
surrounding counties.Our original Flowery Branch opened in 2002/2003 with a blend of
Johnson High School (lower income; largely Hispanic population) and West Hall High School
(middle income) (Westbrooks, 2016). Our students attend school from 8:25am until 3:35pm,
and many of them rely solely on the bus transportation system, so coming to school early or
staying after school is a challenge for many of our students. For this reason, resources need to be
available as readily as they can be throughout the day. It is important to note that the mission of
Flowery Branch High School is to guide students toward being responsible and independent
learners prepared for challenging academic and workplace environment in an ever-changing
global market (Flowery Branch High School, 2016). In order to accomplish our schools
mission statement, SLMSs are charged with the goal of providing not just adequate, but rather
exemplary resources and options for teachers and students in our collective pursuit of attaining
this goal.
In order to fully understand the proposed budget for the next three school years, there are
some important areas of background information that need to be reviewed. First, Flowery
Branch High School has been a Charter School for the past three years, but this year, we have
decided not to renew our status as a Charter School and to pursue other educational trends. We
are currently beginning a STEM program, and we are also working on integrating a co-teaching
environment with one class each period where there would be two language arts teachers in a
regular education setting co-teaching the students. Secondly, we are also in the process of school
transition in the next three years: we are renovating four schools, moving three current schools

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Jessica Mueller

into three of those four locations, and creating a combination middle school-high school student
body for the fourth location. All of this is set to occur over the next two school years, and the
move will happen in the third year, along with the creation of the new districting. So needless to
say, not only is our school population going to be affected, but there has been word about
possible budget cuts by 40% over the next few years in connection to the SLMP budget. For this
reason, I have included this years current budget (100%), the adjusted budget for the next two
years (60%), and a projected budget for the third year (80%) assuming student numbers are only
slightly affected. The rising 8th grade classes over the next few years will be larger, but due to
budget cuts and redistricting, the budget most likely wont go back to this years totals for quite
some time, if ever.
Despite the current and future transitions our school is and will be undergoing, there are
standards that we must use each and every year to help focus our budget. We must keep in mind
the need for developing skills in reading varied texts, proper citation techniques, analytical
reading, cross-curricular comparison, and the other reading, writing, and presentation skills
included in GSE standards such as RL1/ RL7/ RI1/ RI7/ RI9/ RI10/ W1/ W2/ W5/ W6/ W7/ W8/
W9/ W10 (Georgia Department of Education, 2015). In regards to all content areas, it is
important to have both the literature and the technology to meet each departments educational
needs. This is most easily determined through a local library committee comprised of teachers in
each discipline. These teachers are able to give specific feedback on the current collection and
resources, and with their help, we can modify our SLM budget each year to meet the needs of
teachers and students across all curriculums. This will be especially important as we transition
into a school with a STEM program and the resources needed to successfully support it.
Itemized Materials:
Print Materials (county budget):

Current:
2015-2016

Year 1: -40%
2016-2017

Year 2: -40%
2017-2018

Year 3: -20%
2018-2019

Total: (all 4
years)

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Jessica Mueller

Books
Continuing Series
Magazines/Periodicals

$17,800
$3,000
$550

$10,680
$1,800
$330

$10,680
$1,800
$330

$14,240
$2,400
$440

$53,400
$9,000
$1,650

AV Materials (local budget):

VHS to DVD

$500

$300

$300

$400

$1,500

Software (county budget):

$300

$180

$180

$240

$900

Equipment (county & local budget):

External DVD players
Emerging Tech Tools
Projector supplies

$7,815
(will vary
(will vary
(will vary

$4,689
based on
based on
based on

$4,689
yearly needs)
yearly needs)
yearly needs)

$6,252

$23,445

Local School Budget (may slightly

vary): $2,000- ($500 AV)- ($400
county annual book replacement
EOY payment) = $1,100 (each year)

$1,100

$660

$660

$880

$3,300

$31,065

$18,639

$18,639

$24,852

$93,195

Yearly Totals:
Budget Justification Breakdown:

