University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Implementation of strategies to address the fiscal impacts of declining enrollment on school resources: an evaluation study

(USC Thesis Other)

Implementation of strategies to address the fiscal impacts of declining enrollment on school resources: an evaluation study

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content Running head: FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 1

IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THE FISCAL IMPACTS OF
DECLINING ENROLLMENT ON SCHOOL RESOURCES: AN EVALUATION STUDY

by

Jennifer I. Root

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2017

Copyright 2017 Jennifer I. Root

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 2
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to the many colleagues and mentors I have had throughout my
career in education. Since my first year as a teacher, almost 25 years ago, to as recently as today,
I have been blessed to have so many amazing people who have guided me through this higher
calling of being an educator and a leader. They have challenged me to see myself for not only
who I was at that moment but more importantly who I could be.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my dissertation committee for your wisdom, insights, and motivation. A
special thanks to Dr. Kathy Stowe, who served as my chair and kept me focused throughout the
process. I am not sure any of us will forget you donning your graduation regalia in class to help
us picture the day when we would wear that prized apparel. To Dr. Tim Stowe and Dr. Larry
Picus, I am indebted to you for your thought, care, and input into my dissertation . . . not only in
design but also your knowledge and insights on school finance.
Throughout this program, I had the opportunity to work with two great school districts
with so many colleagues, who are friends and some like family, who have supported me and
pushed me along the way. From the constant reminders that I would finish this dissertation, to
their interest in this dissertation, which is definitely a work of my heart, to calling me “Dr. Root”
far before it was appropriate . . . I thank you all. Special thanks my superintendent, cabinet, and
my business services team for their support as I balanced getting to the finish line of the program
and my responsibilities at work.
In completing an online program with folks from around the world, one has to wonder
what type of relationships will be developed with those in the program. I feel so blessed not only
to have completed my schooling with those individuals but also to have developed an amazing
new group of friends in the process. Without the support of my fellow classmates, I know this
process would not have been the same. From that first immersion when we did not know each
other at all, to figuring out what was due each week, to assuring each other that “no Trojan
[would be] left behind”: Cohort 2 . . . you are the BEST! I am thankful and grateful to each of
you!
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 4
Many people will ask educators to point to “that” educator who instilled the love for
education in them. For me, that educator was Dr. Lillian Wehmeyer from Azusa Pacific
University. She was my professor and dissertation chair in a prior program from which I
emerged as ABD. She believed in me and allowed me to believe in myself as a scholar. Never
through all of my years in K-12 education, undergraduate school, or my master’s programs had I
ever believed that I was a scholar. Even as she was valiantly fighting the cancer that would take
her life, she would still tell me that she would serve as my dissertation chair. I would often tease
her that my lack of completion was the university’s security that she could not retire. An
amazing lady and a blessing in my life . . . may she rest in peace.
Education was a priority for my family. Both of my parents put themselves through
college, and it was their commitment that both my brother and I have the opportunity to have
their support through a college education. My mother—a single mother in the early ’70s—
worked tirelessly to ensure that we had everything that she could possibly provide for us. She
modeled for me that through hard work and perseverance, you can achieve anything. And to my
“dad who didn’t have to be,” I could not have asked for a better father. You have always been
there for me, and I’m so very proud that my doctorate will be bestowed from your dream school
. . . FIGHT ON!
The completion of a doctoral program takes a lot of sacrifice not only on the part of the
student but probably most importantly from the student’s family. The completion of this
dissertation and the program would not have been possible without the support of my husband,
Scott, and my son, Turner. Thank you for supporting me as I sat diligently at my computer in
class or working on assignments . . . all my love to you both!
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 5
To those who have asked, “What’s next after competing your doctorate?” I still do not
know. My journey has been one where I have been led one step at a time along a path of serving
others. I truly cannot wait to see where the next step of this journey will lead me.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... 3
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. 9
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 10
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 12
Overview of the Study ............................................................................................... 12
Organizational Context and Mission ......................................................................... 13
Organizational Performance Goal.............................................................................. 15
Related Literature....................................................................................................... 17
Importance of the Evaluation ..................................................................................... 18
Stakeholders and Stakeholders’ Performance Goals ................................................. 19
Stakeholder Groups for the Study .............................................................................. 20
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ........................................................... 22
Conceptual and Methodological Framework ............................................................. 23
Definitions.................................................................................................................. 23
Organization of the Study .......................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ......................................................... 25
Declining Enrollment in California Schools .............................................................. 25
Impacts of Changing Demographics on School Enrollment .......................... 26
Choice in California Schools ......................................................................... 26
School Funding in California ..................................................................................... 28
History of School Funding ............................................................................. 29
Impacts of Declining Enrollment on School Funding ................................... 32
Strategies and Processes to Accommodate Enrollment-Based Funding
Reductions................................................................................................ 33
Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation Influences .................................................. 37
Knowledge and Skills .................................................................................... 37
Knowledge Assessment ................................................................................. 38
Motivation ...................................................................................................... 41
Organization/Culture/Context Assessment .................................................... 51
Organizational Influences .............................................................................. 51
Organizational Culture ................................................................................... 56
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and
Motivation in the Organizational Context ........................................................... 59
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 64
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 66
Participating Stakeholders ......................................................................................... 66
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale ................................................. 67
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 7
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale ........................... 68
Data Collection and Instrumentation ......................................................................... 68
Interviews ....................................................................................................... 69
Documents and Artifacts................................................................................ 71
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................. 73
Credibility and Trustworthiness ................................................................................. 73
Validity and Reliability .............................................................................................. 74
Ethics.......................................................................................................................... 75
Limitations and Delimitations.................................................................................... 77
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS ................................................................. 78
Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 78
Research Questions .................................................................................................... 78
Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 79
Participating Stakeholders ......................................................................................... 79
Findings...................................................................................................................... 80
Research Question 1: What Are the Knowledge, Motivation, and
Organizational Influences Related to HJUSD’s Ability to Create
and Maintain a Balanced Budget? ........................................................... 80
Research Question 2: What Are the Recommendations for Organizational
Practice in the Areas of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Resources to Assist HJUSD in Creating and Maintaining a Balanced
Budget? .................................................................................................... 95
Relationship Between Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ....... 106
Synthesis .................................................................................................................... 108
CHAPTER FIVE: SOLUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION ............................................. 110
Validated Influences .................................................................................................. 110
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ........................................................... 111
Recommendations for Practice to Address Knowledge, Motivation, and
Organizational Influences .................................................................................... 112
Knowledge Recommendations ...................................................................... 112
Motivation Recommendations ....................................................................... 117
Organization Recommendations .................................................................... 121
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan ........................................................ 126
Implementation and Evaluation Framework .................................................. 126
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations .......................................... 127
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators ........................................................ 128
Level 3: Behavior ........................................................................................... 130
Level 2: Learning ........................................................................................... 134
Level 1: Reaction ........................................................................................... 138
Data Analysis and Reporting ......................................................................... 140
Summary ........................................................................................................ 141
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach .............................................................. 142
Limitations ................................................................................................................. 143
Future Research ......................................................................................................... 144
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 145
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 8
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 147
APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 156
APPENDIX A: Interview Protocol ............................................................................ 157
APPENDIX B: Informed Consent/Information Sheet ............................................... 159
APPENDIX C: Level 1 and Level 2 Evaluation Instrument ..................................... 162
APPENDIX D: Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 Evaluation Instrument ...................................... 166

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 9
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Goals ...................................... 21
Table 2. Assumed Knowledge Influences of Stakeholders ................................................... 42
Table 3. Assumed Motivation Influences of Stakeholders .................................................... 52
Table 4. Assumed Organizational Influences of Stakeholders .............................................. 60
Table 5. Selected Stakeholder Participants ............................................................................ 70
................................................................................................................................................ 80
Table 6. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ................................... 113
Table 7. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations.................................... 119
Table 8. Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations ................................ 123
Table 9. Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes................... 129
Table 10. Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Site and District
Administrators........................................................................................................................ 131
Table 11. Required Drivers to Support Site and District Administrators’ Critical
Behaviors ............................................................................................................................... 133
Table 12. Components of Learning for the Program ............................................................. 137
Table 13. Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ............................................... 139

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 10
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual framework: Implementation of strategies to address the fiscal
impacts of declining enrollment............................................................................................. 62
Figure 2. The new world Kirkpatrick model ......................................................................... 127
Figure 3. Sample balanced budget implementation progress. ............................................... 142

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 11
ABSTRACT
Implementation of Strategies to Address the Fiscal Impacts of Declining Enrollment
on School Resources: An Evaluation Study
by Jennifer I. Root
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School
District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing
a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years. The
study was built foundationally using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model focusing on
the identification of gaps related to knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Nine
stakeholders representing cabinet, district administrators, site administrators, and teachers were
interviewed using a semistructured interview format. Each interview was coded and analyzed
into themes focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. The findings
revealed the need to improve the knowledge of all stakeholders through staff meeting
presentations and more specialized training for administrators regarding budget development and
management. Motivation influence findings centered on the need to create more confidence in
the ability to create and maintain a balanced budget. Organizational influence findings included
the need to provide more comprehensive branding/marketing of school programs. Recommended
solutions included the development of a structure for new administrator training, regular ongoing
administrator training, and the development of monthly meetings between administrators and the
director of fiscal services for budget management. The recommendations also included a plan to
evaluate the implementation of the solutions using the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) new
world evaluation model.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 12
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Overview of the Study
This study addressed the impact of reduced fiscal resources for a high school district due
to declining enrollment. Schools are funded based on average daily attendance (ADA), and as
enrollment declines, ADA declines. This is a problem because declines in school district
enrollment may necessitate that school districts reduce staff, programs, and resources (Donlevy,
2010). The problem is important to address because school districts need to understand the fiscal
impacts of declining enrollment and be able to strategically plan reductions in costs to minimize
impacts on student learning.
After California’s great recession, Governor Jerry Brown introduced the local control
funding formula (LCFF) as a new model for school finance. Although the restoration of funding
was needed in education, the LCFF was never designed to provide funding adequacy to schools.
It was only prescribed to return school funding to 2007-2008 purchasing power (Bennett, Evans,
Garcia, Gray, & Miyashiro, 2016). With the additional financial demands placed on school
districts, which for many districts include the fiscal impacts of declining enrollment, even when
fully enacted, this LCFF will not provide adequate funding to allow for schools to meet their
financial needs (Bennett et al., 2016).
The two primary factors that determine the finances of a school district in California are
the enrollment of the district and the ADA based on that enrollment. As Brave County
(pseudonym) is projected to decline in student enrollment from 497,116 students in 2014-2015 to
450,816 students in 2024-2025, approximately 9% over the next 10 years (California Department
of Finance, 2016), this decline will impact school districts and force them to identify reductions
commensurate with the decline that the districts experience. Salary and benefits for employees
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 13
account for 84%-85% of school district expenditures in the state of California (Cornman, 2014;
Ed-Data, 2017; EdSource, 2007). Reductions in personnel take time to enact, and it takes time to
evaluate the impact of the reductions. School districts are required to follow rules and timelines
for reductions that necessitate that the districts can successfully project revenue and expenditures
into future years and establish a budget that reflects anticipated reductions well in advance of the
need for the enactment of the reductions. Through careful projection and planning, school
districts can work to accurately project enrollment and therefore implement cost reductions based
on the expected corresponding revenue.
Organizational Context and Mission
Herren Joint Union School District (HJUSD; pseudonym) was established in 1896.
Located approximately 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, HJUSD serves five adjacent cities. At
the time of the study, HJUSD operated eight junior high schools, eight comprehensive high
schools, one Grade 7-12 secondary academy, two alternative high schools, and one special
education school.
The motto of HJUSD is prominently displayed on its website, reading “Learning with
Purpose: College and Career Ready.” The vision statement for the district is, “The [Herren Joint]
Union School District will graduate socially aware, civic-minded students who are college and
career ready for the 21st Century.” The mission of the district is encapsulated in following
statement:
The Herren Joint Union School District, a partnership of students, parents, staff, and
community will provide all students with a high quality, well-rounded educational
program in a safe and nurturing learning environment that promotes:
• High academic expectations for all students and employees
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 14
• 21st Century learning skills for students to act as problem solvers and critical thinkers
• Readiness for post-secondary education, career options, and civic and social
responsibility
According to the California Department of Education (2015), at the time of the study,
there were approximately 2,600 employees in HJUSD. These employees included approximately
1,100 full- and part-time classified employees and 1,500 certificated employees, with the
remainder being represented by management, substitutes, and other miscellaneous unrepresented
employees. Certificated teaching staff are represented by the California Teachers Association.
Classified employees are represented by two associations (California Department of Education,
2015): the California School Employees Association that represents school support staff in areas
including office and clerical support and the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees that represents staff from food services, maintenance and operations, and
transportation.
In 2016-2017, HJUSD had a seventh- through 12th-grade enrollment of approximately
31,000 students (California Department of Education, 2017). Having previously reached a
district-high enrollment of 33,719 seventh- through 12th-grade students in 2008-2009, HJUSD
has experienced steadily declining enrollment each year since. The district continues to
experience decline, and enrollment is anticipated to continue in decline minimally through 2020-
2021. Thus far, the district has struggled to make all of the necessary reductions that have
resulted from the loss of ADA. As ADA has decreased, the number of classroom teachers has
been similarly reduced, but these reductions only account for a portion of the revenue lost
through the declining enrollment. The district has been absorbing the nonreduced level of costs
through deficit spending. This deficit spending has been enabled by using the district’s ending
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 15
fund balance and through the use of state-allocated one-time funding. Due to a slowdown in the
economy, state fiscal experts are cautioning districts to not rely on receiving one-time funding in
future years (Bennett et al., 2016). This leads to the need for the district to identify cost
reductions and create a balanced budget.
Organizational Performance Goal
Within the budget cycle of a school district, a district is required to submit its financial
status to the county board of education where it is reviewed and then sent forward to the
California Department of Education for final approval. In June 2016, HJUSD submitted the 2016
adopted budget for the district, which included significant levels of deficit spending. This deficit
spending was due to three reasons. First, revenue was being reduced based on the district’s
declining enrollment. Second, districts statewide experienced larger-than-anticipated cost
increases in areas such as step/column/longevity, health and welfare benefits, and employee
pensions. The costs associated with step/column/longevity represent natural salary increases that
employees receive based on an increasing number of years in the district or advancement due to
additional education units or degrees. Finally, because of projected slowing of state revenues,
many districts received less funding than was needed to accommodate the regular increases in
district expenses. This lack of sufficient revenue to address increased spending can be
substantiated by the increasing number of districts that have filed qualified interim reports. A
district must file a qualified interim report if it may not be able to meet its financial obligations
within the 2 subsequent budgetary years. In comparing 2015-2016 first interim reports to 2016-
2017 first interim reports, the number of districts that submitted a qualified interim report
doubled from 14 to 28. Based on its own deficit spending pattern, HJUSD was required to submit
a budget stabilization plan to the local county office outlining how the district will reduce and/or
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 16
eliminate the structural deficit within its budget. In order to meet this requirement, the district
leadership set the following organizational goal for HJUSD: By June 2018, the district will have
developed and implemented a balanced 3-year unrestricted general fund budget for the current
year and the 2 subsequent years.
The state of California identifies a specific budget process for school districts. This
process requires that school districts submit their budget at four points throughout the school
year. These submissions include adopted budget (June 30), first interim (December 15), second
interim (March 15), and unaudited actuals (September 15). Each of these submissions is
examined and compared to ensure that a deficit-free budget has been developed and district
spending is within the budget established.
In successfully moving toward its goal, the HJUSD Cabinet will work to establish
allocations for each school and department that reflect a balanced district budget. Site and
department administrators will be provided with their budget information as well as collaborative
support from the Business Services Division to create a balanced budget for each fiscal year.
This organizational goal was established through collaboration with the district’s cabinet.
The cabinet consists of the superintendent, assistant superintendent educational services,
assistant superintendent human resources, assistant superintendent business, chief academic
officer, district legal counsel, and public information officer. HJUSD has previously engaged in
deficit spending and is projected to deficit spend again in 2019-2020. Although HJUSD has
adequate funds in reserve to accommodate current projections of deficit spending, this level of
spending would exhaust the reserves in future years. Without the completion of a budget that
identifies the impacts of declining enrollment and competing financial demands as well as
potential reductions to accommodate these impacts, HJUSD will be unable to submit its budget
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 17
and receive a positive certification from the county office of education. It is an expectation of the
cabinet and the board of trustees that HJUSD will produce a budget that receives a positive
certification from the county and the state.
Related Literature
School districts receive funding based on enrollment and the corresponding ADA of
those enrolled. When districts begin to experience declining enrollment, it can put stress on their
financial resources, which can require the districts to engage in budget-reduction processes to
create a balanced budget. Through a review of current literature, trends in enrollment as well as
reasons for the trends were examined. Additionally, a brief historical review of the school
funding model in California set the stage for the fiscal implications that enrollment has on a
school district. Literature outlining strategies and processes through which budgets have been
reduced was synthesized to identify successful strategies for implementation. And finally,
various factors influencing knowledge, motivation, and organizational behaviors in the
implementation of a balanced budget were examined.
Although national trends indicate increases in school enrollment, California, and more
specifically Brave County, is experiencing declines in enrollment that are creating issues
including a depletion of fiscal resources for school districts. Nationally, in 2006, there were 55.3
million school-aged children (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). Projections
estimate that this figure will increase to 56.5 million children by 2025 (National Center for
Education Statistics, 2016). However, in California, enrollment is projected to drop from 6.2
million students in 2015-2016 to 6 million students in 2025-2026 (California Department of
Finance, n.d.). Enrollment in Brave County has shown a significant decrease from 515,464
students in 2003-2004 to 497,116 students in 2014-2015 and is projected to decrease further to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 18
445,238 in 2025-2026 (California Department of Finance, n.d.). Specifically, HJUSD has seen a
decline in enrollment beginning in 2009-2010 (California Department of Education, 2017). In
2009-2010, HJUSD had an enrollment of 33,719 students (California Department of Education,
2017). By 2016-2017, enrollment in HJUSD had declined by 2,755 students to 30,964
(California Department of Education, 2017). Based on internal projections, HJUSD is expected
to experience continued decline of approximately 869 additional students between 2016-2017
and 2019-2020. Reasons for the decline in enrollment include a decreasing birth rate, aging
community, and increasing home costs as well as competition from charter schools, interdistrict
transfers, District of Choice designations, and open enrollment.
For districts experiencing declining enrollment, the revenue received can decline at a
faster pace than the related costs. School districts receive funding on one of two measures of
student ADA (California School Boards Association, 2009). If a school district has level ADA or
is growing, it will receive funding based on its current-year ADA. If enrollment in a school
district is in decline, the district will receive funding based on the prior-year ADA, thereby
allowing 1 year for school districts to account for the impact of declining enrollment (California
School Boards Association, 2009). Therefore, in order to accommodate decreases in school
funding, districts must be able to successfully project their revenue and expenditures well in
advance in order to successfully enact appropriate reductions and sustain a balanced budget.
These reductions must be thoughtful and ensure the least impact to student learning.
Importance of the Evaluation
The impact of declining enrollment, compounded by the increasing costs to maintain
current staffing and programs, is an issue that many of the districts throughout California will
experience in upcoming years. When a school district experiences decline, the revenue decreases
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 19
more than the corresponding decrease in related expenditures (California School Boards
Association, 2009). Districts are only provided with a 1-year safety net to respond to decreases in
revenues due to declining enrollment (California School Boards Association, 2009). Declining
enrollment negatively affects the ability of school districts to maintain employees, maintain
fiscal stability, and provide quality instructional programs (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). In order
to ensure that student academic performance is not affected, school districts must carefully
analyze intended and unintended outcomes of potential reductions and solicit stakeholder
involvement to make reductions to the budget as districts experience declining enrollment
(Abshier, Harris, & Hopson, 2011; Levenson, 2011; Stover, 2003). Districts that fail to
successfully project declines in enrollment, and therefore revenue, and adjust their expenditures
appropriately would eventually be required to submit a negative certification and therefore could
face state takeover due to their inability to ensure fiscal solvency.
Stakeholders and Stakeholders’ Performance Goals
The development and management of a school district budget focused on maximizing
resources for the best interests of the students in HJUSD involves many distinct groups of
stakeholders: board of trustees, district cabinet, department directors, school site principals,
teachers, classified staff, parents, and students. In identifying stakeholders with a closer impact
on the creation and maintenance of a balanced budget, three groups can be identified: district
cabinet, department directors, and school site principals. The first group of stakeholders, the
district cabinet, consists of the superintendent, assistant superintendent educational services,
assistant superintendent personnel services, assistant superintendent business, chief academic
officer, district counsel, and public information officer. This inclusion of the district cabinet as a
stakeholder is critical as the cabinet takes the mission of the school district, in collaboration with
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 20
the vision of the school board, and sets the priorities for the school district. A second group of
stakeholders includes the department directors for the district. This group includes directors in
human resources, educational services, and business services. These individuals are responsible
for the implementation of programs, including associated budgets, throughout the school district.
School site principals compose the final group of stakeholders. Each school site principal is
responsible for implementing the mission of the school district at his or her school site and
oversees the school site budget.
Table 1 outlines the organizational performance goal and the stakeholder goals
established as part of this study. It addresses an organizational objective that HJUSD create and
implement a balanced budget by June of 2018. It then refines this organizational performance
goal into a goal for each stakeholder group. Since each stakeholder group was selected because
of its direct ability to impact HJUSD’s ability to create and sustain a balanced budget, the ability
of each stakeholder group to implement its goal will directly affect the ability of HJUSD to
achieve the overall organizational performance goal.
Stakeholder Groups for the Study
There are many stakeholders within HJUSD, including board-of-trustee members,
teachers, classified staff, parents, community members, and students. Although a complete
analysis would have included all of the stakeholder groups, this study focused on just a few
stakeholder groups in the district. These groups included the cabinet, department directors,
school site principals, and teachers. This selection of stakeholder groups was purposeful to
ensure that those involved were the individuals closest to making program and budget decisions.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 21
Table 1. Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Goals
Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Goals
Organizational performance goal
By June 2018, Herren Joint Union School District (HJUSD) will develop and implement a
balanced 3-year unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and the 2 subsequent
years.
Cabinet Department directors School site administrators
By January 2018, HJUSD
Cabinet will develop
allocations for each site and
department that reflect a
balanced district budget for
the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of
HJUSD department directors
will develop balanced
department/ program budgets
for the 2018-2019 school
year.
By March 2018, 100% of
HJUSD school site
administrators will develop
balanced site budgets for the
2018-2019 school year.

