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Budget & Staffing Models
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Many educators know
that schools with the design features described in this publication
are likely to result in greater student success, yet they ask, quite
reasonably, “Can we really do this within existing budgets?”
The sample budgets
and schedules
are intended to show that the effective school structures described
above are indeed possible to implement with existing resources, though
it should be noted again that there are trade-offs involved.
This section includes budgets and schedules for two high schools – a large, traditional school with 1,600 students and a small, redesigned school with 400 students. The contrasts between the two illustrate how the small school has reallocated resources to provide smaller classes and lower pupil loads for teachers, as well as significant time for teacher collaborative planning and professional development. Note how the teacher and student schedules for each sample school correspond to the school’s budget. The staffing model for the large, traditional school is based on an analysis of three actual high schools in California, each of which employs about 50 percent of its staff in classroom teaching positions. By contrast, the sample small, redesigned school allocates 80 percent of its staff to classroom teaching. As a consequence of these differences in staffing, combined with changes in scheduling, the small school offers a class size of 20 (rather than 30), a student-teacher load of 40 (rather than 150), and more than 6 hours of teacher collaboration time each week (rather than one). This comparison is intended to stimulate thought and discussion about what is possible in different contexts. Many effective schools, including some of those mentioned in this publication, do not employ 80 percent of their staff as full-time classroom teachers; between 65 and 75 percent is more common. Yet the sample budget provided here is a realistic example of how it is possible to allocate even more resources to the classroom within existing spending levels. Budget Sample - side-by-side comparison of small & large schools Schedule Sample - side-by-side comparison of small & large school Other useful examples of staffing and schedules in redesigned schools (including elementary schools) can be found in the following resources:
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