An interview with the Director of Instruction and Curriculum at DCS and Analysis of the District

Budget

Shihong Xu

Oakland University

C. Suzanne Klein, PhD

February 22nd, 2020

 Mollie Sharrar is the executive director of instruction and curriculum at Dexter

Community Schools and she is also my mentor for the Ed. S. program at Oakland University. I

was so excited to have interviewed her on Feb.18th in her office at Dexter High School. I asked

her six questions related to top priority items funded in the budget, how to make decisions, what

evidence to use, and the predictions of district priorities be 2020-2021.

When I asked her what the top priority items are funded in the budget this year. She said

they were students’ social emotional learning and the professional development about it.

Currently, Dexter Community Schools is committed to supporting Competency Based Education

and Placed Based Education opportunities for students, both within the District and in the

Michigan Competency Consortium. The district spent a large amount of money to buy the

curriculum, teaching materials and supplies, and train the staff. According to a copy of Dexter

Community Schools Financial Dashboard 2019-20 Budget (November Revision) Mollie showed,

the expenditures of instructional services including basic programs and added needs are

$26,874,391, which accounts for the largest proportion 60.6%, 9.7% of the budgetary expenses

($4,290,644) are related to student service, followed by 6.4 percent for building and grounds.

As to the decisions made about district funding priorities, the level of spending and

educational programs, she answered the school budget involved many different individuals and

entities. At the district level, budget discussions and work involve school administrators, school

boards, school employees and community members. For example, last year, the school board

approved $500 for each young five to 6th grade teacher to buy the books about the science and

social studies, so the teachers can build their own classroom library. Mollie said the

administrators make decisions and regularly monitor the effectiveness or success in

accomplishing these priorities through the student data, forms of surveys, administrators’
observations, feedback from staff, professional development meetings and results of states

standardized tests. They anticipated costs of new district initiatives and savings from eliminating

existing programs. They often anticipate the general appropriation of the general fund in June

and do the budget amendment in December. When I asked what district priorities might be for

2020-2021, she said our district would still focus on students’ competency skills and continue to

fund Competency Based Education and Placed Based Education opportunities that roll out in K-

12. It’s a kind of continuation of what we do during 2019-2020.

From Mollie’s replies to my interview questions, I can see Mollie, the director of

instruction and curriculum, the school board, and the other district administrators exemplify the

ISLLC standards. The second ISLLC standard calls for “developing a school culture and

instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. Our district

prioritizes the instruction service and pupil support, and allocate financial, human, and time

resources in the most appropriate ways to meet school and district goals and help students live up

to their full potential at school.

Our district budget expenditures are also aligned with the fourth ISLLC standard, which

is “collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community

interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.” For example, our district had a new

mental health initiative last year and it was funded by creating a series of educational

opportunities for community members, hosting a community read of the book “At What Cost?”

by Dr. David Gleason, bringing Dr. Gleason to Dexter to discuss adolescent brain development,

and hosting viewings of the movies “Beyond Measure” and “Angst”. This new initiative

promoted the healthy emotional, social, and behavioral development of all the students and also
improve the general well-being of school staff and families by collaborating school education

with community members.

Under the strong leadership of DCS administrators and the hard work of great staff, we

have made some achievements in the recent years : average reading achievement across grades

1-8 in DCS has increased from the 88th percentile to the 92 percentile on the NWEA between

fall 2014 and 2017, as did math achievement; high school students’ enrollment in rigorous

college-level courses (i.e., AP, IB or dual enrolled) also increased significantly from 332 course

enrollments in 2012-13, to 580 course enrollments in 2017-18; additionally, the district’s 4-year

graduation rate has risen from 92 percent for the Class of 2013, to 97 percent for the Class of

2018; new construction of Beacon Elementary and two new artificial turf fields at the high

school were built on-time and on-budget, which were made possible with the successful passage

of the $71 million bond in 2017. Funding alone cannot provide improved learning outcomes.

However, funding appropriately, equally and adequately provides an underlying condition that

makes all these achievements above possible.