The organizational performance goal was established through collaboration with the
district’s cabinet. HJUSD has previously engaged in deficit spending and is currently projected
to deficit spend in 2019-2020. Although HJUSD has adequate funds in reserves to accommodate
current projections of deficit spending, this level of spending would exhaust the reserves in
future years. Without the completion of a budget that identifies the fiscal impacts of declining
enrollment and competing financial demands as well as potential reductions to accommodate
these impacts, HJUSD will be unable to submit its budget and receive a positive certification
from the county office of education. Competing financial demands include increased costs of
salaries for step/column/ longevity, increases to minimum wage, increased health and welfare
benefits, and greater mandated pension contributions. Other new expenses for the district include
the Sick Leave for All Act and the Affordable Care Act. There is an expectation from the cabinet
and the board of trustees that HJUSD will produce a budget that continues to receive a positive
certification. Therefore, it is necessary for HJUSD to create a balanced budget for the future.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 22
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School
District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing
a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years. Since
2009-2010, HJUSD has engaged in deficit spending 4 of the 7 years. At the time of the study,
HJUSD was expected to deficit spend again beginning in 2019-20.
Districts are legally required to provide documentation within their yearly adopted
budget, as well as their interim reports, that they are able to meet their financial obligations for
not only the current year but also the 2 subsequent years. A balanced budget is identified as a
budget with no structural deficit, which means that the district’s ongoing and regular expenses
exceed its ongoing and regular revenue. If a district engages in a continual pattern of deficit
spending, it potentially could spend down its reserves and not be able to meet its financial
obligations. It is necessary for HJUSD to maintain a balanced budget so that it is able to continue
to meet its financial obligations. The analysis in this study focused on knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences related to achieving HJUSD’s goal for a balanced budget. While a
complete performance evaluation would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes, the
stakeholders this analysis focused on included district and school site administrative staff.
The questions that guided this study were as follows:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to HJUSD’s ability
to create and maintain a balanced budget?
2. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to assist HJUSD in creating and maintaining a
balanced budget?
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 23
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Using an evaluation model approach, the Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model
was used as a framework to identify performance gaps in regard to knowledge, motivation, and
organization within HJUSD. The methodological framework used was qualitative. Influences
involving knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact the achievement of a
balanced budget for HJUSD were generated based on information gathered and related literature.
Identified influences were assessed through interviews, review of relevant literature, and content
analysis. Research-based solutions were proposed and evaluated for effectiveness.
Definitions
Average daily attendance (ADA): A percentage calculated by dividing the number of
students who attended school by the number of students who are enrolled in the school.
Cost: The amount or equivalent paid or charged for something.
Enrollment: The number of students who are enrolled within a school district.
Local control funding formula (LCFF): A school funding model for the state of
California implemented under Governor Jerry Brown.
Expenditures: The action of spending funds.
Structural deficit: An imbalance in a budget when the expenditures of an organization are
greater than what is received in revenue.
Organization of the Study
This study is organized in five chapters. The first chapter has outlined key concepts and
terminology used within the topic of school district finances and the impacts of declining
enrollment on school district finances. This section also provided information regarding the
mission, goals, and stakeholders of the organization studied. Additionally, the overall framework
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 24
for the project was included. Chapter Two provides an overview of the relevant and current
literature related to the scope of the study. This chapter provides information on areas including
school finances, budgeting, and enrollment. Chapter Three includes information on the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors examined as well as methodology in respect
to the choice of participants and data collection and analysis. The data and results are assessed
and analyzed in Chapter Four. The final chapter, Chapter Five, provides recommendations and
solutions, supported by data and current literature, for closing the perceived gaps as well as
recommendations for an implementation and evaluation plan for solutions.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 25
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Many school districts in California are facing fiscal challenges that are further increased
for districts that are also encountering declining student enrollment and, therefore, declining
revenue. Districts are challenged by rising fiscal expectations including statutory salary
increases, soaring health and welfare costs, escalating utility costs, and proliferating increases to
employee pension programs (Bennett et al., 2016). This chapter provides a review of the
literature related to the history of school funding in California. It outlines the statistics regarding
enrollment decline and the various reasons for enrollment decline. Furthermore, it includes
strategies and processes school districts have employed to increase revenue or decrease costs due
to reductions in funding. In addition, this review of the literature focuses on assumed knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that impact a school district’s ability to successfully
make and sustain budgetary reductions in order to ensure a balanced budget.
Declining Enrollment in California Schools
Between 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, 54% of the school districts in the state of California
experienced declining enrollment, and this declining enrollment necessitates that school districts
identify appropriate strategies to reduce their budget proportionally to the amount of decline
experienced (D. Heckler, personal communication, March 17, 2017). It also necessitates that
districts project enrollment for future years to be prepared for any additional anticipated decline.
The National Center for Education Statistics (2016) projected that school enrollment in
California will decline by 2% from 2015-2016 to 2025-2026 as compared to the overall U.S. K-
12 enrollment, which is expected to increase by 2% during that time. The largest school
enrollment declines statewide are expected in Southern California (California Department of
Finance, 2016). Between 2015-2016 and 2025-2026, Brave County’s K-12 student population is
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 26
anticipated to decline by 10%. Demographic changes are compounded by the expanded choice
being offered to parents in how and where they educate their children. California, and more
specifically Brave County, is experiencing increased trends of declining enrollment due to
reduced birth rate, an aging community, increased housing costs, and school choice options that
will continue to impact the fiscal operations of school districts (California Department of
Finance, n.d.).
Impacts of Changing Demographics on School Enrollment
Demographic changes in California are resulting in declining enrollment in many districts
throughout the state. Californians are living longer lives, and therefore the state is experiencing
an aging community, which means that residents are staying in their homes longer, and therefore
there is less turnover of homes to young families with children (California Department of Public
Health, n.d.-a). Furthermore, the birth rate in California has been in decline, decreasing from
566,137 births per year in 2007 to 502,023 in 2011 (California Department of Public Health,
n.d.-b). In Brave County, there has been a steady decline in the birth rate from 44,796 births in
2002 to 38,100 in 2011 (California Department of Public Health, n.d.-b). Demographers use birth
rates to assist in projections for kindergarten enrollment for school districts. Because schools are
funded based on average daily attendance (ADA), a function of school enrollment, it is necessary
that school districts analyze state and county demographic data trends to create accurate
projections for future enrollment and therefore accurate revenue projections.
Choice in California Schools
A phenomenon being seen throughout the nation is the increase in options that provide
parents with different choices in selecting educational options for their children. The most
common types of choice in California are interdistrict transfers, charter schools, and District of
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 27
Choice, but California law also provides for other lesser utilized options such as the parent
trigger and open enrollment. The parent trigger allows for parents to submit a petition to request
that a school be closed, that it be converted into a charter school, or that the leadership at the
school be changed (Butcher, 2013). California also has enacted the Open Enrollment Act, which
provides the opportunity for students in the 1,000 lowest achieving schools in California to enroll
in another school that has higher test scores than the one they currently attend (California
Department of Education, 2017b). The state of California has also implemented a variety of
options for parents to have more choice in the schools their children attend, which has further
impacted the enrollment of California’s children in public schools.
Charter schools. California has the largest number of public charter schools in the nation
to provide parents with an option other than attending the traditional local public schools. In
2015-2016, the 1,253 charter schools in California had an enrollment of 603,630 students
(California Charter Schools Association, n.d.). The California Charter Schools Association has
set a goal of enrolling 1 million students into charter schools in California by 2022 (Janofsky,
2016). Districts need to ensure that when presented with a charter school petition relative to their
district boundaries, they analyze the potential impact of the charter school on their enrollment.
Interdistrict transfers. Another vehicle allowing parental choice in children’s education
is the interdistrict transfer process. Through this process, parents can complete a form requesting
a release from their district of residence and acceptance into their desired district (Jimerson,
2002). Typically, districts have established board policy that outlines the reasons a child can be
released from the district. Often these reasons will include child care, specialized programs, or
specific student needs. Whereas interdistrict transfers may benefit students and receiving
districts, they can have a negative financial impact on the releasing districts due to a loss of ADA
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 28
and therefore funding (Jimerson, 2002). Interdistrict transfers can be mitigated by a school
district through a well-defined interdistrict transfer process, a careful analysis of reasons for
interdistrict transfers, and using these reasons to establish programs within the district.
District of Choice. Highly desirable districts in California instituted the District of
Choice model in order to combat the impacts of declining enrollment at the cost of impacting the
enrollment in neighboring districts. Once a district has self-designated as a District of Choice, it
can accept students into its schools without the requirement of students being released from their
district of residence. Designed to create competition between schools, it can have similar impacts
as interdistrict transfers to districts that are losing students to neighboring school districts
(Kronholz, 2014). The current legislation for District of Choice in California has been
suspended, and schools can no longer accept students under District of Choice. The decision
regarding whether the students who are currently on District of Choice transfers will be required
to return to their districts of residence is still pending. Since District of Choice options provide
parents with the ability to transfer without receiving a release from their district of residence,
districts affected by these types of transfers must carefully monitor students leaving the district
as there is a 10% cap on students enrolling in other districts under the District of Choice option
(Kapphahn, 2016).
School Funding in California
There has been great variability in California school funding over the past 10 years as
well as intense discussion regarding the adequacy of school funding in California. The base
revenue limit, a standard in school funding, was eliminated in 2014 and replaced with the local
control funding formula (LCFF) under the leadership of Governor Jerry Brown (Bennett et al.,
2016). As school funding moves forward in California, one must remember that the LCFF was
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 29
only intended to return school funding to 2007-2008 purchasing power (Bennett et al., 2016).
With the additional financial demands placed on school districts, this level of funding is not
adequate to provide comparable services to students. Odden, Picus, and Goetz (2010) defined
funding adequacy to include the necessary financial resources so that a school and/or district can
“make substantial improvements in student performance over the next 4 to 6 years as progress
towards ensuring that all, or almost all, students meet their state performance standards in the
longer term” (p. 630).
History of School Funding
Throughout the history of both the United States of America and the state of California,
the structure of school funding has been a primary responsibility of the state. The first American
school finance laws can be found in the Massachusetts Act of 1642, which required “parents and
masters to attend to the educational duties of the colony’s sons and servants” (Owings & Kaplan,
2012, p. 46). School finance laws existed within the early settlements as demonstrated by
requirements that for 50 households or more, a settlement was required to appoint a reading and
writing teacher, and for 100 households or more, a settlement was required to provide a school
funded by the property taxes of the community members (Owings & Kaplan, 2012). Although
the model for school finance has changed over the past several years, it still remains primarily
the responsibility of the state.
Base revenue limit. The base revenue limit for education funding in California was
established in the 1970s as a result of a number of lawsuits that challenged the equity of state
funding between high-wealth and low-wealth districts throughout the state. The base revenue
limit provided districts with equality in school funding so that districts with unalike tax bases
still received like funding through which to educate students (Weston, 2010).
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 30
Proposition 98. Passed in 1988, Proposition 98 created a guarantee of a minimum level
of funding for education in California (EdSource, 2009). There are three tests on which
Proposition 98 funding is allocated (EdSource, 2009). Under the first test, school districts receive
41% of the general fund revenue collected by the state. The second test, which has been used
most since the implementation of Proposition 98, requires that school districts receive at least as
much as they received in the prior year, adjusted for factors such as per-capita personal income
tax and enrollment. If the third test is enacted, school districts receive what they received in the
prior year plus 0.5% of the prior-year Proposition 98 allocation. If the state is in serious financial
crisis, Proposition 98 can be suspended, but if it is suspended, the money not provided to school
districts must be made up at a future time (EdSource, 2009).
California’s great recession. Between 2007 and 2013, California experienced a financial
recession that led to draconian reductions in school funding. In 2006-2007, California was 29th
in the nation in per-pupil funding (Shambaugh, Kitmitto, Parrish, Arellanes, & Nakashima,
2011). Three years later in 2009-2010, California had fallen to 46th in per-pupil funding. To
accommodate for this lack of funding, the state government allowed for greater funding
flexibility, reduced caps on class size, reduced the required length of the school year, suspended
textbook adoption cycles, and allowed a reduction of the financial reserve requirement
(Shambaugh et al., 2011). Districts in California made significant cuts to education, which has
led to a pent-up demand for restoration of programs, salaries, and benefits with the
implementation of the LCFF.
Local control funding formula. In 2014, Governor Jerry Brown instituted the LCFF,
often referred to as the greatest change to school funding in the state of California in over 40
years (Bennett et al., 2016). The LCFF combined the base revenue limit along with
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 31
approximately 40 categorical programs to allow districts to have greater local autonomy in using
their funding. Underlying the LCFF is a goal to restore school funding by 2020-2021 to the
prerecession funding level of 2007-2008 adjusted for inflation (Bennett et al., 2016). While
increases in funding are welcomed by school districts, the increase is being outpaced by
increases in required costs. Due to a massive pension liability reform for the California State
Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees’ Retirement
System (CalPERS), school districts are seeing their contributions to employee pensions grow
from 3.8% to 9% of the district’s budget by 2019-2020, and districts are bearing 70% of the $5.2
billion increase in rising pension costs (Fensterwald, 2014). Additionally, health and welfare
costs are growing at a rate of 8% to 14% per year (Rubio-Cortes, 2013). With current projections
that the LCFF will be fully funded by 2020-2021, the current school funding model will then
only allow for cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increases. Therefore, after full implementation
of the LCFF, districts will need to absorb these rising costs through the state-allocated COLA
(Bennett et al., 2016). It is estimated that the average school district in California requires 4.15%
in COLA to maintain the required increases (Bennett et al., 2016). Currently, the projected
COLA increases from 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 are 0%, 1.48% and 2.40%,
respectively (Bennett et al., 2017).
Propositions 30 and 55. During the Great Recession, California schools suffered greatly
and were expecting additional draconian cuts to education but were provided a reprieve due to
the passage of Proposition 30. Passed in 2012, Proposition 30 provided a 0.25% increase in sales
tax as well as increases to personal income tax for individuals who made over $250,000 per year
(“California Proposition 30,” n.d.). This proposition provided an estimated $6.8 to $9 billion in
additional revenue targeted to education. The sales tax portion of this law expired in December
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 32
2016, and the personal income tax portion is due to sunset in December 2018 (“California
Proposition 30,” n.d.). In November 2016, California’s taxpayers voted with a 63.7% passage
rate for Proposition 55, which continues the personal income tax portion through 2030 for
individuals making over $263,000 per year (“California Proposition 55,” n.d.).
Robles-Wong v. California. Even with the change of the school funding model to the
LCFF and the passage of Propositions 30 and 55, there are still challenges to the adequacy of the
funding model in California. Robles-Wong v. California was a 2016 case appealed to the
California Supreme Court that challenged that there is inadequate state funding for education in
California (California School Boards Association, 2016). Proposed on behalf of school-aged
children, this case challenged that children are not receiving a minimally adequate education due
to the lack of funding for education. The case was not supported in a lower court, and the
California Supreme Court refused to grant the appeal to have the case heard at the California
Supreme Court level (California School Boards Association, 2016).
Impacts of Declining Enrollment on School Funding
The finances of a school district are determined based on the enrollment of the district
and the ADA of that enrollment. As student enrollment in Brave County is projected to decline
by approximately 9% in the next 10 years (California Department of Finance, 2016), this decline
will impact school districts and force them to identify reductions commensurate with the decline
that the districts experience. Hypothetically, if a district of 10,000 students experiences a
reduction in enrollment of 1% annually, its enrollment will be reduced to 9,509 students in 5
years. In 2015-2016, districts received $10,591 per ADA (Bennett et al., 2016). Based on this
funding level, and taking into account that districts with declining enrollment are provided with a
1-year hold harmless for the reduction of funding, a school district would minimally expect to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 33
receive $4.2 million less in funding due to the decline projected above. The teacher staffing
reduction for this decrease in ADA is approximately 15 teachers, which is an approximate
expense to the district of $1.5 million. Therefore, a school district would need to identify an
additional $2.7 million in reductions to mitigate the indicated change in enrollment.
When districts experience declining enrollment, revenues received decline at a faster pace
than the related costs. School districts receive funding on one of two measures of student ADA
(California School Boards Association, 2009). If a school district has level ADA or is growing, it
will receive funding based on its current-year ADA. If enrollment in a school district is in
decline, the district will receive funding based on the prior-year ADA, therefore allowing 1 year
for school districts to absorb the impacts of declining enrollment (California School Boards
Association, 2009).
Strategies and Processes to Accommodate Enrollment-Based Funding Reductions
As school districts strategize to eliminate structural deficits created by declining
enrollment and increased fiscal demands, they will need to identify potential strategies to
generate additional revenue, as well as reductions in costs, and carefully scrutinize to ensure all
options are considered. There is overwhelming support for the development of structures that
ensure that a large number of stakeholders are included in any change process, including the
budget-reduction process (Abshier et al., 2011; Esselman, Lee-Gwin, & Rounds, 2012;
Levenson, 2011; Summers, 2015). Although cuts can be devastating to an organization, they can
also provide positive impacts as nonproductive processes can be eliminated, allowing for
remaining funding to be utilized for more effective programs (Esselman et al., 2012). Districts
may have long-time programs that have never been measured for success. Budget reductions
force school districts to look at all programs, which may enable them to identify some “sacred
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 34
cow” programs that are not providing effective benefits to students. As a district manages the
process of right-sizing costs for the district to its revenue, it is necessary to engage a team of
community stakeholders to create buy-in to the process as well as utilize an interactive process to
generate creative budget-reduction strategies.
School districts’ current resources can be leveraged to generate additional local revenue
for the districts. There are a number of ways that school districts can generate revenue. The first
would include identifying the district’s ADA and ascertaining if ADA can be increased through
the addition of recoupment processes including Saturday academic school, short-term
independent study programs, use of the school attendance review board, and alternative-to-
suspension programs. The next option would be to identify ways in which to maximize
enrollment (Abshier et al., 2011). This might include the development of new, innovative
academic programs and pathways to transform the district into a destination district for students
from surrounding areas (R. Sheehan, personal communication, August 2016). Also, it would be
beneficial to ensure that fiscal recoupment programs such as Medi-Cal Administrative Activities
and Local Educational Agency Medi-Cal Billing options are being fully implemented to ensure
the maximum fiscal recoupment by the district. Implementation of programs such as fee-based
preschools and daycares can provide additional revenue for a district (Rubio-Cortes, 2013). As
enrollment in a district declines, the district may find that it has excess properties that can be
utilized to generate revenue. The sale of land can support districts in having additional funds for
facility improvements. Long-term leases of properties and land swaps can provide districts with
ongoing revenue sources that can be used for the general operation of the districts (Kheel, 2013).
Before a school district engages in the emotional process of reducing costs, it is beneficial to
look for opportunities to generate additional revenue for the district.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 35
Nonstaffing reductions. When looking at minimizing costs, schools need to review their
current non-staff-related costs to identify potential reductions. In this way, reductions can be kept
as far away from students as possible. Areas that can be reviewed can include minimizing food at
professional development activities, reducing conference attendance, pushing off deferred
maintenance, and renegotiating outside contracts (Abshier et al., 2011; Esselman et al., 2012).
Additionally, schools can look into investing in areas such as lighting retrofits, artificial turf
installation, and solar panel installation to reduce utility costs to the district (Bryant, 2016). A
large expense for a school district is health and welfare benefits for staff. Districts can look into
the implementation of wellness programs to assist in driving the health and welfare costs down
through instituting health fairs and biometric assessments for employees (Spegman, 2017). To
minimize salary costs, districts should investigate if an employee retirement incentive program
could help to motivate more veteran, higher paid employees to retire. This assists districts in
saving money through replacing these veteran employees with less expensive, younger
employees or, in the case the district is in declining enrollment, not replacing the employees at
all. Many districts have moved to the implementation of an energy manager position to monitor
utility usage and make suggestions to reduce utility costs (Bryant, 2016). Since education is a
people-driven industry, the first place a school district should look to reduce costs is in
nonstaffing reductions.
Staffing reductions. The largest costs of a school district represent its workforce and are
typically found to be about 80% of a district’s budget (Caskey & Kuperberg, 2014). This makes
it necessary that districts review the number of staff they have as well as the costs connected to
salary and benefits for staff. First and foremost, districts need to have a well-maintained position
control system so that they only hire the number of staff needed to adequately run the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 36
organization. At the school sites, staffing should be determined by school enrollment, therefore
ensuring that staffing is appropriately reduced as school enrollment declines. Strategies used by
school districts to minimize staffing costs include reductions in force, hiring freezes, and
revisions of job descriptions (Abshier et al., 2011). Reductions in force can be softened through
the use of retirement incentives to create a voluntary exodus of staff at the highest levels of the
pay scale (Esselman et al., 2012). Health and welfare costs can be minimized through negotiating
a new contract with healthcare providers or passing on all or a portion of the health and welfare
increases to employees in the form of employee contributions (Rubio-Cortes, 2013). Teacher
salaries and benefits can be reduced through an increase in class size, which allows a district to
reduce the number of teachers that it needs (Esselman et al., 2012). As enrollment in school
districts continues to decline, staffing ratios must be developed and monitored to reflect the staff
needed to effectively run schools and the district office.
School closure. Although a highly emotional process, as enrollment declines, school
districts must reflect on the possibility of closing or reconfiguring schools in order to both reduce
costs and create potential revenue streams for the districts. Declines in enrollment can result in
the closure of smaller schools (Caskey & Kuperberg, 2014; Esselman et al., 2012; Rubio-Cortes,
2013). School closure can benefit a school district in two ways. First, school closure results in a
reduction in staff and operational costs associated with running a school. Second, it allows for
the district to creatively use the property from the closed school to generate revenue for the
school district through sale, lease, or swap of the property. As districts experience declines in
enrollment, the benefits of school closure or reconfiguration must be carefully reviewed. This
includes the revenue recouped through the consolidation of staffs and elimination of certain
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 37
duplicated positions as well as the utilization of closed schools to create one-time or ongoing
revenue streams for the district.
Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation Influences
Knowledge and Skills
Many school districts in California have faced and are continuing to face challenges in
creating a balanced budget due to declining enrollment and increasing fiscal demands. Dave
Heckler (personal communication, March 17, 2017), from School Services of California,
documented that based on a comparison of 2014-2015 second principal apportionment (P-2)
ADA to 2015-2016 P-2 ADA, 54% of school districts in California had experienced a decline in
enrollment. Within Brave County, 24 of the 28 school districts experienced a decline within this
same time period (D. Heckler, personal communication, March 17, 2017). Specific to Brave
County, enrollment is projected to decline from 497,116 students in 2014-2015 to 450,816
students in 2024-2025 (California Department of Finance, 2016). With a decline in enrollment
also comes a corresponding decline in revenue that districts must grapple with through
reductions in staffing, programs, and resources (Donlevy, 2010).
In the state of California, schools are funded in one of two ways. If a school district
maintains or increases ADA, it is funded based on current-year ADA (California School Boards
Association, 2009). If a school district shows a decline in ADA, it is funded on its prior-year
ADA, which allows the district 1 year to account for the decrease in funding. This change
provides a buffer for schools to make necessary reductions; however, it is necessary that school
administrators look at the current year as well as the projections for future years to make the
changes needed for a balanced budget (California School Boards Association, 2009).
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 38
To effectively address budget changes, school districts must engage and elicit
information from all stakeholders but specifically from site and district administrators, who have
the most leverage in assigning and managing school district finances (Abshier et al., 2011;
Levenson, 2011; Stover, 2003). Furthermore, in order for a district to successfully mitigate the
effects of the decline in revenue and increasing fiscal demands, educational leaders must be able
to balance school district budgets (Bennett et al., 2017). For a budget to be balanced, the regular
ongoing expenditures of the district would not exceed its regular ongoing revenue (“DN
Editorial: School,” 2016).
Knowledge Assessment
Justification of influences for assessment purposes. To identify ways to better
understand barriers that are hindering progress toward the organizational and stakeholder goals,
it is necessary to review relevant literature related to the various knowledge types and the
influences that those knowledge types have on goal attainment. There are four types of
knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2002). Factual
knowledge includes the basic knowledge, including terminology and specific details, a person
must understand regarding a specific area of focus. Within the area of focus, understanding the
interrelationships among the specific details is recognized as conceptual knowledge (Krathwohl,
2002). Procedural knowledge is the understanding of the step-by-step process to do or complete
something (Krathwohl, 2002; Schraw & McCrudden, 2009). To understand the thought
processes involved within the process of learning knowledge, one uses what is defined as
metacognitive knowledge (Krathwohl, 2002).
After identifying the organizational and stakeholder goals, it is important to identify
specific barriers to successfully attaining these goals. These barriers are then categorized into
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 39
problems related to knowledge, motivation, or organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). Problems that
are identified as being rooted in a lack of knowledge are then further categorized into the type of
knowledge, that is, factual, procedural, conceptual, or metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2002).
Identifying the specific type of knowledge that is deficient in the organization can assist in
developing strategies to mitigate the lack of knowledge.
Factual knowledge influence assessment. Factual influences include the ability of site
and district administration to develop a general understanding regarding school finance and
budgeting. More specifically, site administrators need to understand what steps they can take to
increase enrollment and ADA at their school sites. Creative implementation of school choice
options including inter- and intradistrict transfers as well as the Allen Bill can assist schools to
increase their enrollment (Jimerson, 2002). Once students are enrolled, administrators need to be
savvy on strategies to maximize the ADA for those students. These strategies may include the
development of incentive programs, implementation of the school attendance review board or
Abolish Chronic Truancy program, or recoupment of ADA through Saturday academic school.
Conceptual knowledge influence assessment. Site and district administrators must have
conceptual knowledge regarding budgeting and school finance in order to make decisions that
positively impact the finances of the school district. This knowledge can be categorized into
three levels: state, district, and site-level financial information. At the state level, knowledge
regarding state funding allocations and upcoming fiscal demands is necessary for gauging the
future financial health of the school district. Since site funding is directly correlated to district
funding, understanding how to interpret the district’s financial records, as well as how changes in
ADA and reductions impact the district’s financial bottom line, is a needed skill. Finally, since
the site/department administrator is responsible for maintaining the budget, he or she must have a
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 40
solid understanding of how to correctly allocate the financial resources and how the allocations
will be impacted in future years.
Conceptual knowledge regarding school finance and budgeting is often a deficient area
within school administration programs. In an analysis of principal preparation programs, it was
demonstrated that 42% of the programs failed to measure mastery of the financial information
needed by a school administrator (Hess & Kelly, 2007). There is also a lack of research to
support school administrators experiencing the need to make budgetary reductions (Ginsberg &
Multon, 2011). Research has shown there is a benefit to providing information to administrators
faced with making budgetary reductions (Olsen, 2010). Levenson (2011) also described the
importance of involving others in the budget-reduction process rather that imposing budgetary
decisions on them. This involvement necessitates that knowledge be developed in all areas
included in the budgeting process.
Metacognitive knowledge influence assessment. The use of metacognition in
developing and managing the budgetary processes of a school site, department, and district is
necessary in creating and sustaining a balanced budget. Reflecting on internal cognitive
strategies used in budgeting can provide greater insight as administrators develop future budgets
(Rueda, 2011). As district administrators make decisions throughout the year, they need to reflect
on how these decisions will impact the district’s budget and the ability of the district to maintain
a balanced budget. As budgetary decisions are made, administrators must contemplate if their
thoughts are focused on future budget projections and not on factors that may have created the
issues (Olsen, 2010).
There are many assumed knowledge influences involving the ability of stakeholders in
Herren Joint Union School District (HJUSD) to create and sustain a balanced budget. Knowledge
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 41
can be categorized into metacognitive, procedural, declarative factual, or declarative conceptual
knowledge. The assumed knowledge influences related to this study are outlined in Table 2.
Motivation
General theory. Motivation is the driver that allows a person to use knowledge to
engage in an activity or a task. As a person gains knowledge, that person must have the
motivation necessary to propel him or her to use his or her knowledge. Motivation is
characterized by three determinants: active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Rueda, 2011).
Active choice involves making the choice to do or complete something. Persistence is
demonstrated by the ability to stick with a task to completion in spite of obstacles that one might
encounter. Mental effort is the amount of effort a person places into completing an activity. It
must be recognized that if a problem is rooted in motivation, it cannot be solved through
knowledge-based solutions (Rueda, 2011). Clark and Estes (2008) shared that in regard to
motivation, a person’s belief is the most important determinant. In addition, motivational
problems can be complex and multifaceted, so it is necessary to look at a variety of motivational
influences in determining what the root cause of a motivational problem may be (Rueda, 2011).
Attribution theory. The way in which a person attributes how things happen is an
indicator of how or if that person will be motivated to become committed to a task or activity.
Attribution theory addresses how a person attributes things that occur and posits that attribution
alone impacts one’s ability to be motivated to complete a task (Anderman & Anderman, 2009).

