Finance/Funding
Focus
Coordinate financial systems within and between schools. Finalise budget.
Explanation
The cost to individual schools will vary depending on the model adopted by the cluster or provider e.g.reciprocal staffing model, financial contribution model, financial weighting aligned to student rolls, tertiary programme course costs, STAR funding eligibility or other forms of sharing staffing and resources that may be determined. It is very easy to consider the extra costs involved as a disincentive for establishing the LCO.
Throughout the process there needs to be a clear reference back to the agreed goals and principles, and an evaluation of the cost of doing this against the cost of not doing it / benefits achievable. (This may mean there will need to be a rationalisation of existing expenditure. For instance, money that has previously been spent to employ a number of part- time staff to provide supervision for senior subjects may now better be spent on meeting the costs of accessing expertise from the LCO).
Action
At this stage you need to:
- Establish financial systems and accountability within the LCO.
- Discuss and establish individual school contributions - staffing and financial.
- Get a firm commitment from sponsors and funding sources.
- Define contractual obligations with technical services and resource providers.
- Confirm final budgets and plans.
- Develop a cluster-wide policy determining individual school budgets to meet possible online class costs, such as photocopying, travel, teacher release, resource acquisition, faxing, phone, post/courier, internet access.
