INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Instructional Leadership



Instructional Leadership

Question 1:

Education department has traditionally used incremental budgeting. In incremental budgeting, a unit's historical budget is the basis for subsequent budget development. Only new monies are allocated; budget cuts are taken as a percentage of the historical budget and are usually across-the-board. There is limited reallocation across units. At Education department, while there has been some reallocation within planning units, there is limited reallocation across planning units. Incremental budgeting is the approach that has been followed most often in universities, in part because it is easily implemented, provides budget stability, allows units to plan beyond one year with some certainty, and tends to shield institutions from what can become rancorous budget battles (Bonstingl, 2002).

Currently the institution has a basic liberal arts curriculum with five major content areas consisting of: Science, Language Arts, Math, Social Sciences, and Health. There are 54 instructors at your institution with Science and Math hosting the largest faculty numbers totaling 40%. Each department has a majority of tenured faculty with 10% having 30+ years of service (with 25% of the Science and Math faculty having 30+ years of service). The faculty demographics are approximately the same as the student demographics. There are 475 students at the institution and a comparatively diverse environment with 20% Hispanic, 13% African American, 11% Russian/Eastern European, 17% Asian Pacific Island, and 39% Caucasian; most are living at or below median income. As a result there are 20 full time ESL specialists, and 35 education assistants to help students with remediation and tutoring. There are also 11 education specialists who are also veteran members at the institution.

In periods of increasing funding, a university can continue to achieve its goals using incremental budgeting, because there is enough money to accomplish most activities. In the face of declining funding, universities have begun to regard incremental budgeting as an inadequate strategy. Incremental budgets reflect past assumptions and priorities, and often do not reflect current needs. And, with little or no new monies from student fees or state subsidy coming in, the only significant source of funds for new initiatives is the reallocation of existing resources. Ideally, increased efficiency allows this to occur without the erosion of services. The incremental budgeting approach of across-the-board reductions that take a fixed percentage of dollars from each unit does not generate adequate resources to support changed needs or new initiatives, nor does it enable a university to redirect its resources toward strategic priorities (DuFour & Eaker, 2004).

Problems with Tenure

Tenure provides little incentive for poor teachers to improve their performance. As a result, the tenure system has turned education into an exclusive club where mediocrity is protected and rewarded. Ineffective teachers can spend decades delivering the same mediocre lessons because they know the school board can do nothing. Tenure can also slow a school's response time to significant changes in technology and society. As new areas of study are created and others fall into obsolescence, tenure leaves schools powerless to shift resources quickly or ...