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 42
Table 2. Assumed Knowledge Influences of Stakeholders
Assumed Knowledge Influences of Stakeholders

Organizational mission
The Herren Joint Union School District, a partnership of students, parents, staff, and
community will provide all students with a high quality, well-rounded educational program in
a safe and nurturing learning environment that promotes:
• High academic expectations for all students and employees
• 21st Century learning skills for students to act as problem solvers and critical thinkers
• Readiness for post-secondary education, career options, and civic and social responsibility
Organizational performance goal
By June 2018, HJUSD will develop and implement a balanced 3-year unrestricted general
fund budget for the current year and the 2 subsequent years.
Stakeholder performance goals
By January 2018, HJUSD Cabinet will develop allocations for each site and department that
reflect a balanced district budget for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD department directors will develop balanced
department/program budgets for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD school site administrators will develop balanced site budgets
for the 2018-2019 school year.
Assumed
knowledge
influence
Knowledge
type
Knowledge
influence
assessment
Learning
solution
principle Proposed solution
Site and district
administrators
need to reflect on
how their
decisions impact
the site/district
budget.
Metacognition Interview item:
Administrators
were asked
about their
thoughts and
knowledge
about specific
decisions and
how those
decisions
impact the
site/district
budget.
The use of
metacognitive
strategies
facilitates
learning
(Baker, 2009).
Education
Recommendation:
Provide regularly
scheduled meetings
between the Business
Services Department
and site and district
administrators to
discuss how their
staffing and
planned/unplanned
expenditures impact
their budget and as
necessary how
overspending in their
budget impacts the
district budget.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 43
Table 2 (continued)
Assumed
knowledge
influence
Knowledge
type
Knowledge
influence
assessment
Learning solution
principle Proposed solution
Cabinet
members need
to understand
how reductions
affect the
general fund
vs. categorical/
restricted
funds.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item:
Cabinet members
reviewed specific
reductions and
were asked to
identify the impact
on general fund vs.
categorical/
restricted funds.

Cabinet
members need
to understand
the multiyear
projection
(MYP) and
what it
explains
regarding the
fiscal status of
the district.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item:
Cabinet members
were asked to
review their
current MYP and
explain what the
figures explain
regarding the
district.
Facilitating
transfer promotes
learning (Mayer,
2011).
Information
Recommendation:
Provide
information
through an
overview of the
MYP and its
components prior
to each budget
presentation in
cabinet meeting.
Participant
stakeholders
need to
understand the
state funding
model and how
it impacts the
funding for
HJUSD.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item:
Administrators
indicated their
knowledge of the
state funding
model.
Information
learned
meaningfully and
connected with
prior knowledge is
stored more
quickly because it
is elaborated on
with prior learning
(Schraw &
McCrudden,
2009).
Integrating
auditory and visual
information
maximizes
working memory
capacity (Mayer,
2011).
Information
Recommendation:
Provide
information
through regular
presentations to all
stakeholders
including oral and
visual presentation
outlining the local
control funding
formula and how it
affects HJUSD.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 44
Table 2 (continued)
Assumed
knowledge
influence
Knowledge
type
Knowledge
influence
assessment
Learning solution
principle Proposed solution
Site
administrators
need to know
how student
average daily
attendance
(ADA) impacts
funding.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item:
Site administrators
demonstrated how
their school’s
ADA impacts the
funding for
HJUSD.

Site
administrators
need to know
what they can
do to increase
student ADA.
Declarative
(factual)
Interview item:
Site administrators
indicated what
strategies they
were using to
increase ADA.

Administrators
need to know
what they can
do to increase
student
enrollment.
Declarative
(factual)
Interview item:
Administrators
indicated what
strategies they
were using to
increase
enrollment.

Site and
department
administrators
need to know
how future
projections will
impact their
budget.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item:
Site and
department
administrators
were asked what
information they
needed to know to
project their
budget for future
years.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 45
Table 2 (continued)
Assumed
knowledge
influence
Knowledge
type
Knowledge
influence
assessment
Learning solution
principle Proposed solution
All
administrators
need to
understand the
competing fiscal
demands in the
upcoming years
and how they
will impact
HJUSD.
Declarative
(conceptual)
Interview item: All
administrators
identified the
demands on the
HJUSD budget in
the upcoming
years and the
impacts these
demands will have
on site and district
budgets.
Information
learned
meaningfully and
connected with
prior knowledge
is stored more
quickly because it
is elaborated with
prior learning
(Schraw &
McCrudden,
2009).
Integrating
auditory and
visual
information
maximizes
working memory
capacity (Mayer,
2011).
Information
Recommendation:
Provide
information
through regular
auditory and
visual
presentations to all
stakeholders,
outlining the state
of the district
finances.

Attribution theory combines three dimensions: locus, stability, and controllability. Locus of
control refers to the way in which a person attributes a decision; in other words, based on
attribution theory, a person will determine if an outcome is due to internal causes (those based on
him- or herself) or external causes (those based on the environment). In addition to the locus of
control, another dimension of attribution theory is stability. Anderman and Anderman (2009)
defined stability as a person’s perception involving whether a cause is stable or unstable. Stable
causes are those that are fixed across a variety of activities and situations. Unstable causes are
those that may vary over time and in different activities or situations. Along with locus and
stability, controllability is a key component of attribution theory. Controllability involves a
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 46
person’s belief regarding his or her ability to control a situation. A person may believe that a task
or situation is controllable (i.e., that the effort that he or she attributes to the task or situation will
ultimately lead to success). On the contrary, a person may believe that a situation is
uncontrollable and that no matter how much effort he or she invests in the task, he or she will not
be successful. For a person to have the highest belief that his or her efforts will lead to success, it
is best that the person believes that his or her involvement in a task or situation is internal, stable,
and controllable (Anderman & Anderman, 2009).
Cabinet and attribution theory. The budget of a school district should be a priority of
the cabinet, and the cabinet should strive to create a balanced budget that reflects the priorities of
the school district. The cabinet members should believe that their influence on the budget is
internal, stable, and controllable. When a budget is not balanced, there is often a lack of
accountability regarding whose responsibility it is to ensure that it is balanced. The variability in
the state’s management of the budget may result in leaders feeling that external and unstable
forces control their ability to create a balanced budget.
The belief of the cabinet regarding its responsibility for creating and maintaining a
balanced budget becomes more critical when districts are in the midst of making significant cuts
to the budget. Leaders must adopt a positive attitude that their ability and decision can result in
the accomplishment of the task (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). To enhance controllability within
the budgeting process, the cabinet must clearly understand how to utilize stakeholders as well as
have a strategic process for creating and implementing the reductions (Ginsberg & Multon,
2011).
Self-efficacy theory. One of the most foundational aspects of motivation is the beliefs
one holds about his or her ability to reach a goal or complete a task. Known as the self-efficacy
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 47
theory, this concept is defined as the thoughts that one has regarding him- or herself and his or
her capabilities (Pajares, 2009). These beliefs are personal in nature and do not necessarily
reflect the ability of a person to complete a task but rather the person’s belief in his or her ability.
One’s self-efficacy is based on information from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious
experience, social persuasions, and physiological reactions. Self-efficacy can impact each of the
three areas of motivation: active choice, persistence, and mental effort. Overall, a person’s self-
efficacy will impact the types of tasks in which that person chooses to engage. In addition, self-
efficacy can determine how long a person will persevere on a task when he or she encounters
obstacles. Finally, self-efficacy will cause a person to regulate the amount of effort he or she
expends when completing a task. To increase self-efficacy, people need to have scaffolded
experiences that allow them to experience successes on which to build (Pajares, 2009).
Site and district administration and self-efficacy theory. Many administrators do not
feel efficacious when faced with processes involving school finance and budgeting. Because
there is a lack of training in administrative programs, administrators struggle with believing that
they can successfully manage their budgets (Hess & Kelly, 2007). Through the creation of a
systematic budget-reduction process, cabinet members can scaffold the information presented to
administrators and allow them to feel more success at each step within the plan (Olsen, 2010).
Through scaffolding experiences for administrators, a mastery experience can be created that
builds on prior successes (Pajares, 2009). It is also important that the physiological reactions are
managed within the budgetary process. Many superintendents and principals have reported that
they experienced emotional reactions because of the need to make reductions (Ginsberg &
Multon, 2011; Olsen, 2010). Administrators have also reported that their health was impacted as
a result of the stress involved with budget reductions (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). Self-efficacy
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 48
can be carefully enhanced through systematically creating a scaffolded structure for reductions
and facilitating environments that reduce the stress associated with the budget-reduction process.
Goal orientation theory. Active choice is the first step in motivation toward completing
a task or achieving a goal. Anderman (2015) outlined goal orientation theory, which is based on
social cognitive theory and looks at the reasons behind a person’s choice to accomplish a task. It
answers the question of why a person would engage in a task and what the person’s motivation is
in wanting to complete it. This theory is based on the attainment of two types of goals: mastery
and performance. A mastery goal is defined as a goal in which a person seeks to understand the
knowledge, and the person compares his or her goal attainment to his or her attainment of goals
in the past. A performance goal involves the desire to accomplish a goal against the performance
of others, and its underlying motivation is competition with others. These two types of goals can
further be defined as approach goals or avoid goals. Approach goals are supported by a person’s
desire to become proficient in a particular area. Avoid goals are underscored by a person’s
motivation to not appear incompetent. Goal orientation theory is described as identifying
extrinsic motivations for a person to accomplish a task (Anderman, 2015).
Site and district administration and goal orientation theory. Public education leaders
typically come up through the teaching ranks. As they become site and district administrators, it
can be difficult for them to set aside emotional ties to programs, which makes it difficult for staff
and administration to make necessary cuts (Olsen, 2010). The belief that the education of
students is the only driver for a school district can become a deterrent when school
administrators are asked to implement reductions that impact the people and programs within the
organization (Bird, 2011; Coleman, Walker, & Lawrence, 2012; Donlevy, 2010; Ginsberg &
Multon, 2011). Educators, including superintendents and principals, have felt that being forced to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 49
engage in budget cuts undoes the good work that schools and school districts have done
(Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). The lack of belief that a balanced budget is of high priority to the
school district would minimize the motivation administrators feel toward identifying and
enacting the necessary reductions (Anderman, 2015). School districts must create an
environment where establishing and maintaining a balanced budget is considered equally as high
a priority as increasing student achievement.
Expectancy value theory. In order to accomplish a task, a person must believe his or her
behavior will result in the desired outcome. Known as expectancy value theory, this theory
explains two sets of understandings that influence a person’s motivation in task completion
(Eccles, 2006). These understandings address the following ideas: (a) if the person believes that
he or she can do the task, and (b) if the person wishes or desires to do the task. The answers to
these thoughts impact the confidence an individual will have in task completion. If a person
believes he or she can complete the task and wants to complete the task, this can increase the
intrinsic motivation for task completion (Eccles, 2006). Also outlined in the expectancy value
theory is a person’s belief of the cost involved with the task. Since this theory is dependent on
the individual’s beliefs, regardless of his or her true ability to complete a task, expectancy value
theory supports the need for the development of a strong belief system within a person.
Site and district administration and expectancy value theory. In order for school
administrators to be motivated to participate in the budget-reduction process, there must be a
belief that they can successfully make the reductions needed. To address this need, the reductions
being asked for must not be too extreme. Administrators must feel that the budget is not too
restrictive and that the expected reductions are attainable (Zainuddin, 2013). Maintaining an
attitude of success through the budget-reduction process is critical in spite of the depth of the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 50
reductions that need to be made (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). Creating a reduction process, based
on brain research, can help create a manageable path that can lead those involved in budget cuts
to feel that they can achieve the task set before them (Olsen, 2010). Creating a belief in the need
for the reductions, as well as a clear path to successfully make the reductions, can enhance
participants’ motivation as they proceed through the budget-reduction process.
Utility value theory. Contained within the context of expectancy value theory, utility
value theory examines the value a task holds in fulfilling the needs of an individual (Eccles,
2006). Each task is measured against how it meets the needs of the individual or is consistent
with a person’s overall goals (Eccles, 2006). The more a particular task connects to one or more
of these needs, the more utility value an individual will place in completing the task. Based on
the connection between utility value theory and fulfillment of personal needs, it is important to
underscore these connections when working to increase the motivation of an individual to
complete a task.
Site and district administrators and utility value theory. The need for tasks to relate to
a person’s goals as described in utility value theory makes it challenging for school
administrators to make the critical cuts needed in times of declining revenues (Eccles, 2006).
Accountability goals for most educational administrators revolve around increases in test scores
and closing the achievement gap for students. To obtain these goals, financial resources are
leveraged to provide additional support to students. Administrators see the necessary cuts as
counterintuitive to their overall mission of increasing instructional access and achievement for
students (Starrett, Casey, & Dunlap, 2014). They also struggle with the impact that budgetary
reductions have on the lives of their employees (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011). Administrators do
not often see a balanced budget as a goal connected to meeting the needs of students; therefore,
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 51
administrators must be shown how the balanced budget can assist the school district in meeting
the needs of students, staff, and the community for the future. Reductions of redundant or
unsuccessful programs may free up money for new and innovative programs that will benefit
students.
Motivational influences can have sustained impacts on the ability of site and district
administrators to engage in the task of managing the budgetary process. Assumed motivational
influences are outlined in Table 3.
Organization/Culture/Context Assessment
In organizations in which gaps attributed to knowledge and motivation are identified, it is
crucial to also examine organizational influences to determine if these influences are inhibiting
the organization’s ability to successfully achieve its performance goals. Clark and Estes (2008)
identified that organizational influences impact the organization because “missing or inadequate
processes and materials can prevent the achievement of performance goals” (p. 103). In
examining the organizational influences and processes within an organization, it is critical that
they are established to support and enhance the desired culture of the organization. An
organization can have fully implemented processes and resources, but if they are counterintuitive
to the vision of the organization, the culture of the organization can become fractured.
Organizational Influences
Organizational influences can either help or hinder an organization in achieving its
overall vision of success. These influences can be categorized into three areas: work processes,
material resources, and value chains (Clark & Estes, 2008). Each of these three areas helps to
identify how organizational behaviors and decisions can impact an organization’s ability to
successfully meet its performance goals.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 52
Table 3. Assumed Motivation Influences of Stakeholders
Assumed Motivation Influences of Stakeholders

Organizational mission
The Herren Joint Union School District, a partnership of students, parents, staff, and
community will provide all students with a high quality, well-rounded educational program in
a safe and nurturing learning environment that promotes:
• High academic expectations for all students and employees
• 21st Century learning skills for students to act as problem solvers and critical thinkers
• Readiness for post-secondary education, career options, and civic and social responsibility
Organizational performance goal
By June 2018, HJUSD will develop and implement a balanced 3-year unrestricted general
fund budget for the current year and the 2 subsequent years.
Stakeholder performance goals
By January 2018, HJUSD Cabinet will develop allocations for each site and department that
reflect a balanced district budget for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD department directors will develop balanced
department/program budgets for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD school site administrators will develop balanced site budgets
for the 2018-2019 school year.
Assumed motivation
influence
Motivational
indicator
Motivation
influence
assessment
Motivational
solution
principle Proposed solution
Participant
stakeholders need to
see the value in
achieving a balanced
budget.
Utility value Interview item:
Do you feel it is
important that
HJUSD create and
implement a
balanced budget,
and why?

Cabinet should feel
that an unbalanced
budget is due to their
own efforts rather
than a lack of ability
to create and
implement a
balanced budget.
Attribution Interview item:
Who is responsible
for ensuring that
HJUSD creates
and maintains a
balanced budget?

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 53
Table 3 (continued)
Assumed
motivation
influence
Motivational
indicator
Motivation
influence
assessment
Motivational
solution
principle Proposed solution
Site and district
administrators
need to believe
that they are
capable of
identifying and
enacting the
reductions
necessary to
achieve a balanced
budget.
Self-efficacy Interview item:
How might
HJUSD reduce its
costs? Have these
ideas been
implemented in
HJUSD? What
would contribute
to these ideas
being
implemented?
Learning and
motivation
are enhanced
when
learners have
positive
expectancies
for success
(Pajares,
2009).
Use models that
build self-efficacy
and enhance
motivation.
Implement a red,
yellow, green-light
protocol for
recording progress
connected to
outcomes of the
steps taken toward
identifying and
enacting reductions.
Participant
stakeholders need
to want to make
the necessary
reductions to
achieve a balanced
budget.
Goal
orientation
Interview item:
What would
contribute to
ideas for
decreasing costs
being
implemented?

