Business Class Notes

Business Class on 10/29/12
Salient Points from an Information-Dense Class
1.  Education is a state responsibility and each state's finance system must support that responsibility.
2.  Court cases (Brown v. Bd. of Ed., Serrano v. Priest, Rodriguez, Vincent v. Voigt - as examples) have consistently found that the finance system must provide an adequate and equitable K-12 education system.
3.  Equity, in school finance, means equal educational opportunity regardless of the wealth of the community.
4. Adequacy, in school finance, means a quality basic education.
5. Courts and politicians continue to refine and alter the definitions of equity and adequacy.
6.  There is a natural tension between state responsibility and local control.
7.  There is a state-wide accounting system for finance.  Wisconsin's is called WUFAR.
8.  Important aspects of WUFAR for beginning Principals:
- Object 300 Purchased services - transportation, contracted services, maintenance.
- Object 400 - Instructional Materials - supplies, workbooks, library materials.
- Object 500 - Equipment - Capitalized and Non-capitalized school equipment.
You will be working with these in the coming weeks as you build a school budget.