Books/ Continued Series: When budgeting for this area, we break it down into two main
categories. The first category is the larger of the two and is ordered as one major order
from our jobbers (around January). When we order this major order, we focus on not
only getting titles that have been requested or that are popular, but we also focus on
replac[ing] our outdated nonfiction which we have weeded with new books A
collection analysis should always be done before a book order is begun to account for
weak areas. A good collection should be balanced correctly (Westbrooks, 2016). This
first order is the one we use to replace weeded books, update our nonfiction collection
with the most recent resources, and update our fiction with as many of the most popular
titles that we can. The second order is the one we call continuing series. This is the
order that we usually do with Mackin, and it is an option they give us to order throughout

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Jessica Mueller

the remainder of the year as new books are released (after our initial order) or for books
in a series that are not published at the time of our order. This is an extremely valuable
option so that we can still get the newest books (even after our annual order) and can also
purchase books according to student request even at the end of the year. This is the
largest section of our budget, and the reason for this is that we want our library to be a
place students can depend on for their needs, whether it be for academic support or

personal reading.
Magazines/ Periodicals: Each year, we are given a budget by the county and we must
adjust our magazine titles (adding and removing titles) to make sure that we remain
within the budget. The SLMS has the option of choosing these for the school, but the
best option is to get input from content area teachers. Just recently, our SLMS sent an
email to all of the teachers asking if there were subscriptions we needed to keep, cancel,
or add. This type of teacher survey (via email) is a quick way to get feedback as to
whether the subscriptions are beneficial or not. If requests come in that are higher than
the allotted budget, then the media committee (and requesting teachers) could meet to
discuss justifications for the subscriptions. While this section of the budget has greatly
reduced in need over the years, it is still very important to make sure that the amount we
have saved for this category is used most effectively and with the purpose of assisting as

many teachers and students as possible.

AV Materials: One of our biggest needs in regards to AV materials is updating our current
selection of AV titles. The original bulk order was made for VHS tapes several years ago,
and as Dena Westbrooks explains we definitely need to continually replace our old VHS
tapes with DVDs if available. Each VHS needs to have a history run on it [;] if it hasnt
been checked out in the last 3-4 years [,] it needs to be weeded (Westbrooks, 2016). For

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Jessica Mueller

the next several years, this plan of replacing VHS tapes with DVDs will be a major focus
area. We are expanding our collection each year, but most of the focus is on replacing the
old VHS tapes first, and the new title expansions each year have been mostly based upon
teacher request. Once these VHS tapes are weeded and replaced with DVDs, the funds

for this area will most likely shift to searching for new resources to expand our collection.
Software: One of our biggest launches this year was with the addition of a large amount
of Chrome Books. In fact, each teacher now has 10 Chrome Books in their rooms. The
focus over the past few years has been shifting to using GoogleDocs for work and
projects, so it will be a goal over the next few years to find software and programs that

work well with GoogleDocs and e-based assignment submissions.

Equipment: There are many needs that can be explored each year in regards to equipment
improvements. Our teacher laptops do not have a DVD drive, so our current SLMS
mentioned that she think[s] each teacher should be provided an external DVD player
so we dont have to hassle teachers to turn them back in immediately (Westbrooks,
2016). In addition to external DVD drives, we also know that the projectors installed
when the school was opened will soon need parts or complete replacement. So this is an
area we are trying to make sure to save for, as we know this cost is coming soon. The
items I am most excited about ordering for within this category are new technology and
equipment. We plan for these in the budget, but we dont always know what the
equipment will be in advance. Some years it could be new cameras, some years it may
be new presentation devices, and some years it may be technology that we dont even
know currently exists. This is one of the most exciting areas to budget for, knowing the

possibilities are endless.

Local School Budget: This area is where we have the most flexibility to meet
individualized needs that might arise for our school. An example of this occurred this

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Jessica Mueller

year when I was helping with the book order. Our SLMS had weeded the old World
Book Encyclopedias because the information was significantly outdated, but when we
went to order them with our print budget/ book order, we found that the vendor was no
longer a county approved vendor. We were able to use our local school budget to still
make this purchase. The one thing we have to keep in mind each year, in regards to this
category, is that we must save around $400 in this account at the end of the year
earmarked for the purpose of writing a check to the county for lost/damaged books that
they have paid for through the book order.

References
Flowery Branch High School. (2016). Flowery Branch High School website. Retrieved from
http://fbhs.hallco.org/web/
Georgia Department of Education. (2015). Georgia standards of excellence. Retrieved from
https://www.georgiastandards.org/
Westbrooks, D. (2016). MEDT 6461 budget project interview [E-mail interview].