Resource Management

Resource management is the facilitation and coordination of fiscal, human, and physical resources in alignment with the mission and strategic plan of the organization. In public schools, resource management involves planning, development, and control of [Page 873]restricted and unrestricted resources available to the organization or division. Resource management focuses on efficient direction and control of staff, facilities, equipment, budget, and resource development to accomplish organizational goals. The key question is, How does the school allocate resources to most effectively support the strategic plan?

Because personnel-related costs represent 80% to 90% of a public school budget, staffing patterns, recruiting, retaining, and development are major components of resource management. Most school districts have central office functions that direct and control employee benefits and compensation, employee records, and personnel policies. In addition, the staffing patterns of most schools are established by district policies.

Resource management involves an ongoing process of developing systems, policies, and procedures that are designed to improve productivity in relationship to fiscal, personnel, and facilities. Cost-effective analysis, feasibility studies, and the evaluation of fiscal data are integral elements of resource management. Data analysis and systems thinking are necessary skills for effective resource management. Education leaders need to be able to use financial information data as readily as they use other forms of data.

Since state and federal laws can affect both current and future funding, resource management requires ongoing reviews of legislation, proposed funding, and new laws. It also requires research, program evaluation, and recommendations for more cost-effective procedures.

Cash flow is an ongoing issue for districts; potential negative cash flow is the primary problem. Most school districts have centralized policies and procedures that ensure that expenditures and revenues are in balance. As a result, most operating expenses and personnel costs are controlled by the district's central office. Principals are provided guidelines and procedures for expenditures of funds.

Resource management requires that leadership establish basic functions and evaluate between competing alternatives. The relationships between school district goals, scope of services, costs, and performance benchmarks are complex. District leadership needs to seek input and feedback from stakeholders and balance proposed improvements with existing services. For example, most districts have centralized purchasing, transportation, and capital construction to promote efficiency. However, leaders are continuously faced with evaluating centralized efficiency compared to advantages of site-based decision making.

Overriding issues for resource management include the efficient use of resources and the elimination of waste. Resource management is complex; education leaders must coordinate, integrate, and formalize resource utilization and develop revenue projections, expenditures, and baseline data. Organizational efforts to ensure that all stakeholders actively work to eliminate waste are ongoing and never ending.

Many believe that principals and other stakeholders must be empowered in meaningful ways if resource management is to be effective within schools. The General Accounting Office (GAO) identified three large school districts (Prince William County, Virginia, Dade County, Florida, and Edmonton, Alberta) that have successfully delegated substantial authority for budget, personnel, and instruction to school site-based decisions. If districts hope to develop meaningful site-based resource management, they need to establish proactive systems that empower stakeholders. Because most of budget and human resource management have become centralized routines, districts must engage stakeholders in special efforts to redesign the systems, to counteract the centralized bureaucracy, and to meet the needs of the students served.

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