evised 11/02

Management of Instructional Funds

Each Education Specialist has the responsibility of being aware of expenses incurred to meet the educational needs and choices of each family. Every expense from this fund will be tracked in terms of the ES name as well as the family name. There is a budget posted for each family in FRED. The initial dollar amount deposited in a family budget varies according to the student’s enrollment date. Please refer to the Instructional Funds Chart in FRED ("view/IF Calc) so you will know the amount of IF available for your student. It is the responsibility of the ES to stay within the budget for each family. Sometimes there is an expense that is not recorded in FRED immediately, such as a computer purchase. The ES needs to have a supplemental system in place so that he/she knows the funds that are available at all times for each family. There may be times when an ES spends more on one student than another within the same family. This is acceptable as long as the family’s overall budget is not exceeded. Information about the ES expenditure of instructional funds is public information and should be shared with any interested party upon request.

The parent and the ES work in cooperation in determining the use of that money in order to produce the maximum possible in terms of student learning. At no time should this funding be spent indiscriminately by the parent or by the ES. Care should be taken to assure parents that this funding is not "theirs" and that nothing purchased with this funding is "theirs".

The parents have a right to participate in the determination of how that funding is spent. Without any reason to disagree with the parent concerning the aforementioned determinations, the ES should make every effort to comply with the parent's opinion. Ultimately the ES is responsible for the professional and ethical distribution of this funding and that responsibility is not shared.

The ES should keep in mind that "not one penny" will be spent without the parents approval. Our student expectations are very broad so problems are not likely. However, as an example, the purchase of educational materials must be consistent with the course of study the student has chosen. If a student is studying US History, purchases for European Renaissance materials would not be consistent. Any disagreement between an ES and parent regarding the purchase of materials will be mediated by the administration of the School.

One additional scenario, however, might be that the material might be paid for with funding provided for a student at the beginning of a semester, the student drops from the school prior to the end of the semester, and then funding is deducted from the assigned ESs account. If the amount deducted causes the assigned ES to lose funding for other students in order to make up for materials purchased at the beginning of the semester, then that ES can ask for a reimbursement based on the appropriate information.