Participant
stakeholders need
to expect that a
balanced budget is
an achievable goal.
Expectancy
value
Interview item:
What do you
think has caused
HJUSD’s deficit
spending in four
of the past six
years?
Feedback as
well as actual
success on
challenging
tasks
positively
influences
perceptions
of
competence
(Borgogni,
Russo, &
Latham,
2011).
Materials and
activities should be
relevant and useful
to learners,
connected to their
interests, and based
on real-world tasks.
Implement a red,
yellow, green-light
protocol for
recording progress
connected to
outcomes of the
steps taken toward
identifying and
enacting reductions.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 54
Work processes. Processes set forth how work is to be done in an organization. The
implementation of work processes involves the development of systems that outline how the
resources, both human and material, of an organization must work together to aid the
organization in reaching its performance goal (Clark & Estes, 2008). Processes designate how
different parts of an organization must align their work to reach a mutually beneficial outcome.
Processes must be aligned to the specific outcomes or goals for the organization (Clark & Estes,
2008). Because organizations have different departments and divisions, the successful
implementation of processes may be more challenging than anticipated.
Within a school district, there are three distinct departments including personnel services,
educational services, and business services. The leaders in both personnel services and
educational services typically have served as teachers and site administrators before coming to
the district office. Business services leaders are promoted up from within the business services
department. Due to these different pathways in the school district, there can often be a disconnect
of vision and goals. This can lead to organizational influences that create individualized, and
often counterproductive, processes that do not successfully lead to motivation toward obtaining
the performance goal, namely a well-developed and maintained budget, for the school district
(Donlevy, 2010; Ginsberg & Multon, 2011).
Material resources. To translate processes into performance, it is important that
organizations ensure that staff members have the appropriate resources to successfully
accomplish their jobs. An organization can establish well-aligned and well-articulated processes
for the completion of work, but if the staff does not have the material resources to implement the
processes effectively, the implementation will not be successful (Clark & Estes, 2008).
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 55
In creating and maintaining a balanced budget, the business department has access to up-
to-date technology in order to accurately project, monitor, and articulate the budget. In HJUSD,
the Business Services Department prides itself on being a service-oriented department that
provides resources to students and schools and therefore maintains few resources for the
department’s personal disposal (J. Hockett, personal communication, July 22, 2016). While
school districts purchase elaborate new programs to monitor and disaggregate student
achievement data, business departments will often continue to utilize older hardware and
software programs. The purchase of new programs would allow for better implementation of
processes involving the business services department having better information to provide to the
school site and department administrators.
Value streams. Interconnectedness between various parts of the organization is
represented by value streams. Clark and Estes (2008) identified the need for organizations to
engage in value streams that include an analysis of how various subsets of the organization work
together to achieve its performance goals. Value streams take a more global view of the
organization in identifying what processes departments choose to develop and enact, and how
those processes interact together and bring the departments together to serve the overarching
vision of the organization.
As described previously, the organizational structure of a school district requires
interaction between three distinctly different departments including the educational services
department, human resources department, and business services department. Although located at
the same physical location, these departments can often work independently of each other. As
departments implement processes, they need to complete value streams to identify how the
processes of one department will enhance or diminish productivity in other departments.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 56
An example of this interconnectedness is the position control system of a school district.
The human resources department uses this system to track the hiring and/or replacement of staff
members. The number of positions is identified for each department and site by job
classification. This allows the human resources department to know who is filling each position
and when a site or department has a vacancy that needs to be filled. There is specific information
that the human resources department needs to ensure is provided through the position control
system to assist in its staffing processes. The business services department is also highly
dependent on the position control system for budgetary purposes. The system is especially
valuable in identifying vacant positions and ensuring they are included in the budget. Without
the fidelity of use of the program by the human resources department, it is difficult for the
business services department to successfully budget personnel costs. Since employee costs
amount to approximately 80% of a school district budget, the process of correctly projecting
employee costs is vital to effective budgeting. The use of value streams could assist in this
process by identifying how these two departments work together and implementing one
districtwide program that would provide greater efficiency and accuracy for both departments.
As organizations look at identifying processes, resources, and organizational interactions that
impact performance, it is important to recognize that these areas merge into the greater concept
of the culture of an organization.
Organizational Culture
Culture can often be an elusive set of characteristics to identify and define within an
organization. A variety of terms can be used to define the culture of an organization, including
beliefs, values, goals, emotions, and processes (Clark & Estes, 2008; Schein, 2010). A culture of
an organization consists of three components: behavioral, cognitive, and affective (Gallimore &
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 57
Goldenberg, 2010). It is important to ensure that the processes, resources, and interactions in an
organization align with the cultural beliefs of the organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). If there are
gaps between the organizational influences and the culture of the organization, it can hinder the
organization from meeting its performance goals. Through the analysis of an organization’s
processes, resources, and interactions, one can examine if these areas support or belie the
perceived culture of the organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). Organizational culture can be
divided into two areas of influence: cultural model and cultural setting (Gallimore &
Goldenberg, 2010).
Cultural model influence. Most organizations will have an innate and often almost
indiscernible way in which individuals within the organization will think and act. These shared
thoughts and actions are identified as the cultural model of an organization (Gallimore &
Goldenberg, 2010). Cultural models develop over time and permeate an organization as accepted
practices within the organization. These beliefs and practices provide members of the
organization with a mental model through which they interpret information and make decisions
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2010).
Within the field of education, each district has its own cultural model that guides its
decisions. In regard to school budgeting, a cultural model revolves around the disengagement of
all except the business services department from the responsibility of establishing and
maintaining a balanced budget. Part of this cultural model is supported within administrative
training programs as there is little instruction on school finances and budgets (Hess & Kelly,
2007). Therefore, school administrators have little understanding of the budgeting process and
tend to defer the responsibility of the budget to site clerical staff or district office staff.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 58
An additional constraint in creating a culture in which there is an expectation for the
development and maintenance of a balanced budget occurs because of the internal and external
pressures to increase student performance. Schools, and therefore their administrators, are
deemed to be successful almost solely on the metrics identified by the state. These metrics may
include student achievement, student attendance, and student discipline. Therefore, school
administrators look to do whatever they can to achieve these goals, many times in spite of the
fiscal constraints of the budget, and therefore the pressure to balance a budget becomes
counterintuitive to establishing and maintaining quality programs for student success (Donlevy,
2010; Ginsberg & Multon, 2011).
Cultural setting influence. Cultural models are the unspoken expectations of an
organization, and these models are established and reinforced by interactions within the cultural
setting. Cultural setting is established during times when members of an organization meet
together to work toward a common goal or accomplishment (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2010).
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2010) also identified that culture can be determined by the absence
of a setting, meaning there is a lack of time when members of an organization come together.
In reflecting on organizational interactions or meetings, it is important to reflect on the
emphasis that is placed on budgetary or financial implications that impact the budget. These
interactions would include parts of meetings where staffing and programmatic decisions are
evaluated for the fiscal impact that will occur. They also would include established meetings
where the business services department staff meet together to complete in-depth analysis and
planning regarding site or department goals and how the budget can or cannot support those
goals. Research into creating school budgets appears to have focused mostly on times when
drastic reductions must be made to maintain the fiscal solvency of the school district. This type
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 59
of cultural setting must be expanded to include regularly scheduled and ongoing meetings that
are systematically designed to engage people in the process of budget planning (Olsen, 2010). By
designing these settings carefully, a culture in which budget planning and maintenance is
expected and a focus on this area can emerge. Table 4 addresses the assumed organizational
influences of stakeholders determined prior to the collection of data for this study.
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and
Motivation in the Organizational Context
Through identifying the context for research, a conceptual framework ensures a
researcher has identified the appropriate assumptions to clearly implement the evaluation of the
research question(s). Maxwell (2013) described the conceptual framework as “the system of
concepts, assumptions, expectations, beliefs, and theories that supports and informs your
research” (p. 39). The conceptual framework begins by allowing the researcher to take the prior
research done in an area and connect it to the current problem of practice. It uses this prior
research to determine the assumed influencers, which allows the researcher to depict an initial
theory in visual and/or written form of the relationships he or she intends to study. Creating this
framework allows the researcher to move through the system of a research study, including
justifying the current research in the area of study, transforming the problem into viable research
questions, selecting the appropriate methods to gain the knowledge to answer the research
questions, and identifying any potential threats to the validity of the study (Maxwell, 2013). It is
through a clear understanding of the relationships involved in the conceptual framework that a
researcher can successfully ensure he or she is accurately measuring what he or she intends to
measure.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 60
Table 4. Assumed Organizational Influences of Stakeholders
Assumed Organizational Influences of Stakeholders

Organizational mission
The Herren Joint Union School District, a partnership of students, parents, staff, and
community will provide all students with a high quality, well-rounded educational program in
a safe and nurturing learning environment that promotes:
• High academic expectations for all students and employees
• 21st Century learning skills for students to act as problem solvers and critical thinkers
• Readiness for post-secondary education, career options, and civic and social responsibility
Organizational performance goal
By June 2018, HJUSD will develop and implement a balanced 3-year unrestricted general
fund budget for the current year and the 2 subsequent years.
Stakeholder performance goals
By January 2018, HJUSD Cabinet will develop allocations for each site and department that
reflect a balanced district budget for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD department directors will develop balanced
department/program budgets for the 2018-2019 school year.
By March 2018, 100% of HJUSD school site administrators will develop balanced site budgets
for the 2018-2019 school year.
Assumed organizational
influence
Organization influence
assessment
Research-based
recommendation
or solution
principle Proposed solution
Cultural Model Influence
1: There is a lack of
understanding among site
and district administrators,
as well as cabinet
members, regarding the
impact of upcoming fiscal
challenges to the district
due to declining
enrollment and increasing
fiscal demands.
Interview item:
What fiscal challenges
do you see HJUSD
facing in the next five
years?
Staying current
with the field’s
research and
practice is
correlated with
increased
outcomes (Waters,
Marzano, &
McNulty, 2003).
Develop an
ongoing plan to
keep site and
district
administrators
informed about
trends, research,
and practice
related to
enrollment and
school district
fiscal trends.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 61
Table 4 (continued)
Assumed organizational
influence
Organization influence
assessment
Research-based
recommendation
or solution
principle Proposed solution
Cultural Model Influence
2: There is a culture in the
district where budgets are
viewed as suggestions or
options rather than
guidelines to be followed.
Interview item:
Do you feel it is
important that HJUSD
create and implement a
balanced budget, and
why?

Cultural Setting Influence
1: Cabinet does not follow
through on reductions that
are mutually agreed upon
to balance the budget.
Interview item:
Do you feel it is
important that HJUSD
create and implement a
balanced budget, and
why?

Cultural Setting Influence
2: There is a lack of
regular interaction
between the Business
Services Department and
school site and department
administrators regarding
their budgets throughout
the year.
Interview item:
How could HJUSD
support staff in
implementing their
budget if they are
responsible for budget
oversight?
How can HJUSD
provide greater
assistance to staff in
understanding the
budget?
Organizational
performance
increases when top
management is
continually
involved in the
improvement
process (Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Create a schedule
to provide
consistent
information
regarding site
budgets via
principal
meetings, and
schedule regular
meetings
throughout the
year for
individual budget
review.

Figure 1 illustrates the theoretical framework that served as the context for this evaluation
model study. The framework was grounded in the research question of “What are the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences related to HJUSD’s ability to create and maintain a
balanced budget?” The study began by identifying the stakeholder group of school site and
district administrators and determining how the decisions they make, coupled with challenges to
school district funding, impact the ability for the school district to create and maintain a balanced
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 62
budget. The challenges that complicated this issue included loss of revenue due to declining
enrollment and increases in costs due to additional financial expectations from the state.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework: Implementation of strategies to address the fiscal impacts of
declining enrollment.

Upon reviewing the decisions that site and district administrators make that impact the
budget of the school district, decisions were identified as potential influencers of the
performance gap between the goal of HJUSD to maintain a balanced budget and the
documentation that demonstrated the district was engaging in deficit spending, which was
causing a structural deficit in the district budget. Using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis
model, influencers identified in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organization were
reviewed to determine which influencers were creating the performance gap for the district. A
variety of types of knowledge, including metacognition, factual knowledge, and conceptual
knowledge, were reviewed. In regard to motivation, influencers were identified that may have an
impact on the ability of the stakeholders to make the active choice, have persistence, or
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 63
demonstrate effort toward achieving the stakeholder goal for the district. Knowledge and
motivation often merge together and are revealed through the behaviors of an organization
(Clark & Estes, 2008). These organizational behaviors were reflected through the processes,
procedures, and overall culture of the organization. Through following the conceptual
framework, using the gap analysis model as the theoretical basis, the influencers were identified
and reviewed for their relevance to HJUSD’s quest for a balanced budget.
Through an evaluation model approach, the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model
was used as a framework to identify performance gaps in regard to knowledge, motivation, and
organization within HJUSD. The gap analysis model involves a systematic approach that begins
with the identification of root causes that impact the ability of an organization to meet its
performance goal. As causes are identified, solutions are then identified and implemented.
Results, based on the implementation of the solutions, are evaluated, and the cyclical process
begins again to determine if there are any further areas of performance gaps (Clark & Estes,
2008).
The methodological framework used was qualitative research involving a case study
model. Qualitative data were gathered via the use of secondary or existing data, including a
review of the past 5 years of reports including adopted budgets, interim reports, and estimated
actuals reports. Additional qualitative data were then gathered through participant interviews.
The qualitative data were coded into themes for interpretation.
Influences involving knowledge, motivation, and organization that impact the
achievement of a balanced budget for HJUSD were identified based on information from related
literature. These influences were assessed through interviews, document analysis, and review of
relevant literature. Research-based solutions were proposed and evaluated for effectiveness.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 64
Conclusion
As California school districts continue to experience declining enrollment, compounded
by increasing financial demands, it will become an increasing challenge to maintain balanced
budgets. This challenge will necessitate that school districts educate their school site and district
staff on strategies including revenue maximization, budget maintenance, and strategic budget
reductions (Olsen, 2010). The literature suggests that trust and transparency will need to be the
cornerstones of organizations to allow tough decisions to be made and carried out (Olsen, 2010),
and districts will need to carefully construct committees to ensure that all relevant stakeholders
are included in the decision-making process (Abshier et al., 2011; Levenson, 2011; Stover,
2003).
Using Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model, many of the assumed influences that
limit organizational performance were categorized in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and
organization. Knowledge influences primarily focused on the conceptual knowledge needed to
implement and manage a school site and/or school district budget. Motivationally, gaps were
contained within three distinct thoughts. These thoughts included if administrators believe that
they can impact the budget (self-efficacy theory), that they should impact the budget (attribution
theory), and that they will impact the budget (goal orientation theory; Anderman, 2015;
Anderman & Anderman, 2009; Pajares, 2009). Within the context of organizational influences,
work processes and procedures were identified to ensure that they are designed and implemented
in a way that supports the goals and vision of the district (Clark & Estes, 2008). These processes,
and the way in which they are implemented between departments in the district, establish the
culture through which the organization sets forth to do its work.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 65
It was necessary to utilize a well-designed process to validate the assumed influences that
were introduced throughout Chapter Two. Chapter Three contains a thorough explanation of the
components of the methodology—including the sample and population, instrumentation, data
collection, and data analysis—that was used to measure the potential impacts of the assumed
influences as well as how they were impacting HJUSD’s ability to maintain a balance budget.
Through the identification of the causes of the performance gap in HJUSD, solutions were
identified, implemented, and evaluated by which to assist other school districts in successfully
achieving their goal of a balanced budget.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 66
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School
District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing
a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years. The
analysis focused on identifying the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related
to achieving the organizational goal. Chapter Three identifies the stakeholder participants in the
study and presents the research design and methods that were employed for data collection and
analysis.
Listed as follows are the questions that guided the data collection and analysis:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to HJUSD’s ability
to create and maintain a balanced budget?
2. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to assist HJUSD in creating and maintaining a
balanced budget?
Participating Stakeholders
The group of participating stakeholders who had budgetary influence in HJUSD was
identified to include members from a variety of stakeholder groups in the organization. These
groups included the district cabinet, district directors, site principals, and teachers. The cabinet
allocates the district’s revenue to establish the district’s budget based on the priorities of the
board of trustees. The district directors and site principals plan how their budget will be
expended. Site principals also have a direct impact on the district’s revenue through
implementation of attendance programs designed to increase student average daily attendance
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 67
(ADA) and therefore revenue for the district. Teachers provide an important lens as they are
directly involved in the day-to-day workings at the site level.
Utilizing the research questions and research design as the basis for identifying the
participant stakeholders, the sampling methodology was selected based on a case study approach
to the research. Within a case study, there are typically two tiers of sampling (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). The first tier is the identification of the case, or unit, for the study. When
identifying the case, or unit, one must ensure that it meets the needs of the research study
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For this study, the case identified was HJUSD. Using convenience
sampling, I selected this specific case as a representative school district that met the needs of the
research on the problem of practice identified within this study. Once the case was selected, I
selected the sampling group within the identified case. For this particular study, an interview
process was used for instrumentation.
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale
The study employed an interview instrument through which to gather data.
Representatives from four distinct groups of stakeholders, including cabinet, district directors,
site principals, and teachers, participated in the interviews. Within this group, individuals
selected for participation in this study had a minimum of 2 years of service within HJUSD. The
selection involved a typical purposeful sampling technique. The rationale for requiring 2 years of
experience within HJUSD to be considered for inclusion in the study was to ensure a sufficient
level of experience in understanding the dynamics of HJUSD to enable the participants to
provide meaningful information to the study. Study participants were invited to participate in
individual interviews conducted at a time and location convenient to the participants.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 68
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
The sampling strategy and rationale for selecting the participating stakeholders for the
interviews involved the second tier of selection in the two-tiered selection approach commonly
used in case study research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The first tier involved the convenience-
based selection of HJUSD as the case for the study. Once the first tier was addressed, it was
necessary to complete a second tier of sampling selection in order to identify the participating
stakeholders (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Within this study, the criterion identified above was
utilized in order to make the appropriate selections.
Interviews served as the primary method of data collection in the study. Each participant
received a letter inviting him or her to participate in an interview process that would be
administered at the time and location of his or her choice. Due to the varied schedules of the
participants, the flexibility in scheduling helped to identify a time that was convenient within
their schedules and allowed for greater participation. In regard to location, there were no
apparent concerns regarding where the interviews would be administered; therefore, it was left to
the participants to determine their preferred location.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
Through an evaluation model approach, the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model
was used as a framework to identify performance gaps in regard to knowledge, motivation, and
organization within HJUSD. The gap analysis model involves a systematic approach that begins
with the identification of root causes that impact the ability of an organization to meet its
performance goal. As causes are identified, solutions are then identified and implemented.
Results, based on the implementation of the solutions, are evaluated, and the cyclical process
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 69
begins again to determine if there are any further areas of performance gaps (Clark & Estes,
2008).
The methodological framework used was a qualitative approach involving a case study
model. Following the qualitative research model, data were gathered via the collection of
secondary or existing data and the use of participant interviews. The secondary or existing data
were collected through a review of the past 5 years of reports including adopted budgets, interim
reports, estimated actuals reports, and district created budget materials. Qualitative data were
then gathered through participant interviews. All qualitative data gathered were then coded into
themes for interpretation.
Influences involving knowledge, motivation, and organization that impact the
achievement of a balanced budget for HJUSD were identified based on the information gathered
through the review of relevant literature. These influences were assessed through interviews,
document analysis, and review of relevant literature. Research-based solutions were proposed
and evaluated for effectiveness.
Interviews
One method of data collection involved the administration of individual interviews to
selected participant stakeholders. Interviews were selected because they allowed for insight into
the participants’ thoughts as I could not directly observe the participants’ budget involvement
(Creswell, 2014; Patton, 2002). Purposeful selection was used for participation in the interview
process (Creswell, 2014). The individuals were required to be members of one of the
abovementioned groups within HJUSD and to have a minimum of 2 years of experience in a
HJUSD position. A total of 11 participants were invited to participate in the interview process.
Each participant was specifically selected for the insights that his or her role within the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 70
organization would bring to the study. Nine of the 11 individuals who were invited participated.
These participants (pseudonyms) are listed in Table 5, along with their title and years of service
to HJUSD. While there is no specific number of participants required for qualitative research, the
number established should provide saturation of the needed information to sufficiently address
the research questions (Creswell, 2014). Each participant participated in a single interview that
was approximately 30-60 minutes in length. Participants were provided with a choice between
two locations for the administration of the interviews. The location for the interviews, at the
preference of the participants, was either my office or the participants’ offices. Interviews were
audio recorded, transcribed using an online transcription service, and supported through my
written notes (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

Table 5. Selected Stakeholder Participants
Selected Stakeholder Participants

Name Position
Years of service in
HJUSD
Joe Navarro Chief academic officer 17
Loudin Smith Assistant superintendent, educational services 20
Theresa Joy Director of special education 17
Mikole Smith Director of student services 3
Steve Johnson Director of human resources 20
Charles Henderson Principal 18
Billy Buccy Principal 23
Vince Clortho Teachers association president 33
Rudy Miranda Teacher 13

