the headmaster nor the board should be surprised by
financial outcomes. The business manager should have
a comprehensive budget and, on a monthly basis, track
actual expenses to the expected ones. Some expenses, like
textbook purchases and school supplies, will be high in
July and August but nominal for the other months. Once
the business manager has an accurate budget, then it’s
relatively straightforward to provide the school board with
a condensed, one-page monthly report of expenditures-to-
budget. Once the school year starts, income and revenue
are set. With few exceptions, if the headmaster or board is
surprised by shortfalls at the end of the year, something is
awry with the budgeting process.
While finances are foundational, the school is much more.
To ensure the health of the institution, the board needs
information on how the school is doing with things such as
adult-to-student discipling, fifth-grade math scores, biblical
instruction, and the trend of ACT scores. What has been
the trend of middle school reading scores over the past five
years? How many high school students have accommoda-
tion plans? Are teacher performance evaluations accurate
and useful? Are professional development funds applied in
a manner that results in higher student achievement? The
school board can’t perform its responsibility of ensuring the
health of the school if it isn’t receiving an annual report of
key performance metrics.
Every school should be pursuing improvements. Most
headmasters could identify dozens of improvements they’d
like to pursue. The constraint, of course, is that resources
are limited. No resource is a greater constraint than the time
and attention of the headmaster. Leaders can’t simply direct
change. Substantive change requires the active engagement
of the leader. This is one of the reasons organizations can
only successfully pursue three to seven change initiatives at
a given time. The school board and the headmaster need to
be aligned with the priorities for each school year. Impor-
tantly, they need to have documented how success will be
measured. Once this is done, it’s a small task for the board to
provide the headmaster with a written performance review.
In summary, excellence requires accountability. For Chris-
tian schools, this is threefold: financial, ongoing activities,
and improvement initiatives. Headmasters should welcome
this assistance from their boards. First, this provides much-
needed clarity. An important secondary outcome is these
practices keep everyone aligned. The headmaster doesn’t
find that he needs to shift priorities to respond to each new
idea. Leaders often lament that they don’t have time for such
planning and processes. However, if you’re fighting fires
every day, you always will be.
Renewanation’s Christian School Revitalization Program
was developed to support Christian schools in the journey
to being all that God called them to be. Through assessment,
strategic planning, and accountability, Renewanation seeks
to shepherd Christian school leaders on a path toward bibli-
cal excellence. For further discussion on how Renewanation
can best support your Christian school, contact us today at
[email protected].
Ron Klein is an Executive Consultant with Renewanation. His
first career was a soldier. He commenced as a 19-year-old
infantryman in Vietnam and ended as an aviation acquisition
officer. His second career was that of an entrepreneur. He
started an aerospace/defense services company that grew
to 100 employees before he sold it. His unexpected third ca-
reer was Head of School at Westminster Christian Academy
in Huntsville, AL. He has extensive experience consulting for
domestic and international organizations. Ron holds a FAA commercial pilot's license
with ratings in airplanes, helicopters, and seaplanes. He is an adjunct professor of
economics, the history of technology development, and geopolitics and is the author
of Journey to Excellence; What Boards and Heads of Christian Schools Need to
Know to Get There.
“An Indispensable Guide”
Journey to Excellence
What Boards and Heads of Christian
Schools Need to Know to Get There
The subtitle of this book is all you need to
know to make this a must read. Written from
the experience of a business entrepreneur, a
Christian school board member, and a head of
school, this book is a practical guide for
schools that want to Journey to Excellence.
To purchase, contact:
1-855-TO-RENEW or [email protected]
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