FRIT 7331/Group 4

Sarah Penn

Krystle Leanza

Section V: Budget Sources

System: Valdosta City Schools

Facility: Sallas Mahone Elementary

Budget: $16,259.22

Full Time Equivalent students (FTE): 1,062

2015-2016 School Year

Current Source of Funding

Sallas Mahone Elementary currently has a budget of $16,259.22 for the media center.

This money is from the Quality Basic Education (QBE) fund that is given to the schools

based on the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) count. State funding for the operation of

instructional programs are generated from the FTE data reported by local school

systems (Georgia Department of Education website). The current FTE count at Sallas

Mahone Elementary is 1,062 students. The dollar amount per student based on the FTE

count for the media budget is $15.31. This amount is determined by taking the budget

for the media center and dividing it by the total number of students according to the

FTE count.

The actual amount the media center receives is $8,855.00 because part of the media

center budget is used to cover the cost of photocopies and a subscription to

BrainPOP/BrainPOP Jr. that teachers use in their classrooms. The total dollar amount

allotted for photocopies is $5,109.22 and for the BrainPOP/BrainPOP Jr. subscription is

$2,295.00. This is a drastic amount that could definitely be used for purchasing new

books.

The media center is required to keep 15 books per student available for checkout.

Sallas Mahone Elementary currently has 16,547 books in the media center which means

it only has 617 more books than required for the 1,062 students.

Fundraising Resources

The main source of extra funding comes from the annual book fairs held in both the fall

and spring of each year. Both of these book fairs usually raise between $2,500 and

FRIT 7331/Group 4

Sarah Penn

Krystle Leanza

$3,000 each year and these funds are used to purchase new books from Scholastic

Book Company.

Other fundraising efforts include “Read with your Sweetheart” and “Take a Picture with

your Pet” in which a fee of $1.00 is charged to take a photo in front of a special

backdrop. The Birthday Book Program is another fundraising effort in which parents

purchase their child’s favorite books to donate to the media center in honor of their

child’s birthday. The child’s name and birthday are listed inside the front cover of the

donated books.

Adequacy of Funding

The funding received keeps the media center running, but does not allow much

growth. The funds are enough to add new books while replacing older, lost and

damaged ones.

With only 617 books over the required limit, Sallas Mahone Elementary definitely needs

more funds. Due to the fact that every year around $7,500 is taken from the media

center budget to pay for photocopies and subscriptions for the teachers, the budget

takes a drastic hit. That is a lot of books that are not purchased due to this funding

issue. Also, many books are damaged or lost each year by the students. This total

ranges from 200 to 300 books per year and it greatly affects the media center’s

collection.

With the focus on 21st century media centers, Sallas Mahone Elementary definitely does

not have the funding available for the technology that is required to promote 21st

century learning. The school does promote the Bring Your own Device (BYOD) initiative,

but teachers are not always equipped with the knowledge required to connect and

work with all the different types of devices the students are using. It would be very

useful to have the funding available to purchase more technology, possibly with mobile

carts, for the students to use in the classrooms. Both the teachers and students would

be able to use more EBooks and Web 2.0 tools to move into becoming 21st century

learners.

FRIT 7331/Group 4

Sarah Penn

Krystle Leanza

References:

Georgia Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2015, from

http://www.gadoe.org/Pages/Home.aspx

Our Funding History and its Impact on Georgia’s Media Centers. (n.d.). Retrieved

October 31, 2015, from http://www.glma-inc.org/wp-content/files/advocacy/Funding

History Chart for School Libraries.pdf

Roesch, E. (2014, June 9). Tentative Budget Board of Education - City of Valdosta, GA

Condensed Summary of Proposed Budget. Retrieved October 31, 2015, from

https://d2ct263enury6r.cloudfront.net/ve7KS6NNjwgXBbSF37hJwJnL4zl5CUACbEotJzVX

wgl4mQcG.pdf