The interview protocol consisted of 14 questions constructed to gather information
regarding the research questions of this study. The questions were organized into five categories
including introduction, knowledge, motivation, organizational behaviors, and closure. The
interviews were formal and semistructured—meaning that although they were based on an
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 71
interview guide, questions were flexible yet consistent among participants—and were guided by
the need to gather information regarding knowledge, motivation, and organizational behaviors
connected to the fiscal workings of the district (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 2002). It was
determined that the semistructured interview best met the needs of this study because it allowed
for the focus of the questions to be on a single topic but additionally allowed me to tailor the
interviews to alter the question structure to gather specific information from various participants
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The semistructured interview also allowed for the use of probes
within the interviews as well as the addition and/or deletion of questions as appropriate (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). In developing the interview protocol, questions were formulated to address
each of the areas in Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model. Several questions were focused
to gather information regarding the knowledge of the participants, several questions delved into
the motivational aspects of maintaining a balanced budget, and the remainder of the questions
probed into organizational behaviors including culture and district procedures (Clark & Estes,
2008).
Documents and Artifacts
Documents and artifacts play a valuable role in ensuring representativeness of the
responses received through surveys and interviews (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). In
assessing the development and maintenance of a balanced budget for HJUSD, several documents
were collected to provide validation. The documents that were collected included fiscal services
reports from the last 5 years, including adopted budget state forms, first interim state forms,
second interim state forms, the unaudited actuals state forms, and district created budget
documents. These reports are public documents and obtained from the Business Services
Department. These reports were primary source documents as they provided firsthand
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 72
information regarding the time frame when the budgets were created and a time sequence of
information as the budget years progressed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Using these documents
as primary sources helped to provide triangulation to the information gathered in the interviews
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Within the conceptual framework for this study, information was gathered to ascertain if
the performance gap was due to knowledge, motivation, and/or organizational behaviors (Clark
& Estes, 2008). The selection of the fiscal services reports provided insight into two of these
areas. First, the reports demonstrated insights into the motivation of key stakeholders in creating
and maintaining a balanced budget. The development of an unbalanced district budget by the
business services staff may suggest a lack of motivation in the need for a balanced budget. It may
also support a lack of knowledge regarding what constitutes a balanced budget. If the reports
indicated that the district began the year with a balanced budget and it became unbalanced
throughout the year, this could indicate a lack of organizational procedures in regard to
monitoring the budget.
Although the fiscal services reports provided firsthand knowledge regarding the
development and ongoing maintenance of the district budget, there were limitations to using
these forms to support the research questions for this study. The first limitation was that the
fiscal services reports provided information on the district budget at a macro level. They did not
provide me with an in-depth view of the various budgets and who managed those particular
budgets. A second limitation was that it was difficult to determine from an analysis of the fiscal
services reports the reasons behind many of the changes within the budget throughout the fiscal
years. The reports may have identified a change but did not contain enough specificity to explain
the reason behind the change.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 73
Data Analysis
Data collected were analyzed using a qualitative approach geared toward answering the
study’s research questions. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the documents and
transcripts from the interviews. Creswell’s (2014) six-step method was used to complete the
qualitative analysis. After the data were collected, they were organized and prepared for analysis
through the use of a transcription service. Next, all data were thoroughly read and coded for
topics and relevant quotes from the participants. Data were then developed into themes and
descriptions connecting back to the identified research questions. Themes and descriptions were
then interrelated to determine their relationships. Finally, the meanings of the themes and
descriptions were interpreted as to their ability to answer the research questions.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
In order to ensure participants are fully invested in the research project, it is necessary to
instill credibility and trustworthiness throughout the research process in order to establish
validity (Creswell, 2014). Credibility is the need for the data that are gathered to match reality
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Trustworthiness involves the participants’ trust in the researcher and
their ability to trust that the researcher will do what the study purports to do and accurately
portray what they share through their interviews (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Within this research project, credibility was enhanced through triangulation using
interviews and documents to support and enhance the data collected (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Another strategy that was used is member checks. After data had been compiled and initial
findings developed, I provided the information to the participants to ensure that there was no
misinterpretation of the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 74
Trustworthiness can be enhanced through the careful explanation of the project to
participants. Providing upfront information on the purpose of the study and methods of data
collection and analysis employed enabled participants to have enhanced trust. Carefully
following the steps and reiterating them to the participants throughout the study also reminded
the participants that I was following the established collection and analysis standards.
In completing a dissertation in practice, methodology and design of the research must
take into account researcher reflexivity and researcher bias (Creswell, 2014). The foundational
premise of a dissertation in practice is that the researcher investigates a problem involving a
performance gap within his or her own organization. At the time of this study, I was employed as
the assistant superintendent business services within the organization studied. Also, I had several
years of experience in this role in two school districts and, based on this experience, naturally
entered into this research with preconceptions of what was potentially causing the gap.
Validity and Reliability
Within any research study, the researcher must ensure that validity and reliability are
reviewed and maximized. Validity measures the accuracy of findings (Creswell, 2014).
Reliability measures consistency of the methods across participants and researchers (Creswell,
2014).
The use of interviews and documents provided multiple data points through which to
triangulate data. Member checking, which involves taking the data back to the participants and
ensuring that the interpretation is consistent with the participants’ thoughts, was employed to
ensure clarity in the findings (Creswell, 2014). Researcher bias was important to monitor since I
was employed as the assistant superintendent business services in HJUSD at the time of the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 75
study. These validity checks were used in conjunction with the peer debriefing and external
auditing processes described in the instrument portion of the methodology section.
To establish reliability within data analysis, the researcher needs to ensure that the
processes used throughout the research are consistent and could be replicated in a manner that
would provide the same results (Creswell, 2014). Creswell (2014) identified several ways in
which reliability can be enhanced. Because there was only one researcher who analyzed the data
in this study, reliability via consistency of analysis was enhanced. The inclusion of multiple
reviews of the data being provided via transcripts also ensured that the information was
represented correctly in the results section of the study.
Once the sampling group was selected, it was imperative that I take appropriate steps to
maximize the participation rate in the interviews. Participants received clear and concise
information regarding the confidentiality and privacy of the information to assist in encouraging
them to participate (Fink, 2013). Because the state of the budget is related to site budgets as well
as the ability of the district to provide salary increases, there is a high level of interest in being
able to ensure the very best outcome for the budget. This fact may have also provided added
motivation for the selected participants to participate in the interviews (Fink, 2013).
Ethics
All aspects of the research study must be viewed through the lens of ethical principles.
There are three ethical principles that should guide all decisions: respect for persons,
beneficence, and justice (University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education, 2016).
My research study was submitted to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of
Southern California for review. The IRB reviewed the study to ensure that there was no potential
harm to participants.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 76
Each participant was required to sign a consent form. The consent form informed
participants that participation in the study was voluntary and consent could be withdrawn at any
time. Because the participants were administrators and teachers employed by HJUSD, they were
all able to freely provide informed consent to participate in the study.
Participants were informed that participation in the study would be confidential. Each
participant selected a pseudonym to be used in the study. The list of names and corresponding
pseudonyms was and will continue to be kept confidential and separate from the other research
study information so that names cannot be matched up in any way.
As I used an interview process as one method to gather data, I needed to record the
interviews. Recording allowed me to clarify statements heard during the interviews. All
participants were informed that the interviews would be recorded and were provided with a
separate place to indicate their consent for the recording.
Throughout the study, as well as after the completion of the study, precautions were taken
to ensure data collected were, and continue to be, securely maintained. This included ensuring
that data were not left unattended within the school district, in public spaces, or in my vehicle.
Additionally, transcripts only contained pseudonyms, and the list connecting the pseudonyms
with the participants was not maintained in the same location.
The minimization of anything that could reflect as coercion of the participants is a
necessary part of the data collection process. To eliminate this possibility, participants in this
study were unaware that there would be any form of incentive to participate in the study.
Following the completion of the data collection portion of my study, I sent each participant a
thank-you card with a small gift card to thank them for their time involved in participating in the
study.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 77
Limitations and Delimitations
Within any study, it is necessary for the researcher to identify pertinent limitations and
delimitations. In this study, one limitation involved the truthfulness of the answers that were
provided by the participants. Although I assume that all participants answered in an honest and
forthright manner, this cannot be assured. This limitation is compounded by the fact that I was a
cabinet-level employee for HJUSD at the time of the study. A third limitation is the small size of
the sample used for the study. This limitation is important as it requires the recognition that the
findings from this study cannot be generalized to other districts.
In regard to delimitations, HJUSD was used because it is the place of my employment.
This was an important delimitation because the study was designed to be a problem of practice
within my organization. In creating the sampling group, an additional delimitation was that all
participants must have been employed in HJUSD for 2 or more years in their position.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 78
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Chapter Four begins with the purpose of the study, list of research questions, review of
data collection processes, and description of participant stakeholders. Next, it outlines and
synthesizes research findings organized by research questions. For Research Question 1, findings
are organized by knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Under Research
Question 2, recommendations are provided to help mitigate the performance gap. The chapter
concludes with a synthesis of findings.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School
District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing
a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years.
Additionally, the study compiled data related to knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences that contribute to HJUSD’s structural deficit. Finally, the study identified
recommendations to minimize the performance gap. Since 2009-2010, HJUSD has engaged in
deficit spending, and the district is expected to deficit spend in subsequent years; therefore, these
data are relevant to the successful operation of the district. Based on the purpose of the study,
research questions were formulated to provide focus to the study.
Research Questions
Throughout the study, there were two guiding research questions. These questions were
designed using an evaluation model approach to identify influences leading to deficit spending in
HJUSD. The two questions were as follows:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to HJUSD’s ability
to create and maintain a balanced budget?
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 79
2. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to assist HJUSD in creating and maintaining a
balanced budget?
Data Collection
Methodology and data collection used a qualitative case study approach. Nine
stakeholder participants participated in individual 30- to 60-minute, semistructured interviews.
The interview protocol consisted of 14 open-ended questions, and the interviews were
transcribed through online transcription. Transcriptions were coded and themed based on the
study’s research questions and assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences.
Documents and artifacts including adopted budgets, first interim reports, second interim
reports, and unaudited actuals reports as well as district budget presentations, budget review
letters from Brave County Office of Education, and district-created financial information were
reviewed. These documents and artifacts provided insight into HJUSD’s past, current, and future
fiscal data.
Participating Stakeholders
Identified participating stakeholders included site and district administrators, teachers,
and classified association leaders. Each group was selected because of involvement with the
development or implementation of a site, department, or district budget. Ultimately, participants
representing site and district administration and teachers were interviewed. Two classified staff
members were solicited for interviews but did not participate. One shared that he/she was
declining based on not having adequate time to prepare. The other was unable to attend several
scheduled appointments. Table 5 (repeated here for ease of reference) lists pseudonyms, titles,
and years of service in HJUSD for each participant stakeholder.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 80
Table 5. Selected Stakeholder Participants
Selected Stakeholder Participants

Name Position
Years of service in
HJUSD
Joe Navarro Chief academic officer 17
Loudin Smith Assistant superintendent, educational services 20
Theresa Joy Director of special education 17
Mikole Smith Director of student services 3
Steve Johnson Director of human resources 20
Charles Henderson Principal 18
Billy Buccy Principal 23
Vince Clortho Teachers association president 33
Rudy Miranda Teacher 13

School districts have many stakeholder groups, and with additional time and resources, other
stakeholder groups could have been included for further information.
Findings
The following section provides findings related to the study’s research questions. It is
organized into overarching categories representing each research question. Findings were further
themed into the categories of knowledge influences, motivation influences, and organizational
influences. Based on the validated influences, recommendations were identified to assist in
minimizing the performance gap.
Research Question 1: What Are the Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Related to HJUSD’s Ability to Create and Maintain a Balanced Budget?
The first research question sought to validate assumed influences developed through the
review of literature. During the interview process, participant stakeholders answered questions
related to knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Some assumed influences were
validated via data collected; others were not. Throughout this section, data supporting the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 81
validated influences are provided. Validated influences are organized in categories of
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Seven of the 14 assumed influences were
validated. Of the validated influences, three were knowledge influences, two were motivation
influences, and two were organizational influences. The validation of these influences assists in
supporting identified recommendations to support HJUSD in minimizing its performance gap.
Knowledge influences on creating and maintaining a balanced budget. Four
categories of knowledge were evaluated for contribution to HJUSD’s performance gap. They
included factual knowledge, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive
knowledge. Nine assumed influences were identified based on the literature review. Through an
analysis of data, three were validated. The first influence outlines that stakeholders need to
understand the rising costs that the district faces. Next, site and district administrators need to
know how future projections impact their budgets. Finally, site and district administrators need
to reflect on how their decisions impact the site/district budget. Support for validation of each
influence is reviewed in this section.
Budget knowledge for all stakeholders. Participants acknowledged that as HJUSD faces
the challenge of rising costs, all stakeholders need to understand what these challenges are and
how they affect the HJUSD budget. Knowledge regarding a school district’s budget is shared in a
manner that is not easily comprehensible to the average stakeholder. This was supported through
documents indicating a lack of accessible data as to whether the district is creating and
maintaining a balanced budget. This lack of accessible knowledge to stakeholders was supported
through the interview responses of several participants. Rudy Miranda shared that “someone
from the district needs to come in and explain how funding works.” Steve Johnson articulated
that the district needs to support staff to understand the budget, and the more information the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 82
district provides, the better. Interview data also supported a lack of foundational knowledge
regarding the rising costs anticipated for the district. A lack of a system to adequately
communicate the district’s budget was also identified. These factors lead to a lack of
understanding, and in many ways a lack of trust, regarding the district’s budget process.
Cabinet members, the director of human resources, and the teachers association president
shared various challenges HJUSD was going to face in the area of rising step/column/longevity
increases, health and welfare increases, and pension reform. The other participants focused their
identification of the future barriers primarily around declining enrollment solely, or some
mentioned increasing health and welfare benefits. This limited knowledge was supported through
the overwhelming belief by eight of the nine participants that stakeholders need additional
training on the budget. Johnson shared,
The more information we can provide to all of our staff as to why we’re here, the better.
. . . In other words, if we understand why, we would not only have a clearer vision as to
what we’re going to do to get out of it [deficit spending], but we might even get, in turn,
some motivation or more collaboration because someone will understand why they want
to help specifically, as opposed to why you want me to help.
Joe Navarro and Charles Henderson supported Johnson’s thoughts by advocating that providing
budget transparency through training would assist in building trust in the decisions that the
cabinet makes. In Start With Why, Simon Sinek (2011) summarized this strategy as, “People
don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it” (p. 45).
In working with stakeholders to understand the why of the HJUSD budget and budgetary
decisions, it is important to provide them with knowledge. All participants articulated the need
for stakeholder training. Although one participant acknowledged an attempt by the district to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 83
provide training through town hall meetings, the participant also reported that the meetings were
sparsely attended. The consensus of the participants was that the training for staff should be held
at staff meetings and mandatory for staff. This concept of training was even further explored by
the participants as there were suggestions that cabinet members collaborate in presenting the
information with the teachers association to strengthen the trust in the information being
presented. Miranda, a classroom teacher, even went a step further to share that training could be
most impactful if the district “met with teacher leaders and explained how it [the budget] works,
and let them educate.”
To provide training to other district stakeholders, including parents and community
members, participants shared that systems were already in place that could serve as a vehicle for
the training. One participant discussed using parent meetings including Parent Teacher Student
Association (PTSA) meetings or Superintendent Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings. Loudin
Smith connected that the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) stakeholder meetings were
an untapped resource for providing information on the budget. L. Smith explained,
We have a process . . . where the LCAP is a beautiful process to lay out where we are
financially, so that way when people are making decisions in terms of the data and what
our needs are and where we want to spend our resources to support those needs, they’re
making informed decisions based on the money that we have to spend. I think that’s also
important, because you have a captive audience who are all there with that purpose: to
allocate resources to meet needs.
Overall, participants expressed confidence that providing regular and transparent budget
information would allow stakeholders to use the knowledge to better understand and be more
engaged in the budget process.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 84
Budget implications for site and district administrators. All administrators expressed
concerns involving their level of conceptual and procedural knowledge in implementing their
budgets. Respondents were asked what the district could do to assist them to better understand
their budgets. They shared that prior to entering an administrative position with budget oversight,
they had not received any relevant training. Additionally, six of the seven administrator
participants shared that they personally lacked budget knowledge and expertise, which impacted
their ability to engage with their budgets. Furthermore, the teacher and the teachers association
president shared that they had experiences where their principals’ lack of budget knowledge had
led to negative impacts for the schools. Henderson, who was the most comfortable with his
budget, expressed that because of a lack of knowledge as to how to utilize the district’s online
budget system to get current data, he was limited in accurately managing his budget. Because of
these concerns, all administrators expressed being overwhelmed with basic functions of the
budget process and therefore needed support.
In order to move from the basic functions of a budget to actively leveraging funds for
student use, site and district administrators must understand the basic concepts involved in
building and maintaining a budget. Participants shared that because they were trained as
teachers, they were not provided instruction through their schooling that would assist them in
creating and monitoring their budgets. L. Smith expressed that “our folks are not trained to be
accountants; they are trained to be educators.” A site administrator, Billy Buccy, shared, “So the
first time you see it [a budget] is your first year as a principal, and it’s almost expected that you
know what to do with that budget.” Several administrators shared that although they had taken
budget classes, they either saw them as irrelevant or completed them so long ago that they did
not recall what they learned, nor could they apply it. Once site and district administrators
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 85
conceptually understand their budgets, they will be able to move to engaging in the process of
ongoing budget monitoring.
As site and district administrators become more proficient with the conceptual knowledge
involving their budgets, they need to procedurally apply that knowledge as they interact with
their budgets throughout the year. All site and district administrators indicated a level of concern
with the lack of user friendliness in the budget system that HJUSD uses to create and monitor
budgets. The two greatest concerns involved understanding how to navigate budget documents
and understanding what they should do to adequately monitor their budgets.
Principal Henderson shared that different administrators have differing backgrounds that
lead to different abilities in budget oversight. He expressed that HJUSD’s cumbersome system
does not allow for site administrators to understand and engage in the steps necessary for
actively monitoring their budgets:
I would say that different people have different experiences, maybe even different college
degrees. . . . It’s 75 pages of budgets, and it’s not necessarily as clear. We know that there
is a certain amount of allocated money. We know that there’s some encumbered money.
. . . What we don’t know, necessarily, is what is the live, actual budget, what we’ve spent
and what is available. . . . It just seems that we don’t have the ability to know exactly
what is available to us that’s accurate.
Understanding how to use the district’s online budget system would allow site and district
administrators to actively monitor their budgets, but also identified was the next level needed in
understanding what to do with the information they are monitoring.
Most administrators interviewed shared they did not understand how to independently
monitor their budgets. They often relied on the two budget directors at the district office to assist
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 86
them. Theresa Joy, director of special education, oversaw the largest and most complicated
budget in HJUSD at the time of the study. Throughout her interview, she shared a sincere desire
to better understand her budget but acknowledged that to do so she needed more training as well
as knowledge about what to focus on. She shared the following thought:
Because even my budget is so overwhelming that I can’t keep track of it all, so I need
support in saying, “You’re overspending here,” . . . and to just figure out all of the
different avenues under my budget. And I’ve heard the same thing from principals: that
it’s overwhelming.
Although many people in education see budgets as removed from the instructional
process, budget knowledge allows administrators the opportunity to leverage their funding for
greater student achievement. Just as site and district administrators are leaders in the areas of
curriculum and instruction, they should also strive to be knowledgeable regarding their budgets.
L. Smith, who oversaw many of the site and district administrators at the time of the study,
shared that principals need to become the leaders of their budgets. This leadership, coupled with
strong conceptual budget knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to their own
budgets, ensures the best use of funding toward the district’s mission.
The role of site and district administrators in the budget process. Findings supported
that site and district administrators were limited in the knowledge needed to fully engage in the
budget process. All site and district administrators reported insufficient training and knowledge
regarding the foundation of their budgets and the skills and/or information needed to monitor
their budgets on a regular basis. Additionally, there were conceptual knowledge gaps in
identifying areas that would impact their budgets in future years. For administrators to leverage
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 87
funding for the best use, they must be able to reflect on their budget decisions and the impacts to
both the site and district budgets.
The ability to reflect on internal cognitive strategies used in budgeting can provide
greater insight as administrators develop future budgets (Rueda, 2011). This involves the ability
for a person to know when and why to do a particular thing. Statements from the participants
demonstrated frustration because the administrators did not know when and why to do something
regarding their budgets. This was again supported by statements made by all administrators
indicating the need for more training and systems to help them manage their budgets. While
discussing budget meetings she attended, Joy expressed, “When she [director of fiscal services]
reviews the budget with me, it kind of goes over my head, and I go, ‘Okay, that’s good to know,
but I don’t know what to do with it.’” Because special education is an underfunded mandate, and
encroaches upon general fund revenue, it is important that the director of special education have
a strong knowledge base regarding her budget. This is necessary so that she is able to reflect
upon costs within her budget that can be reduced or eliminated to minimize the burden of
escalating costs in upcoming years.
In contrast, Mikole Smith walked through what she did and what she needed to be able to
engage in self-reflection regarding managing her budget:
I would, one, know what I had to start with, and the question—whenever I see my
budget, I always ask the why because there’s always some accounts that have, “Why do I
have half a million dollars in this account?” . . . I don’t have a half a million dollars of
things to buy, so clearly, this must be for a purpose. . . . You have accounts here with
$10,000, $12,000, and I have eight different accounts. So, what are these for? How does
my budget even get formulated?
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 88
So that helps me make a plan. . . . I had to investigate. It was just a set system of
“What you get, this why you got it.” Or maybe, “Historically, you guys have done X, Y,
or Z.” Or, “We expect you to make sure you’ve provided boom, boom, boom. This is
why you have the money.”
While there were varied levels of knowledge among administrators regarding their budgets, there
was an identified gap between the current knowledge of the site and district administrators and
the knowledge needed to sufficiently reflect on decisions impacting their budgets.
Motivation influences on creating and maintaining a balanced budget. Motivation is
the driver that allows a person to use knowledge to engage in an activity or a task. As a person
gains knowledge, that person must have the motivation necessary to propel him or her to use the
knowledge. Motivation is characterized by three determinants: active choice, persistence, and
mental effort (Rueda, 2011). In the identification of assumed influences, there were a variety of
areas addressed, including utility value, attribution, goal orientation, self-efficacy, and
expectancy value. Five assumed influences were identified based on the literature review.
Through data analysis, two assumed influences were validated. These influences involved self-
efficacy and expectancy theory. The first influence is that cabinet, site, and district administrators
need to believe that they are capable of enacting the reductions necessary to achieve a balanced
budget. The second influence is that cabinet, site, and district administrators need to expect that a
balanced budget is an achievable goal. Data from the semistructured interviews supporting the
validation of these influences are shared in this section.
Administrator beliefs regarding the budget process. Learning and motivation are
enhanced when learners have positive expectancies for success (Pajares, 2009).
Overwhelmingly, all administrators expressed thoughts of doubt and a lack of belief in
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 89
themselves regarding the ability to manage their budgets. Interviews with administrators
exhibited a lack of confidence in their overall ability to make appropriate budgetary decisions.
Assistant Superintendent L. Smith reflected on initial beliefs of his budget capacity when he first
became a principal:
I know when I became a principal, I knew nothing about budget, because as an assistant
principal, I never dealt with it. It was something the principal dealt with, which is why I
began meeting with the director of fiscal services, is I knew that was a flaw and limitation
in being a principal.
This self-doubt could also be a symptom of the lack of knowledge and user-friendly monitoring
system. M. Smith explained,
So, we maintain a balanced budget so we can have stability in our staffing. But the
motivation, we’re going to do things, what’s right for our kids. The budget, though, keeps
us stable, and I think that’s the important part. That’s the hardest part when there’s risk. I
think everybody could appreciate that. I don’t think everybody wants that to happen. I
just think everybody just doesn’t understand how to make it happen.
Along with M. Smith, Principal Henderson also expressed the need for a clear, simplistic, and
meaningful tool to allow the administrators to feel confident in monitoring their budgets. As
HJUSD moves forward to make budget reductions, it is necessary that cabinet, site, and district
administrators positively believe that they are capable of enacting needed reductions.
Expectations of administrators for a balanced budget. Findings revealed that because
administrators are overwhelmed with managing their budgets, they do not clearly understand
their role in creating a balanced budget. This limits their ability to see a balanced budget as an
achievable goal. This belief is primarily manifested because they do not feel confident that they
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 90
have the knowledge needed to successfully develop and monitor a budget, nor do they have
knowledge of budgets other than their own. In spite of their current frustration, the principals and
the district directors all expressed a desire to increase competency in managing their budgets.
All administrators who were interviewed expressed that their lack of knowledge impacted
their ability to manage their budgets. This lack of knowledge expresses itself as frustration by the
administrators. Joy, a new director at the time of the study with 15 months of experience in her
first role with budget oversight, expressed her frustration through the following statement:
Because . . . my budget is so overwhelming that I can’t keep track of it all, so I need
support in saying, “You’re overspending here,” . . . and to just figure out all of the
different avenues under my budget. And I’ve heard the same thing from principals: that
it’s overwhelming.
M. Smith also shared, “Because I’m not a fiscal person, so do I really understand what it takes to
balance a budget? No, I mean, I want to.”
This lack of expectancy felt by the administrators can be anticipated when faced with
tasks above their knowledge level. Because administrators feel underconfident in their ability to
manage their budgets, it can inhibit their motivation to manage their budgets (Clark & Estes,
2008). Administrators who engaged in meetings with the director of fiscal services expressed
more confidence in understanding their budgets. L. Smith, the only administrator who shared
that, as a principal, he had ongoing monthly meetings with the director of fiscal services,
expressed confidence that regular meetings would lead to a better understanding of the budget
for the site and district administrators. In addition to growing knowledge for the administrators,
these meetings could provide feedback regarding budget choices that have been made. This need
for feedback connects to research that supports that feedback as well as actual success on
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 91
challenging tasks positively influences perceptions of competence (Borgogni, Russo, & Latham,
2011). Site and district administrators will need to experience success and receive reinforcement
of that success regarding their budgets to feel empowered to understand that a balanced site and
district budget can be achieved through their efforts.
Organizational influences on creating and maintaining a balanced budget. Clark and
Estes (2008) identified that organizational influences impact the organization because “missing
or inadequate processes and materials can prevent the achievement of performance goals”
(p. 103). Organizational influences are divided into two areas including cultural setting and
cultural models. Four assumed influences were identified based on the literature review. Through
the analysis of data, two assumed influences were validated. First, there is a lack of
understanding among site and district administrators as well as cabinet administrators regarding
the impact of upcoming fiscal challenges due to declining enrollment and increasing fiscal
demands to the district. Second, there is a lack of regular interaction between the Fiscal Services
Department and school site and department administrators regarding their budgets throughout the
year. These influences are discussed in this section.
Organizational impacts of upcoming fiscal challenges. Interviews demonstrated an
unequal knowledge base in regard to upcoming fiscal challenges and their impact to the district
budget. During the interviews, participants were asked to identify areas that will be barriers or
fiscal challenges for HJUSD in creating and maintaining a balanced budget. Responses identified
varying levels of understanding of upcoming fiscal challenges. Navarro, L. Smith, Henderson,
Johnson, and Vince Clortho were all well informed, and each identified most, if not all, of the
major challenges including declining enrollment, step/column/longevity increases, health and
welfare increases, and rising pension costs. These four administrators and the teachers
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 92
association president receive more information, education, and training on budgetary issues than
others in the district through discussions regarding negotiations. Henderson, the only site
administrator to clearly understand the upcoming challenges, had served on the district’s
bargaining team for the past several years and, therefore, had received more information,
education, and training on the budget in this capacity. The remaining administrators primarily
focused on the impacts of declining enrollment and how charter schools were exacerbating the
decline. These findings support missing organizational structures that provide consistent
opportunities and structures to information for all stakeholders regarding the fiscal challenges the
district will face in future years.
Budget training and regular budget meetings for administrators. HJUSD administrators
identified the lack of organizational systems for preparatory and ongoing budget training as a
barrier to being able to gain the knowledge needed to successfully oversee their budgets.
Participants recognized this same lack of systems both in their university preparation programs
and in the district’s fiscal training. L. Smith summarized this through the following statement:
Most folks in education have a teaching credential. . . . So, as we progress through this
business, none of us really have the strong background—and I say most; there are
some—in the managing of the budget and fiscal matters, so I think that’s just important to
keep in mind. That even as we’re working with principals, they’re not . . . this is not
necessarily a strength for them.
All administrators interviewed noted a lack of what they viewed as relevant training
during their administrative credential programs. This lack of budget training in school
administration programs was also supported in the literature (Hess & Kelly, 2007). Navarro, a
veteran administrator, shared that he received no training when promoted to administrator. Other
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 93
administrators shared that they may have had a class on school budget but that it was either
irrelevant to them at the time or was so long ago that they had forgotten what they learned by the
time they became an administrator. Henderson described his university budget class in the
following way:
I remember a course. I remember it was a course to get the admin credential. I remember
it vaguely. It was something that the professor in a classroom talked about it, embedded it
in the curriculum they were teaching, but it didn’t feel real. I think it was just more of a
teaching and learning, not experiencing, not applying what you’re learning to the budget.
I remember creating a budget, but I did it on Excel or something. What I see here is not
related at all, to be honest.
Buccy synopsized these thoughts in his response:
There was a class, but I also did my admin credential in ’98, and that [was] only 4 years
after I started teaching. I taught for 16 years, so that class was before I became an
administrator; I wasn’t the typical “get an admin credential and go into admin the
following year.” So that information was 14 years prior to me actually becoming an
administrator.
Buccy also shared that the first time he saw a budget was when he became a site principal. This
lack of relevant budget preparatory training, combined with minimal exposure to a budget prior
to becoming an administrator, led to all administrators expressing a need for training as well as
regular budget meetings.
A system for regular budget education was identified as deficit in HJUSD. Site and
district administrators often serve as the conduit between the district and other stakeholder
groups (teachers, classified staff, parents, community members, etc.) when it comes to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 94
explaining various priorities, programs, or decisions. Cabinet members felt that the district
needed opportunities to build the budget capacity and leadership of the principals and assistant
principals. Chief Academic Officer Navarro summed it up well in this statement:
The biggest thing, I think, is going to be going to the staff meetings, educating the
principals, because the principals are probably the most important in getting that
information because a principal having day-to-day conversations with classified staff or
certificated staff, empowering them with the information so they have knowledgeable and
professional and accurate conversations about the budget at all times . . . if you are
equipped, then you can have that conversation at the parent meeting or at that staff
meeting or at that coffee or whatever.
Through a system of regular budget education, administrators will be able to more easily address
questions from stakeholders and increase the transparency and trust in the district budget and
decisions made regarding the budget.
In addition to budget information sessions, administrators expressed the need for regular
meetings to learn about and review their individual budgets. Three of the seven administrators
shared that conversations with the director of fiscal services had been helpful to them in
managing their budgets. However, these conversations were not seen to be integrated into a
bigger system involving regular budget meetings for administrators. The consensus was that
these meetings should be required for all administrators and should be held on a monthly basis.
Assistant Superintendent L. Smith, who supervised many administrators in the district at the time
of the study, shared that as a principal, he had monthly meetings with the director of fiscal
services, and he recommended that to each principal he supervised. If regular meetings were
established, Joy wished to be told exactly where she could focus on the budget. Each
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 95
administrator acknowledged the desire for regular training and support to better manage his or
her site or department.
Research Question 2: What Are the Recommendations for Organizational Practice in the
Areas of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Resources to Assist HJUSD in
Creating and Maintaining a Balanced Budget?
The interview process also solicited recommendations for strategies that could increase
revenue or decrease costs and identified potential barriers when implementing the
recommendations. Five themes emerged as formal recommendations based on the data from the
semistructured interviews. These recommendations included regular and accessible budget
information sessions for all stakeholders, regular budget training and simplified budget
monitoring for all administrators, a branding/marketing campaign for the district, a collaborative
process in budgeting and/or budget reductions to represent all stakeholder groups, and an
integrated process for departments and/or divisions to work as one system as opposed to
independent entities.
As recommendations developed, a pattern became evident that participants tended to
focus their ideas for budget reduction on their areas of responsibilities and rarely provided
responses outside of their job responsibilities. This pattern was supported by Joy when she
stated, “We all work in silos, and I think in order to really think about reducing costs, we all need
to be working together.” This pattern influenced an additional recommendation that was not
based on the original assumed influences.
Based on participant stakeholder interviews, findings to support five distinct
recommendations emerged. The recommendations primarily focused on knowledge and
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 96
organizational influences. These recommendations served as the foundation for the solution
implementation and evaluation plan developed in Chapter V.
Recommendation 1: Provide regular and accessible budget information sessions for
all stakeholders. The first recommendation supports that stakeholders lack the conceptual
knowledge to be full participants in the budget process. This lack of knowledge is due to a lack
of a system designed to provide budget information. Typically, the budget is created within the
confines of the Business Services Department, with varying levels of input from site principals,
department directors, and cabinet members. At the site and department level, administrators
receive their allocations and allocate their funding based on how they wish to spend the money.
They typically do not have regular input into how the district budget is allocated. At the cabinet
level, there may be slightly more involvement in the budget process. This involvement may be
indirect through assigning of staffing ratios (since typically 80%-82% of a district’s budget is
allocated to salary and benefits) or direct through identification of reductions when needed. The
board of trustees receives information through budget presentations at adopted budget, first
interim, and second interim. These combined stakeholder groups represent an extremely small
portion of the district’s stakeholders. Teachers and classified staff members, who represent the
majority of staff, rarely have an opportunity to learn about the district’s budget.
Within the knowledge influence, there is a lack of conceptual knowledge among
stakeholders regarding the district’s budget and potential future impacts to the budget. Clortho
shared that teachers spend their days focused on meeting the direct needs of students. They do
not have the opportunity to participate in budget trainings and synthesize the information that
impacts HJUSD. Therefore, the district needs to create opportunities for them to gain the
information in a manner that is convenient to them. All of the administrators reported that there
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 97
is a need to share overarching budget information as well as more specific information that is
directly applicable to each stakeholder group. For example, Johnson expressed that it is
important for teachers to understand the impact that substitute costs have on the district’s
finances. He also shared that information should include how stakeholders can be mindful of
time and resources. Participant stakeholders shared that providing this information will allow for
a better opportunity to ask for and receive informed input on the budget. Navarro summed it up
by sharing that educating the staff on the budget can also build trust in the decisions of the
cabinet.
In order to build conceptual knowledge, the participant stakeholders recommended that
there be an organizational change to create an effective system to build budget capacity for all
stakeholders through communication. Clortho shared that he put out a weekly communication
educating association members on various topics. L. Smith felt that the LCAP process was
innately designed to share budget information with all stakeholders and should be used for this
communication. The remainder of the participant stakeholders expressed the need for regular
budget information for all stakeholders. A variety of models were shared, but ultimately the
overarching model was that the district office staff, more specifically the superintendent and/or
assistant superintendent of business services, need to come out to staff meetings, attend PTA
meetings, and/or hold town hall meetings to share the information.
Although there had recently been optional town hall meetings, attendance was sparse. To
ensure attendance, Navarro and Buccy suggested that information be shared at late-start meetings
or staff meetings as they are mandatory. L. Smith referenced that it is even more important to
share information regarding the current status of the district’s budget because the existing budget
crisis is isolate to education. Providing structures for all stakeholders to gather information will
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 98
enable more stakeholders to develop trust in the process as well as identify potential strategies
and ideas.
Recommendation 2: Provide regular budget training and simplified budget
monitoring for all administrators. Within a school district, site principals, district directors,
and cabinet members have oversight responsibilities for budgets related to their jobs. These
administrators need to be able to make decisions on how to best use their money for their site or
department. All of the administrators interviewed within this study shared that there was a lack
of training regarding the budget from administrative credentialing programs as well as the budget
training provided by the district. Each administrator interviewed agreed that he or she had not
had adequate training prior to becoming an administrator. Buccy shared that the “first time you
see a budget is when you become a principal.” A lack of training was evidenced by the fact that
when one administrator became a principal, he knew nothing about the budget, and as of the
interview, another had never had training regarding the budget. This finding supports the lack of
knowledge and training that site and district administrators have when entering their role as
administrators and challenges the Business Services Department to formulate on-the-job training
that provides the needed knowledge.
In a request for needed training, participant stakeholders identified the areas of
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge. Within the findings for Research
Question 1, data supported an overall lack of knowledge among all stakeholders, but this lack of
knowledge was particularly impactful to those with budget oversight.
Administrators among the participant stakeholders clearly identified the need for
mandatory training for site and department administrators. L. Smith, who supervised the majority
of the administrators interviewed in this study, stated that administrators are not trained to
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 99
implement budgets but are trained to be educators. When asked what the Business Services
Department could do to support administrators in implementing their budgets, every
administrator interviewed stated that it was imperative to provide training to them. Identified
areas for training included an understanding of the budget process, where to focus their efforts,
how to monitor spending, and implications of decisions. Suggestions for training included
professional development as well as regular meetings with the Business Services Department
staff to review their budgets. In regard to professional development, Henderson shared that like
what is done with educational strategies, the best practices in budgeting should be provided.
At the time of the study, regular meetings for budget review could be scheduled at the
request of the site or department administrator but were not required. Because of the knowledge
these monthly meetings provided to him, L. Smith strongly believed monthly meetings should be
mandatory for all principals. When he met with the site principals he supervised, he always
suggested that they request regular meetings. Buccy and Joy supported L. Smith’s thoughts as
they expressed that when they met with the Business Services Department staff, these meetings
were helpful toward understanding their budgets.
The implementation of training also addresses a motivational influence as increased
knowledge assists in gains in confidence. As administrators understand how to manage their
budgets, they will develop confidence to believe that they are capable of creating and
maintaining their budgets. Because of their frustration with the budget process, they can become
disengaged with the process. Without the foundational knowledge, it is difficult to separate out
whether there is a motivational cause for the performance gap of the district or if it is caused by a
lack of knowledge. Clark and Estes (2008) outlined that to apply the correct solution, one must
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 100
know what influence is causing the performance gap. Once the knowledge gap is mitigated,
another gap analysis will need to be conducted to identify if a lack of motivation continues.
In regard to the budget monitoring process, a lack of user-friendly job tools provides a
motivational challenge to the administrators. Throughout the interviews, administrators shared
the desire to be better stewards of their budgets. While knowledge was credited as the primary
cause for the gap in achieving this, a secondary motivational area emerged in that principals and
directors did not feel confident in the tools that were available to monitor their budgets. Principal
Henderson shared his frustration that “it’s 75 pages of budgets, and it’s not necessarily . . .
clear.” He expressed that principals needed to know more about the budget tools available to
them. Joy struggled because she “can’t keep track of . . . all” of her budget and “needs to see the
budget broken down into pieces.” Information provided to principals and directors needs to be
timely and relevant. The administrators expressed that they needed to know what their budget
was, what they had spent, and what was left in real time, which they did not feel was easily
provided using the current tools. By combining training to provide knowledge with a user-
friendly job tool, the administrators would have increased motivation to persist in working
toward a balanced site or department budget.
Recommendation 3: Implement a branding/marketing campaign for the district.
Every participating stakeholder was able to identify that declining enrollment was the major
impact to HJUSD’s revenue and was therefore a barrier to a balanced budget. Additionally, four
of the nine participants more specifically addressed that charter schools were one reason for the
enrollment decline. As supported through demographic data, Brave County, and more
specifically HJUSD, is expected to experience a 10% decline between 2015-16 and 2025-26
(California Department of Finance, n.d.). Reasons for the decline in enrollment include a
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 101
decreasing birth rate, aging community, and increasing home costs as well as competition from
charter schools, interdistrict transfers, District of Choice designations, and open enrollment.
Navarro, chief academic officer, shared that increasing enrollment in HJUSD needed to be the
“biggest thing.” To counteract this, six of the nine participants advocated for the development of
a branding/marketing campaign for the schools and district. The plan addresses missing
conceptual knowledge for stakeholders in the community of programs the district offers. It also
supports creating a system to ensure that the knowledge is disseminated into the local community
and beyond.
To define the branding for HJUSD, M. Smith said stakeholders need to be able to
articulate a response to the question, “What do you think of when you think of Herren Joint
Union?” As the director of student services, at the time of the study, M. Smith oversaw
interdistrict transfers and shared her disappointment that many families requesting to leave had
not visited any schools. Many times, parents were not aware that the program they were
requesting to leave for was offered at a school in the district. Participants shared that branding
includes creating innovative programs and marketing them within and outside of the district.
Parents have increased choice in where they send their children to school. In past
decades, there may have only been the local public school or a private school. Increased school
choice has opened up a variety of no-cost options for parents via transfers, District of Choice,
open enrollment, and charter schools. Several participants identified the need for HJUSD to
gather information from parents to create innovative and relevant programs to retain resident
students as well as to attract outside students. Henderson and Miranda shared that the district
needs to figure out how to compete with other districts with innovative programs. Innovative
programs they envisioned included creating an independent learning center at the middle school
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 102
level and flexing daily schedules for students who work. Another innovation to draw families
into the district is HJUSD’s “Pledge,” which is a collaboration between the district, community
colleges, local public universities, and the city. This pledge opens up opportunities for HJUSD
students that no other local district offers, including specific criteria for guaranteed admittance to
local California State University and University of California schools. Ultimately, as Johnson
shared, HJUSD “must create the best education system for students.”
HJUSD has been recognized throughout the state and nation for its innovative and
student-centered programs. Ironically, participant stakeholders shared the need to increase the
knowledge of the district’s parents and stakeholders regarding programs. M. Smith explained
the need to be intentional with advertising and promote programs so families stay in the district.
Since HJUSD is a Grade 7-12 district, Henderson, a high school principal, expressed that he
needed to market his school through working with the feeder elementary districts and middle
schools to create positive relationships and connections. One example shared of providing
information to the community was an event called “Celebrate our Schools.” During this event,
the school community canvased neighborhoods, distributing flyers to local residents regarding
programs in the schools and district. Ultimately, to counteract declining enrollment, the district
needs to market at the local level.
Participant stakeholders felt that an aggressive marketing/branding campaign should be
used to brand HJUSD as a destination district. HJUSD has implemented many innovative
programs and pathways, and by marketing them, the district could stem declining enrollment by
increasing incoming interdistrict transfers. News media regarding public schools in general was
seen as having a negative slant toward public education, and Miranda felt that the district needed
to work to get the local media on its side. The need to be more strategic with marketing was also
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 103
discussed. Navarro shared that in his community, he received multiple postcards and
advertisements for local schools as well as schools outside of his district as a means to recruit his
children. To create this branding/marketing campaign requires the district to decide what type of
resources to allocate to the process.
Funds need to be allocated to ensure adequate ability to both implement and market
innovative programs. When asked what barriers there were to implementing and marketing new
programs, multiple stakeholders expressed that both areas cost money, and because of scarce
financial resources, things did not happen. To synopsize, virtually all participant stakeholders felt
that to stem declining enrollment, the district first needs to allocate funding to develop highly
innovative and relevant programs. Next, the district needs to market new and existing programs
to local and surrounding communities to maintain resident students and encourage nonresidents
to attend HJUSD.
Recommendation 4: Implement a collaborative process in budgeting and/or budget
reductions to represent all stakeholder groups. In the quest to answer, “Who is responsible for
a balanced budget?” participant stakeholders varied in responses. As stakeholders who sat on the
cabinet, L. Smith and Navarro were both resolute in their response that a balanced budget is the
responsibility of all stakeholders. Johnson, the director of human resources and a semiregular
cabinet member, also expressed that a balanced budget is the responsibility of all stakeholders.
Noncabinet members, including department administrators, site administrators, and teachers,
shared that the board of trustees set the vision, and it is the superintendent’s and his/her cabinet’s
responsibility to create and maintain a balanced budget. This variance of assignment of
accountability can be seen throughout the organization by a separation in responsibilities by
school site, department, and division.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 104
Seven of the nine participant stakeholders expressed the need for an organizational shift
to develop a culture in which groups come together, develop relationships, and work
collaboratively as a team. In regard to relationships between the district and the associations,
these relationships were seen as high functioning and collaborative, specifically during times of
crisis. Both the teachers association president and the chief academic officer mirrored thoughts
that the district and the associations do work well together when they need to come together
during fiscal crises. Conversely, Clortho shared that there are also times the district expresses
that the associations do not understand the budget concerns, and he shared that it is not a lack of
knowledge but instead is a difference in priorities. These differing priorities were cautioned as an
area to be cognizant of as it can create an “us/them” relationship that can detract from the needed
work and collaboration between the associations and the district. Henderson shared,
True understanding of our budget, in our district, requires them [teachers] to sit together
in the same room with our district experts, with our union experts, with stakeholders in
the room, with our parents, and understand it together. We haven’t been able to do that.
They’ve heard it from one side or heard it the other, but they don’t trust the numbers
because it hasn’t been presented to them jointly. If we can do it jointly, then I think they
would understand.
As a part of involving all stakeholders in budget discussions, there is the need for all
stakeholders to understand the differing needs of each group. Clortho, Johnson, and Navarro
shared that the unions and the district do not always have the same priorities when it comes to
making reductions. Clortho expanded by saying that there are times the district believes teachers
do not understand the budget concerns, but he felt that they do understand but may not always be
in agreement with the district’s priorities.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 105
Even within the district office structure, the need for collaboration and sharing of
knowledge and ideas on budget issues was evident. Throughout the interviews, when participants
were asked how they felt costs could be reduced, they focused primarily on areas within their
specific department or location. For example, when asked about reducing costs, Johnson, the
director of human resources, provided a suggestion about minimizing expenses related to
substitute teachers. Joy, director of special education, provided input on reduction of
instructional aides. These suggestions were supported by Joy’s comment that in order to reduce
costs, staff need to all work together and not work in silos. Miranda, a teacher, discussed the
ability to increase average daily attendance (ADA), and therefore district revenue, through using
innovative scheduling. Rarely in the interviews did noncabinet participants share a revenue or
expenditure recommendation unrelated to their location or department. Through bringing
together the deep knowledge of various stakeholder groups, two things can be accomplished.
First, each of the groups can gain a better understanding of the priorities of the other groups, and
second, each group can share its specific ideas for implementing reductions. Miranda summed
this up in his assertion that the district simply needs to bring more stakeholders to the table.
Recommendation 5: Develop an integrated process for departments and/or divisions
to work as one system as opposed to independent entities. To further expand on
Recommendation 4, there is a need to grow the process of cross-collaboration even further than
the district’s budget. One organizational influence identified as contributing to the performance
gap was the tendency for sites, departments, and divisions to work independently. As shared in
Recommendation 4, when the participant stakeholders were asked to identify areas for potential
reductions in costs, each of them stayed within his or her area of responsibility and did not
provide ideas or suggestions for reductions in other departments or divisions. The two
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 106
educational services directors shared that they worked in “silos” or as “islands.” Both expressed
missed opportunities because all stakeholders were not working as a team. These opportunities
may be in the development or implementation of a program. M. Smith expressed that “we need
to bring leaders to the table to get input.” In identifying the reason for the lack of collaboration
across sites and departments, M. Smith shared that it may be because “we all have so much to do
within our specific jobs.” This is counterintuitive to the belief expressed by all participant
stakeholders that as an organization, all stakeholders must work together.
Ultimately, opportunities must be envisioned to create relationships between departments
and throughout the district that allow for systems and structures to facilitate collaborative work
between school sites, departments, and divisions. Several participants expressed that because of
the size and complexity of an organization like HJUSD, systems need to be developed and
oversight provided. Joy elaborated by sharing that in a district the size of HJUSD, without
systems, things cannot be done quickly. Through intentionally creating opportunities for
collaboration throughout the district, organizational relationships and structures will already be a
natural part of the organization when they are needed. Therefore, the relationships can be
leveraged to make difficult decisions regarding the district’s budget.
Relationship Between Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
The Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model is a cyclical model that provides for
continual and ongoing analysis of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that
impact the organization’s ability to meet its performance goal. Each of these three types of
influences must be identified separately and addressed differently. Throughout the findings, there
was an evident overlap between the three types of influences, which forces the need to identify
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 107
which influence to address first. Once that influence is addressed, there is a need to do another
gap analysis to determine the assumed influences for any remaining gap.
Throughout the findings, there were levels of interplay between the three types of
influences. First, as the findings were categorized into themes, it was evident that most of the
validated influences were in the areas of knowledge and organizational behaviors. At times when
there were data that supported motivationally based gaps, the data were blurred with identified
gaps in knowledge. Therefore, if a person or organization is missing foundational knowledge to
close the performance gap, can one assess if there is also a motivational influence? Based on data
from this study, it appears that the knowledge gap needs to be mitigated first, and once the
stakeholders possess the necessary knowledge, it would be important to engage in the gap
analysis process again to determine remaining motivational causes. Motivation is defined by
choice, persistence, and mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008). Within mental effort, Clark and
Estes (2008) discussed underconfidence as something that can cause a person to not feel
confident in succeeding at a task. Many of the participant stakeholders identified being
underconfident in managing their budgets but typically tied this underconfidence to a lack of
conceptual and procedural knowledge.
There was identified overlap between knowledge and organizational causes. Many of the
systems in HJUSD are underdeveloped in providing knowledge to stakeholders. By addressing
the area of organizational influences, such as establishing a culture that values providing budget
information to all stakeholders, the knowledge gap will be minimized. Therefore, these two
influences can and should be addressed simultaneously. Because of the level of interplay
between the validated influences, it is important that once the solutions in Chapter Five are
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 108
implemented and evaluated, continued assessment is completed to identify remaining and/or new
influences for the identified performance gap.
Synthesis
In synthesizing the findings, information was used from both the semistructured
interviews and HJUSD’s financial documents and reports. Data supported that primarily
knowledge and organizational influences are contributing to HJUSD’s performance gap.
Recommendations to address the validated influences were presented.
In the category of knowledge influences, there was validation of the need for education
and training for a better conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive understanding for all
stakeholders regarding the district’s budget and future impacts. Additionally, it was validated
that site and district administrators receive little to no relevant budget training prior to entering
their roles. This, combined with infrequent and unclear budget information while in their
positions, validated the need for a job tool for budget management and training with Business
Services Department staff. For motivation, it was validated that there is a need for site and
district administrators to believe in the need for a balanced budget and that they are capable of
developing and implementing a balanced budget. What continues to be unclear is if this is
motivational in nature or if at the root is a knowledge influence manifesting itself as a
motivational influence. To minimize the influence, site and district administrators must have
appropriate budget knowledge and timely feedback to develop appropriate beliefs. For the
organizational influences, limited understanding of the future impacts and a lack of regular
communication/training were validated.
Documents and artifacts supported the pattern of past deficit spending as well as
projected future deficit spending. Although the district has implemented a budget stabilization
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 109
plan, further work is needed to achieve a balanced budget. The data provided validated several
assumed influences and provided recommendations to address deficit spending. Chapter Five
utilizes the findings and recommendations to develop solutions to minimize the validated
performance gaps as well as an evaluation model to assess implementation of the solutions.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 110
CHAPTER FIVE: SOLUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION
In this chapter, information is presented in the form of solutions for the validated
influences and corresponding recommendations outlined in Chapter Four. All five of the
recommendations are discussed, but only four are fully expanded in Chapter Five. The four
selected include providing regular and accessible budget information sessions for all
stakeholders, providing regular budget training and simplified budget monitoring for all
administrators, implementing a collaborative process in budgeting and/or budget reductions to
represent all stakeholder groups, and developing an integrated process for departments and/or
divisions to work as one system as opposed to independent entities. These recommendations
were selected because of their ability to merge into one connected solution and evaluation plan.
The main section of Chapter Five provides a solution implementation plan to mitigate the
performance gap. Finally, using Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (2016) new world evaluation
model, a four-level model of evaluation is proposed to ensure appropriate assessment of the
solution implementation plan providing both formative and summative assessment data.
Validated Influences
Using the review of literature, assumed influences were developed prior to the data
collection. Once data were collected via a semistructured interview process and collection of
documents and artifacts, information from the data was used to validate or negate the assumed
influences. The data were themed by influence category (knowledge, motivation, and
organization). Seven of the 14 assumed influences were validated. Additionally,
recommendations for mitigating the performance gap were solicited from participant
stakeholders. Based on the validated influences and recommendations, a solution implementation
and evaluation plan was created to support HJUSD to meet its organizational goal.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 111
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School
District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing
a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years. Since
2009-2010, HJUSD has engaged in deficit spending in 4 of the 7 years. At the time of the study,
HJUSD was projected to deficit spend in subsequent years.
Districts are legally required to provide documentation within their yearly adopted
budget, as well as their interim reports, that they can meet their financial obligations for the
current year and 2 subsequent years. A balanced budget is identified as a budget with no
structural deficit. Having a structural deficit means that a district’s ongoing and regular expenses
exceed its ongoing and regular revenue. If a district engages in a continual pattern of deficit
spending, it potentially could spend down its reserves and not be able to meet its financial
obligations. The analysis in this study focused on the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences related to achieving HJUSD’s goal for a balanced budget.
The research questions were as follows:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to HJUSD’s ability
to create and maintain a balanced budget?
2. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to assist HJUSD in creating and maintaining a
balanced budget?
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 112
Recommendations for Practice to Address Knowledge, Motivation,
and Organizational Influences
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. Table 6 represents a complete list of the assumed knowledge influences.
The table also indicates whether the influences were validated via the data collection and
analysis process. Three of the nine assumed influences were validated. Each of these validated
influences was identified to have a high priority toward supporting HJUSD to achieve its
organizational performance goal. Also outlined in Table 6 are recommendations based on Clark
and Estes’s (2008) model, which identifies four types of skill enhancements (information, job
aids, training, and education) and connects them to various knowledge gaps.
Declarative knowledge solutions. In reviewing knowledge data gathered, it is highly
supported that developing declarative knowledge would assist in closing the performance gap.
Table 6 indicates a validated cause of declarative knowledge that would assist stakeholder
groups to help create and maintain a balanced budget. This validated area of declarative
knowledge is that stakeholders need to understand the rising costs that the district is facing.
School districts throughout California are facing the challenge that regular and necessary
expenses such as salary step/column/longevity, health and welfare costs, and pension costs are
rising at a faster rate than the funding that school districts are receiving increases in their revenue
(Bennett et al., 2016). As the budget is a seemingly complex area for most school stakeholders, it
is important that information is systematically presented multiple times to allow for deeper
understanding (Schraw & McCrudden, 2009). To enhance learning, information should be
presented through multiple modalities to facilitate more effective learning (Ginns, 2005).

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 113
Table 6. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed knowledge
influence: Cause,
need, or asset
Validated
(V, HP, N)
Priority
(Y, N)
Principle and
citation
Context-specific
recommendation
Stakeholders need to
understand the rising
costs that the district
is facing. (D)
V Y Information
learned
meaningfully and
connected with
prior knowledge
is stored more
quickly because it
is elaborated with
prior learning
(Schraw &
McCrudden,
2009).
Integrating
auditory and
visual information
maximizes
working memory
capacity (Mayer,
2011).
Information
Recommendation:
Provide information
through regular
auditory and visual
presentations to all
stakeholders, outlining
the state of the district
finances.
Site and district
administrators need to
reflect on how their
decisions impact the
site/district budget.
(M)
HP Y The use of
metacognitive
strategies
facilitates
learning (Baker,
2009).
Education
Recommendation:
Provide regularly
scheduled meetings
between the Business
Services Department
and site and district
administrators to
discuss how staffing
and planned/
unplanned
expenditures impact
their budget and as
necessary how
overspending in their
budget impacts the
district budget.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 114
Table 6 (continued)
Assumed knowledge
influence: Cause, need, or
asset
Validated
(V, HP, N)
Priority
(Y, N)
Principle and
citation
Context-specific
recommendation
Site and department
administrators need to
know how future
projections will impact
their budget. (P)
V Y To develop
mastery,
individuals
must acquire
component
skills, practice
integrating
them, and know
when to apply
what they have
learned (Schraw
& McCrudden,
2009).
Training, job aid
Recommendation:
Provide every-other-
month budget training
program for new and
aspiring
administrators;
provide
implementation of and
training on a
technology-based job
aid to allow
administrators to
project, build, and
monitor their budgets.
Participant stakeholders
need to understand the
state funding model and
how it impacts the funding
for HJUSD. (C)
N N Not a priority
Cabinet members need to
understand how reductions
affect the general fund vs.
categorical/restricted
funds. (D)
N N Not a priority
Site administrators need to
know how student average
daily attendance (ADA)
impacts funding. (D)
N N Not a priority
Site administrators need to
know what they can do to
increase student ADA. (D)
N N Not a priority
Administrators need to
know what they can do to
increase student
enrollment. (D)
N N Not a priority
Note. D = declarative; P = procedural; M = metacognitive; C = conceptual; V = validated; HP =
high probability; N = no.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 115
A recommendation would include regularly and continually providing information to all
stakeholders on a regular basis regarding the state of the district’s finances, highlighting the
current impacts to district costs.
Clark and Estes (2008) outlined that when knowledge does not have to be practiced as a
part of learning, it can be facilitated through the presentation of information. Through the
presentation of information, knowledge can be stored in a person’s long-term memory (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Ginns (2005) also completed a meta-analysis looking at the impacts of presenting
information through visual and auditory modalities. In his research, he applied meta-analytic
strategies to review 43 independent effects to support his hypothesis regarding the benefits of
presenting information using multiple modalities. His conclusion supported that across a variety
of settings, students who were presented with information using visual and auditory methods
learned at a higher rate than those who were only exposed to one method (Ginns, 2005).
Therefore, the use of visual and auditory presentation strategies to present the knowledge to
stakeholders will enhance their ability to benefit from information presented regarding the
impacts of rising costs on the district’s budget.
Procedural knowledge solutions. In order to understand the future challenges to their
own budgets, which are a microcosm of the larger district budget, site administrators and district
directors need to understand how future projections will impact their budgets. Schraw and
McCrudden (2009) found that in order for individuals to apply knowledge they have learned,
they must acquire the component skills, have sufficient practice in integrating them, and know
when to apply information that they have learned. Two recommendations would include
providing monthly budget training for new and aspiring administrators to build their conceptual
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 116
knowledge and implementing a technology-based job aid to allow administrators to project,
build, and monitor their budgets.
Job aids serve as a method of providing information to assist in a person’s ability to
acquire knowledge and skills (Clark & Estes, 2008). Job aids are considered to be most effective
when there is not a need for guided practice or expert feedback in the learning process (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Paino and Rossett (2008) conducted a study on the impacts of a form of a job aid
called a performance support tool. In their study, they looked at a variety of research questions
including what formats of performance support tools are used most frequently and preferred by
users. They surveyed 30 people throughout the United States. The study concluded that a job aid
needed to be matched to the needs of the learner and that learners were better served by offering
support rather than training (Paino & Rossett, 2008). Through the implementation of a
technology-based job aid, site and district administrators will be empowered to manage their
budgets and better understand how decisions they make provide both the short-term and long-
term impacts on their individual budgets as well as the district budget.
Metacognitive knowledge solutions. Although individuals can learn declarative and
procedural knowledge, it is important that these types of knowledge are more enhanced through
the development of metacognitive knowledge. Site and district administrators need to be able to
reflect on how their decisions impact the site, department, and district budgets. Baker (2009)
theorized that learning is enhanced through the use of metacognitive strategies. This area of
metacognitive knowledge can be modeled and provided through the establishment of regular
meetings between the Business Services Department staff and site and district administrators. At
these meetings, impacts of decisions can be discussed to increase the administrators’ ability to
reflect on their decisions outside of the meetings.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 117
Education is an important method to enhance the metacognitive knowledge that
individuals possess (Clark & Estes, 2008). Cotterall and Murray (2009) studied methods to
enhance metacognitive knowledge. They looked at metacognitive knowledge regarding students,
including identifying what they understand about themselves, how that impacts the tasks they
complete, and the learning strategies they employ. Their 3-year study was focused on 400
Japanese students learning English. Using an emergent ethnographic study design, the
researchers gathered data through various sources to analyze how the education enhanced the
students’ acquisition of metacognitive knowledge. Through learning opportunities, the students
were able to change their beliefs regarding their ability to control their own learning as well as
increase their ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning (Cotterall & Murray, 2009).
Similar to Cotterall and Murray’s findings, providing learning (education) to site and district
administrators will enable them to control their learning regarding the site and district budgets.
Additionally, they will be able to plan, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of their
knowledge regarding the budget.
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. Table 7 represents a complete list of the assumed motivation influences.
The table also indicates whether the influences were validated via the data collection and
analysis process. Two of the five assumed influences were validated. Each of these influences
was identified to have a high priority toward achieving the organizational performance goal.
Also outlined in Table 7 are recommendations for the validated influences based on the
theoretical principles outlined by Clark and Estes (2008), which identify motivation through
three components: active choice, persistence, and mental effort. Active choice occurs when an
individual replaces the intention of achieving a goal with action toward achieving the goal. Once
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 118
a person is moving toward a goal, persistence is exhibited through the actions of the person in
response to things that would get in the way of obtaining the established goal. And finally, when
working toward a goal, a person must put forth a sufficient level of mental effort toward
achieving the goal. Motivation is influenced through various causes, needs, or assets including
self-efficacy, goal orientation, utility value, attribution, and expectancy value. As most of the
stakeholders in a school district are trained in the field of education and very few of them are
sufficiently trained in creating, balancing, and maintaining a budget, this lack of training may
reflect as a lack of motivation.
Self-efficacy. In reviewing motivation data, there is a validated need in the area of self-
efficacy to assist in mitigating the performance gap. Table 7 indicates a validated cause of self-
efficacy that would assist various stakeholder groups to help create and maintain a balanced
budget. This validated area of self-efficacy is that site and district administrators need to believe
that they are capable of identifying and enacting the reductions necessary to achieve a balanced
budget. In order to help site and district administrators develop a strong belief in their ability to
identify and enact necessary reductions, Pajares (2009) contended that learning and motivation
are enhanced when learners have positive expectancies for success. Pajares additionally
recommended the use of models to increase self-efficacy, which will lead to strengthened
motivation. Therefore, implementation of a model in the form of a budget stabilization plan that
outlines each of the reductions that have been identified by the district and the success toward
enacting each of these reductions will lead to strengthened motivation toward identifying and
implementing the necessary reductions.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 119
Table 7. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed motivation
influence: Cause, need,
or asset
Validated
(V, HP, N)
Priority
(Y, N)
Principle and
citation
Context-specific
recommendation
Self-efficacy—Cabinet,
site, and district
administrators need to
believe that they are
capable of identifying
and enacting the
reductions necessary to
achieve a balanced
budget.
HP Y Learning and
motivation are
enhanced when
learners have
positive
expectancies for
success (Pajares,
2009).
Use models that build
self-efficacy and
enhance motivation.
Implement a red,
yellow, green-light
protocol for recording
progress connected to
outcomes of steps
taken toward
identifying and
enacting reductions.
Expectancy value—
Cabinet, site, and
district administrators
need to expect that a
balanced budget is an
achievable goal.
HP Y Feedback as well
as actual success
on challenging
tasks positively
influences
perceptions of
competence
(Borgogni et al.,
2011).
Materials and activities
should be relevant and
useful to the learners,
connected to their
interests, and based on
real-world tasks.
Implement a red,
yellow, green-light
protocol for recording
progress connected to
outcomes of the steps
taken toward
identifying and
enacting reductions.
Utility value—Cabinet,
site, and district
administrators need to
see the value in
achieving a balanced
budget.
N N Not a priority
Goal orientation—
Participant stakeholders
need to want to make
the necessary
reductions to achieve a
balanced budget.
N N Not a priority
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 120
Table 7 (continued)
Assumed motivation
influence: Cause, need,
or asset
Validated
(V, HP, N)
Priority
(Y, N)
Principle and
citation
Context-specific
recommendation
Attribution—Cabinet
members should feel
that an unbalanced
budget is due to their
own efforts rather than
a lack of ability to
create and implement a
balanced budget.
N N Not a priority
Note. V = validated; HP = high probability; N = no.

Huang (2016) studied self-efficacy to determine if there was a relationship between
achievement goals and self-efficacy. The research included a meta-analysis of 125 studies that
contained 148 samples examining the connection between achievement goals and self-efficacy.
Huang found that it is important for participants to establish mastery goals in order to increase
self-efficacy toward goal achievement. Additionally, goal valence, which is the goodness or
badness a person associates with a goal, is related to self-efficacy (Huang, 2016). This research
supports the inclusion of strategies to enhance self-efficacy to support site and district
administrators in believing that they can identify and establish the necessary goal of identifying
reductions to create and maintain a balanced budget.
Expectancy value. Another highly supported area focuses on expectancy value to assist
in closing the performance gap of creating and maintaining a balanced district budget. Table 7
indicates a validated cause for expectancy value. This validation of expectancy value is that
participant stakeholders need to expect that a balanced budget is an achievable goal. In order to
help site and district administrators develop an expectation for creating and maintaining a
balanced budget, Borgogni et al. (2011) recommended that providing feedback on success of
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 121
initiatives can increase the participants’ perceptions of their competence in the task. A
recommendation to strengthen this belief would include the implementation of materials and
activities that participants would consider relevant and useful, that are connected to their
interests, and that are based on real-world tasks (Pintrich, 2003). Materials and activities in the
form of a budget stabilization plan that outlines each identified reduction would assist in
supporting research-based methods toward closing the performance gap.
Participants are most motivated toward performance when they believe that they are
capable of achieving the set goal (Peters & Daly, 2013). Peters and Daly (2013) conducted
research on adults who had worked for 5 or more years and were returning to school to earn a
graduate degree. Data were collected from 10 participants through the use of a semistructured
interview process. One area identified in determining reasons participants returned to school was
that the participants had a high expectancy and belief that they would earn graduate degrees
(Peters & Daly, 2013). This reason supports the inclusion of strategies to enhance expectancy
value for site and district administrators in working toward creating and maintaining a balanced
budget.
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. Table 8 represents the complete list of assumed organizational influences
and indicates whether they were validated based on the information provided through interviews.
Clark and Estes (2008) identified that organizational influences impact the organization because
“missing or inadequate processes and materials can prevent the achievement of performance
goals” (p. 103). In implementing organizational influences and processes within an organization,
it is critical that they are established to support and enhance the desired culture of the
organization. An organization can have fully defined processes as well as the necessary
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 122
resources, but if they are counterintuitive to the vision of the organization, the organizational
culture will be unable to support the goals of the organization. Table 8 supports that two of the
assumed organizational influences were validated and have a high priority for supporting
achievement of the stakeholders’ goals. Table 8 also provides defined recommendations for the
validated influences based on theoretical principles of cultural research.
Cultural models. It was validated within the data gathered in the construct of
organizational influences that there is a need in the area of cultural models. Table 8 indicates a
high probability for a validated cause for cultural models that would assist in providing site and
district administrators with an understanding of future fiscal challenges that the district will be
facing. This validated area of cultural models involves developing a better understanding among
site and district administrators regarding the upcoming fiscal challenges due to declining
enrollment and increasing fiscal demands to the district. Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003)
supported that staying abreast of current research and practice within one’s field can be
correlated with increased outcomes. Clark and Estes (2008) suggested a strategy that included
the development of an ongoing plan to keep site and district administrators informed about
trends, research, and practice related to enrollment and school district financial trends. This
supports that providing site and district administrators with current information would help them
to understand why it is critical to meet the organization’s performance goal.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 123
Table 8. Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed organizational
influence: Cause, need,
or asset
Validated
(V, HP, N)
Priority
(Y, N)
Principle and
citation
Context-specific
recommendation
There is a lack of
understanding among
site and district
administrators, as well
as cabinet
administrators,
regarding the impact of
upcoming fiscal
challenges due to
declining enrollment and
increasing fiscal
demands to the district.
(Cultural model)
V Y Staying current
with the field’s
research and
practice is
correlated with
increased
outcomes (Waters
et al., 2003).
Develop an ongoing
plan to inform site and
district administrators
regarding trends,
research, and practice
related to enrollment
and school district
finances.
There is a lack of regular
interaction between the
Fiscal Services
Department and school
site and department
administrators regarding
their budgets throughout
the year.
(Cultural setting)
V Y Organizational
performance
increases when top
management is
continually
involved in the
improvement
process (Clark &
Estes, 2008).

Create a schedule to
provide consistent
information regarding
site budgets via
principal meetings,
and schedule regular
meetings throughout
the year for individual
budget review.
There is a culture in the
district where budgets
are viewed as
suggestions or options
rather than guidelines to
be followed.
(Cultural model)
N N Not a priority
Cabinet does not follow
through on reductions
that are mutually agreed
upon to balance the
budget.
(Cultural setting)
N N Not a priority
Note. V = validated; HP = high probability; N = no.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 124
Every school district has its own cultural model that guides its decisions. In many
districts, in regard to school budgeting, a cultural model revolves around the disengagement of
all stakeholders except the business services department from the responsibility of establishing
and maintaining a balanced budget. Part of this cultural model is supported within administrative
training programs as there is little instruction on school finances and budgets (Hess & Kelly,
2007). Therefore, school administrators have little understanding of the budgeting process and
tend to defer the responsibility for the budget to site clerical staff or district office staff.
Cultural settings. The data gathered highly support that there is an identified need in the
area of cultural setting. Table 8 indicates a validated cause for cultural setting that would assist in
providing site and district administrators with an understanding of future fiscal challenges that
the district will be facing. This validated area of cultural setting involves the lack of regular
interaction between the Fiscal Services Department and site and district administrators regarding
their budgets. Clark and Estes’s (2008) research supported that organizational performance
increases when top management is continually involved in the improvement process. This
indicates that by meeting regularly with site and district administrators, Business Services
Department administrators would help them to develop expertise regarding the development and
management of individual and department budgets. This strategy is supported through the
development of a schedule to provide consistent and regular information regarding site budgets
via principal meetings and also to schedule regular meetings throughout the year for individual
budget review, which will assist in ensuring that site and district administrators maintain
balanced budgets.
Another area of cultural setting that was not an assumed influence for HJUSD’s
performance gap but was identified and validated through the interview process is the need for
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 125
the district to have a strong branding/marketing program. At the time of the study, the district
had recently begun an aggressive branding and marketing campaign. Social media posts by the
sites and district had significantly increased. Street banners with the faces and college choices of
recent graduates had been strategically placed throughout the district.
To further develop this recommendation, a committee should be formed under the
leadership of the district’s public information officer. It should comprise a variety of
stakeholders and work to develop a brand for the individual schools and the overall district. Once
the brand is developed, a variety of media sources should be used to market the schools and
district. This would include pamphlets for each site, social media, activities with feeder
elementary district families, parent meetings, and traditional media. One of the identified barriers
to branding and marketing was the associated cost. The district has an established branding
budget, but this budget should be reviewed to ensure that it is adequate for the identified needs.
Because this is a plan that would be implemented by staff outside of the Business Services
Department, it is included as a recommendation but is not developed further in the integrated
implementation and evaluation plan.
Cultural models are the unspoken expectations of an organization, and these models are
established and reinforced by interactions within the cultural setting. Cultural setting is
established during times when members of an organization meet together to work toward a
common goal or accomplishment (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2010). Gallimore and Goldenberg
(2010) also identified that culture can be determined by the absence of a setting, meaning there is
a lack of time when members of an organization come together. Olsen (2010) supported
scheduling regular and ongoing meetings designed to bring together diverse people to assist with
the budget planning process. Through bringing together the fiscal services staff with site and
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 126
district administrators to collaborate over individual and site budgets, the performance gap can
be eliminated.
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
Prior to the implementation of recommendations to reduce a performance gap, it is
critical to create an evaluation model to measure the success of each recommendation that is
being implemented toward the overall success of the stakeholder goal. Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick (2016) outlined three reasons for the need for evaluation: to improve the overall
program, to increase the transfer of learning to behavior and organizational results, and to
validate the relevance of training. The new world Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016) was used for the development of the evaluation for this implementation. The new world
Kirkpatrick model, overviewed in Figure 2, is based on an earlier evaluation model entitled the
Kirkpatrick four-level model of evaluation (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The new world
Kirkpatrick model identifies four levels of measuring evaluation, including reaction, learning,
behavior, and results and leading indicators. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick asserted that in
evaluating, too much time and resources are spent on the lower level of evaluation, including
reaction and learning. The new world Kirkpatrick model advocates reversing the order in which
evaluation is planned and where time and resources are allocated. According to this premise, an
evaluation of results and leading indicators would be developed first, followed by a behavioral
evaluation, then a learning evaluation, and finally, an evaluation based on the reactions of
participants. Using the backward planning model presented by Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
allows the implementation and evaluation to focus on the overall stakeholder goal of the training
or program as the most important component of the evaluation.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 127

Figure 2. The new world Kirkpatrick model. From Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training
Evaluations (p. 11), by J. D. Kirkpatrick and W. K. Kirkpatrick, 2016, Alexandria, VA: ATD
Press. Copyright 2016 by ATD Press.

Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations
The organizational mission of HJUSD is to provide children with a purposeful education
in order to have college and career success. In order to accomplish this mission, it is necessary
that the district’s financial resources are appropriately allocated and monitored. The problem that
HJUSD, and many districts throughout California, faces is increasing fiscal expectations
exacerbated by flat funding in future years that is resulting in deficit spending. As deficit
spending continues, the district’s ending fund balance will be depleted. In order to work toward
the organization’s goal of creating and maintaining a balanced budget, reductions will need to be
identified and enacted. Through early identification of the structural deficit, the district
administration will have adequate time to appropriately analyze potential reductions and enact
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 128
reductions that least impact the district’s mission of providing an education that will support the
students’ ability to achieve college and career success.
The goal for each stakeholder group is to create and maintain a balanced site, department,
or district 2018-2019 budget that includes the 2018-2019 school year as well as the 2 subsequent
years. Due to increasing financial demands for school districts, coupled with declining
enrollment and flat funding, districts will be challenged to create balanced budgets. By
identifying the need to create and maintain a balanced budget and implementing a plan to
achieve this goal, HJUSD will be able to be strategic in its implementation of reductions. This
will allow for thoughtful analysis of potential reductions to identify which ones will have the
least impact on HJUSD’s ability to successfully educate students for success in college and
career.
The outcomes for this research study included the identification of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that are impacting HJUSD’s ability to successfully
create and maintain a balanced budget. Through careful identification, validated influences have
led to the development of recommendations to provide stakeholders with necessary job aids,
training, and education in order to mitigate performance gaps. By mitigating the performance
gaps, stakeholders will have a greater understanding of the knowledge involved in school district
budgeting as well as their role and responsibility in creating and maintaining a balanced budget.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Table 9 shows the proposed Level 4 results and leading indicators in the form of
outcomes, metrics, and methods for both external and internal outcomes for HJUSD. Level 4
measures if the targeted outcomes of the trainings are achieved as a result of the combined effort
of the training and follow-up support and accountability (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). As
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 129
internal outcomes are achieved as a result of the training and organizational support for the
creation and maintenance of a balanced budget, there will be a corresponding achievement of
external outcomes as well. Level 4 encapsulates the outcomes for which the training is
performed.

Table 9. Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes

Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External outcomes
1. Improved fiscal
transparency in
relationships with
employee associations
The number of challenges to the
district’s financial data during
negotiations
Maintain log of
challenged financial
data—ongoing
2. Increased public approval
of the district budget
The decrease of HJUSD mentions
in press coverage regarding
negative financial situations
Track frequency of
HJUSD mentions in
press—ongoing
Internal outcomes
3. Improved staff confidence
in understanding the
district’s financial status
A decrease in comments made
regarding a lack of understanding
of the district’s financial status.
Maintain comment log—
ongoing
4. Improved confidence of
site and department
administrators in the
Business Services
Department
A decrease in comments regarding
communication concerns regarding
the Business Services Department.
Maintain a concern log—
ongoing
5. Increased participation of
internal stakeholders in
the budget-reduction
process through providing
suggestions
Increased number of suggestions
for reductions from internal
stakeholders regarding cost
containment or reduction strategies
for the district
Maintain a suggestion
log—ongoing
6. Increased employee
satisfaction due to the
reduction of emergency
budget reductions,
layoffs, etc.
The decrease of negative budget
mentions in sites and departments
Maintain a comment
log—ongoing

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 130
Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The stakeholders of focus are the site and district administrators for
HJUSD. The first critical behavior is that site and district administrators must be able to identify
external and internal forces that will impact revenues and expenditures for their
site/department/district budget. The second critical behavior is that they must be able to read,
understand, and interpret their individual budgets as well as the overall district budget, including
the multiyear projection (MYP). The third critical behavior is that they must review their budgets
on a monthly basis to identify potential areas of overspending. A fourth critical behavior is that
site and district administrators must work collaboratively with the director of fiscal services in
order to make necessary budget adjustments to ensure adherence to a balanced budget. The fifth
critical behavior for cabinet administrators is that they must be able to identify and implement
needed reductions. The specific metrics, methods, and timing for each of these outcome
behaviors appear in Table 10.
Required drivers. Site and district administrators require the support of the business
services staff to reinforce what they learn in training and to encourage them to apply what they
have learned in planning, implementing, and reviewing their budgets. Although in education
there is little ability to provide tangible rewards to administrators, small intangible rewards will
be implemented. Table 11 outlines the recommended drivers to support critical behaviors of site
and district administrators.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 131
Table 10. Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Site and District Administrators
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Site and District Administrators

Critical behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
1. Site and district
administrators must
understand the
internal and external
forces that impact the
revenue and
expenditures for their
site/department/
district budget.
Attendance at
presentations via
sign-in sheets
Ability of
participants to
describe internal
and external
forces via an exit
ticket at the
presentation
1a. The assistant superintendent
of business services will
provide budget
presentations to the site and
district administrators at
first interim, second interim,
and adopted budget.
Ongoing
2. Site and district
administrators must be
able to read,
understand, and
interpret their budgets
as well as the district
budget and the
multiyear projection
(MYP).
Attendance at
presentations via
sign-in sheets
2a. The assistant superintendent
of business services will
provide budget
presentations to the site and
district administrators at
first interim, second interim,
and adopted budget.
Three times
per year
Review calendar
outlining number
of dates of
meetings
2b. The director of fiscal
services will meet monthly
with site and district
administrators to help
provide training while
reviewing their budgets.
Monthly
Attendance at
trainings via
sign-in sheets
2c. The assistant superintendent
of business services and the
director of fiscal services
will provide every-other-
month training to new and
aspiring administrators (i.e.,
budget boot camp).
Every other
month
3. Site and district
administrators review
their budgets on a
monthly basis to
identify potential
areas of overspending.
Measure the
number of logins
to the county
budget system
by administrators
3a. The director of fiscal
services will track login
information for each cabinet
member/district director/
site principal.
Monthly
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 132
Table 10 (continued)

Critical behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
Review of
calendar
outlining dates
and times of
meetings
3b. Site and district
administrators will meet
monthly with the director
of fiscal services to
review their budget.
Monthly
4. Site and district
administrators contact
the director of fiscal
services when they
have identified areas
of potential
overspending to
correct it.
Number of
contacts to the
director of fiscal
services from
administrators
regarding budget
overspending
4a. The director of fiscal
services will maintain a
log of contacts with each
school regarding budget
questions.
Ongoing
Number of
budgets that are
overspent
4b. The director of fiscal
services will review site
and department budgets
at first interim, second
interim, and unaudited
actuals to identify site
and/or department
budgets that have
overspent.
Three times per
year
5. Cabinet administrators
must be able to
identify and
implement needed
reductions.
Number of
reductions on the
budget
stabilization plan
that are
implemented
5a. The assistant
superintendent of
business services and the
director of fiscal services
will maintain and share
the budget stabilization
plan, in the form of a red-
light, yellow-light, green-
light model to record the
cabinet administrators’
progress toward the
successful
implementation of
reductions.
Three times per
year

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 133
Table 11. Required Drivers to Support Site and District Administrators’ Critical Behaviors
Required Drivers to Support Site and District Administrators’ Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical behaviors
supported
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Reinforcing
Job aid in the form of a budget stabilization plan for
review of achievement toward proposed reductions
Tri-annually 5
Monthly meetings to review budget with director of
fiscal services
Monthly 2, 3, 4
Encouraging
Peer collaboration during trainings Every other
month
1, 2, 3, 4
Feedback and coaching from director of fiscal services
during monthly meetings
Monthly 2, 3, 4
Rewarding
Public acknowledgement, such as a mention/certificate
at principal meetings, for sites and departments that turn
in timely and balanced budgets
Yearly 2, 3, 4
Verbal praise for the impacted departments within
presentations at the board of trustees meetings for
success in implementing the budget stabilization plan
reductions
Three times
per year
5
Monitoring
Using exit tickets, the assistant superintendent of
business services can ask site and district administrators
to self-report their confidence and self-efficacy in
creating and maintaining a balanced budget.
Every other
month
1, 2, 3, 4
Review the budget stabilization plan for adherence to
recommended reductions
Three times
per year
5

Organizational support. Once training and job tools have been provided, it is necessary
that a well-defined method of support is provided as site and district administrators apply their
training to their site and department budgets. This support will be provided through the Business
Services Department staff. This support will begin with the creation of training and meeting
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 134
calendars provided at the beginning of the school year to enable administrators to block out the
time on their calendars. Reminders will be provided in a timely manner as well. The assistant
superintendent of business services and the director of fiscal services will have a standing agenda
item for their biweekly meetings to discuss the progress of the various administrators and to
decide on intervention strategies should an administrator be struggling to learn or implement the
needed skills. Additionally, the assistant superintendent of business services and director of fiscal
services will use feedback from administrators and responses to the exit tickets to address
learning needs in subsequent trainings and/or meetings.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. Following completion of the recommended solutions, stakeholders will
be able to do the following:
1. identify and understand rising costs that the district will be facing (Declarative knowledge);
3. identify and understand current challenges to the district’s revenue, including full
implementation of the local control funding formula (LCFF) and declining enrollment
(Declarative knowledge);
4. understand the MYP and what information it entails (Declarative knowledge);
5. understand how future budget projections will impact their budget (Procedural knowledge);
6. reflect on how their decisions impact the site/district budget (Metacognitive knowledge);
7. believe that they can identify and enact the reductions necessary to achieve a balanced budget
(Self-efficacy);
8. see the value in achieving a balanced budget (Utility); and
9. want to make the necessary reductions to achieve a balanced budget (Goal orientation).
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 135
Program. The learning goals listed will be achieved through a variety of training
sessions and educational approaches involving the development of knowledge and skills in
understanding things that impact a school district, department, or site budget combined with
training on how to effectively create, implement, and maintain a balanced budget. The site and
district administrators will learn about information pertaining to site, department, and district
revenue and expenditures as well as how these areas impact their sites and departments. The
program has multiple layers including every-other-month meetings for new and aspiring
administrators, three-times-a-year training for all administrators, and monthly budget review
meetings for all administrators. A veteran administrator would spend 13 hours per year in
training whereas a new administrator would spend 28 hours in training each year. The training
would be ongoing and repeated yearly.
During the training of new and aspiring administrators, the basics of school finance and
budgeting will be covered. This training will consist of five 2-hour sessions scheduled over a
school year. The training will begin with a basic introduction to how school districts receive
funding in the state of California as well as what impacts the revenue a district receives. It will
then provide information on the overall district budget and how the district budget is used to
support the school sites through personnel, material/supplies, consultants, and capital outlay
projects. Included in this information will be the various areas such as information regarding the
site budget allocations and a description of what various funding sources can and cannot be used
for. Once an online budget management program is designed/selected and implemented,
administrators will be trained on how to use the program to plan and monitor their budgets.
Presentations on the district budget will be provided during principal and assistant
principal meetings. These presentations will provide administrators with an overview of the
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 136
district budget. This overview will include information on anticipated revenue and expenditures
for the current budget year and 2 subsequent years. It will include information on enrollment and
attendance trends for the district and how those trends impact funding. Also provided will be the
funding assumptions that the district receives from the state and how they are used to develop the
district’s budget. Information from these presentations will help administrators better understand
the district budget and increase their confidence as they become ambassadors of the district’s
budget information at their school sites.
Monthly budget meetings between the director of fiscal services and site administrators
will provide one-to-one assistance as administrators create and implement their budgets. By
holding these individual meetings, information provided can be tailored to the expertise of each
specific administrator. Information provided at these meetings will be focused on the
administrators’ specific site/department budgets as well as how to plan and monitor them.
Components of learning. The acquisition of declarative knowledge serves as a scaffold
when teaching new skills to participants. This knowledge can be applied in real-world situations.
In this context, it is important to evaluate learning for declarative, procedural, and metacognitive
knowledge that is being presented to the administrators. Also important is that administrators
believe they have the skills needed to create and maintain a balanced budget and that it is
necessary to create and maintain a balanced budget. Table 12 lists the evaluation methods and
timing for these components of learning.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 137
Table 12. Components of Learning for the Program
Components of Learning for the Program

Method(s) or activity(ies) Timing
Declarative knowledge: “I know it.”
Knowledge checks using open-ended questions and
scenarios
During the meeting/
presentation
Knowledge checks through discussions, “pair/share,” and
other individual/group activities
During the meeting/
presentation
Procedural skills: “I can do it right now.”
Scenarios during presentations or trainings During the presentation/
training
Demonstration in groups and individually successfully using
job aids
During the presentation/
training
Quality of the feedback from peers during pair/group sharing During the workshop
Information from observations of individual application of
skills in mock budget scenarios
During the workshop
Retrospective posttest exit ticket asking administrators about
their level of proficiency after the training
At the end of the workshop
Attitude: “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Observation by assistant superintendent of business services
and/or director of fiscal services of participant statements
demonstrating that they see the benefit of creating and
maintaining a balanced budget
During the workshop
Observation by assistant superintendent of business services
and/or director of fiscal services of participant actions
demonstrating that they see the benefit of creating and
maintaining a balanced budget
After the workshop
Discussions of the value of what they are being asked to do
on the job
During the workshop
Retrospective postpresentation exit ticket After the presentation
Confidence: “I think I can do it on the job.”
Survey items using scaled items on the exit ticket After the presentation
Discussions following information presentation, practice,
and feedback
During the workshop
Retrospective postpresentation exit ticket After the course

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 138
Table 12 (continued)

Method(s) or activity(ies) Timing
Commitment: “I will do it on the job.”
Discussions following practice and feedback During the meeting/
presentation
Create a schedule and calendar to review individual site and
department budgets throughout the year
During the meeting/
presentation

Level 1: Reaction
In the Kirkpatrick new world model, the last level developed for evaluation planning is
the reaction level. The reaction level measures the participants’ thoughts about the training,
including if they were engaged, if they felt that it was relevant to their job, and if they enjoyed
the training, also known as customer satisfaction (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Kirkpatrick
and Kirkpatrick (2016) noted that this area is the least important to evaluate although many
program evaluations spend the most time and resources on this area. Table 13 lists the methods
that will be employed to measure engagement, relevance, and customer satisfaction. The table
outlines the method and/or tool that will be used to measure the reactions as well as the timing
for the measurement.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 139
Table 13. Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program

Method(s) or tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Observation by director of fiscal services or assistant
superintendent of business services
During the workshop
Attendance During the budget meetings/
presentation
Relevance
Brief pulse-check with participants via survey after
budget planning meetings (online)
After each budget planning meeting
with the director of fiscal services
Brief pulse-check with participants via survey after
budget presentations (online)
After each budget presentation
Customer satisfaction
Brief pulse-check with participants after budget
planning meetings via survey (online)
After each budget planning meeting
with the director of fiscal services
Satisfaction check with participants via exit tickets at
the end of each budget presentation
After each budget presentation
Twice yearly feedback meetings with the assistant
superintendent of business services and site
administrators, district directors, or cabinet
Twice yearly

Evaluation tools. An important aspect to the Kirkpatrick new world model is the use of
evaluation tools to assess the program implementation. To assess program implementation, two
formal assessments will be administered. The first assessment will be provided to participants at
the end of the training session and will measure Level 1 areas including engagement, relevance,
and customer service as well as Level 2 areas including declarative knowledge, procedural skills,
attitude, confidence, and commitment. A second assessment will be administered to participants
at 6 and 15 weeks after the completion of the program. This delayed assessment will allow all
four levels to be assessed to see how the training has been implemented back into the work
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 140
setting as well as if it has had the desired results in assisting the organization toward achieving
stakeholder goals.
Immediately following the program implementation. The first formative assessment will
be administered in the form of an exit ticket. It will be completed by participants at the end of
presentations and training sessions. It consists of 20 questions covering the Level 1: Reaction
(areas of engagement, relevance, and customer service) and Level 2: Learning (areas of
declarative knowledge, procedural skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment) components.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. Through the use of a delayed
assessment administered 6 and 15 weeks after the completion of the program, all four levels will
be assessed using an online survey consisting of open-ended and scaled items. The survey will
measure the participants’ reaction to the training, including satisfaction, relevance, and
engagement (Level 1); knowledge acquisition, attitude, confidence, and commitment to the
implementation (Level 2); application of the learning in the workplace (Level 3); and the extent
to which the participants’ participation in the program has impacted the progress toward
stakeholder goals (Level 4).
Data Analysis and Reporting
In continuing with the new world Kirkpatrick model for data analysis, both quantitative
and qualitative data will be used to inform the Business Services Department staff and improve
the training process. Quantitative data from the Level 1 and Level 2 survey administered
immediately after the training, along with the Levels 1-4 survey given at the 6- and 15-week
marks after the training, will be analyzed using standard measures including descriptive
statistics. Qualitative data, including feedback from participants and Business Services
Department administrators, will be analyzed by connecting the data to the various topics
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 141
identified within the model. Too often, organizations spend their time and energy on designing
the training and put little into evaluation until after the training has been completed (Kirkpatrick
& Kirkpatrick, 2016).
The sample dashboard in Figure 3 is a visual representation displaying Level 4 data for
monitoring and accountability purposes. Within the dashboard target, percentages will be
established for each identified action/result. As information is logged, data will be recorded on
the chart. These data will be compared with training data from the prior training cycle. Each
established action/result that meets the target will receive a green-light rating. Actions/results
that do not meet the target but have shown growth since the previous training cycle will receive a
yellow-light rating. Actions/results that have remained stagnant or declined since the previous
training cycle will receive a red-light rating. The dashboard will be shared with all site and
district administrators during principal meetings on a minimum of a quarterly basis.
Summary
In education, there are many ways to measure student progress. The new world
Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) allows administrators to collect and
analyze data that will assist in creating a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating
recommendations for the training provided to site and district administrators. The backward
mapping of the evaluation process allows for the business services administrators to provide
well-designed, meaningful training to assist the stakeholders to meet budgetary goals. Gathering
and responding to feedback from administrators will make them feel supported. The new world
Kirkpatrick model merges into the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model by providing
needed information for evaluating the results from the implementation of recommendations to
close the knowledge, motivation, and organizational process gaps within the organization.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 142
Action/Result Target Actual Previous
training cycle
Rating
Site/district administrators are
meeting with the director of fiscal
services on a monthly basis.
100% 60% 70%
Site/district administrators are
creating balanced budgets for the
year.
100% 100% 100%
New administrators are attending
the Budget Boot Camp trainings.
100% 100% 100%
Site/district administrators’
budgets are balanced at the end of
the month.
100% 70% 50%
Site/district administrators are
completing exit tickets when
leaving trainings.
80% 80% 65%
Site/district administrators are
independently reviewing budgets
on a monthly basis and contacting
the director of fiscal services for
support on areas of budget
concern.
90% 60% 70%

Figure 3. Sample balanced budget implementation progress.

Based on the evaluation results, new performance goals can be developed. This will further
support HJUSD in meeting its overall performance goal. Together, all data collected will be used
to answer the three questions posed in the new world Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016): Does it meet expectations? If not, why not? If so, why?
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach
Within this study, the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model was used to develop and
answer the research questions. The framework allowed for a research-based model that provided
a process to identify the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact a
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 143
school district’s ability to create and maintain a balanced budget. An advantage to using the
Clark and Estes gap analysis model is that it begins by clearly identifying goals specific to the
organization. This focus allowed for the approach to directly apply to the research questions. As
outlined in the Clark and Estes gap analysis model, it is critical to ensure that the implemented
solutions are matched to the identified performance gap. Categorizing performance gaps into
knowledge gaps, motivation gaps, and organizational influence gaps strengthened the ability to
create solutions that would appropriately address each gap area (Clark & Estes, 2008). A
potential weakness of the use of this framework is that once the researcher identifies the assumed
performance gaps, it may be difficult to recognize relevant influences within the data collection.
Limitations
Within all research studies, there are limitations that define the study and could be
modified for future research. The primary limitation within this study was that this research was
a dissertation in practice. A dissertation in practice is a study conducted within the researcher’s
organization. Because of my relationship to the organization, I did not have the ability to
interview participants from the Business Services Department of HJUSD. Next, this study
focused on one school district and therefore only contains the thoughts and beliefs of those from
within this one school district. The average tenure of this study’s participants was 18 years. This
vast tenure could result in a myopic view of strategies and beliefs. Additionally, there are many
school business experts outside the school district who could provide a wealth of knowledge that
would assist in identifying additional recommendations. Finally, a limitation with a dissertation
in practice is that the participants may be inclined to be less transparent with their thoughts and
beliefs due to the ability to be more easily identified as a participant. These limitations should be
carefully considered when designing future research in this area.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 144
Future Research
As one research study is completed, it provides a starting point to further refine the area
of study through additional research. To encourage this process, it is important to identify areas
of future research. This study sought to identify knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences that impacted HJUSD’s ability to create and maintain a balanced budget. It provided
assumed influences that were then validated through qualitative research.
Based on identified limitations in the study, the following recommendations are made for
further research. One recommendation for future study includes expanding the study to include
participants from different districts. This would allow for additional perspectives to support and
enhance the findings and the recommendations. A second recommendation is to include staff
from the Business Services Department as participants. Because of my role in HJUSD, it was not
appropriate for Business Services Department staff to participate. Their insights into the budget
and the district’s expenditures could be valuable in identifying and/or validating additional
influences and providing additional recommendations. Finally, a third recommendation would
include a study that analyzes the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that
impact the ability of various divisions within a school district to work in a more collaborative
way. In many districts, departments and/or whole divisions work in silos whereas in other
districts, departments and/or divisions work together as partners. Working as partners allows the
departments and divisions to better leverage the collective knowledge of all of the staff in
making decisions and implementing programs. A final recommendation would include a study to
identify how the findings from this study can be applied when districts have new information
regarding increases to revenue. Due to the volatility of state finances and last-minute additions of
one-time money from the state, districts can unexpectedly receive large increases in their budget.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 145
Is it possible to use some of the same recommendations identified to provide stakeholders with
information needed to make informed decisions regarding the addition of new expenditures to
the budget based on what is most sound instructionally for the students? Many times, districts
will often maintain ineffective or inefficient programs because they have become “sacred cows”
at a school site or within the district. This information would be important as Ron Bennett from
School Services of California often states that districts do not get in trouble in the bad fiscal
times but due to the decisions that they make in the good fiscal times (Bennett et al., 2016).
Conclusion
Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs identifies that in order for a person to successfully
move toward self-actualization and self-transcendence, the more foundational needs including
physiological needs, safety needs, social belonging, and esteem must be met. The ability of a
school district to provide security and transparency through a well-balanced budget can provide
stakeholders with comfort in the areas of physiological and safety needs. When stakeholders are
confident that basic financial needs are taken care of, they are able to focus on the highest level
of the pyramid, which includes self-actualization. Therefore, to be a high-functioning and
successful school district, it is critical that the district is able to create and maintain a balanced
budget.
Research in the area of school finance and strategies for the development and
implementation of a balanced budget is limited. Typically, articles related to this topic are based
on districts that have found themselves in dire straits and focus on what they have done to
successfully exit these straits. This study can provide school district leaders with strategies to
identify budget development gaps and minimize the gaps before they are in dire need of quick
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 146
changes. The ability to identify these needs early and provide well-directed reductions when
necessary can assist a school district in successfully managing tough financial times.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 147
REFERENCES
Abshier, W. C., Harris, S., & Hopson, M. (2011). Superintendent perspectives of financial
survival strategies in small school districts. The Rural Educator, 32(3), 1-9.
Anderman, E. (2015). Goal orientation theory. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web
/20160512050641/http://www.education.com:80/reference/article/goal-orientation-
theory/
Anderman, E., & Anderman, L. (2009). Attribution theory. Retrieved from https://web.archive
.org/web/20160310123840/http://www.education.com/reference/article/attribution-
theory/
Baker, L. (2009). Metacognition. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20161021074751
/http://www.education.com:80/reference/article/metacognition/
Bennett, R., Evans, M., Garcia, B., Gray, J., & Miyashiro, R. (2016, January). Governor’s budget
workshop. Presentation at workshop of School Services of California, Ontario, CA.
Bennett, R., Evans, M., Garcia, B., Gray, J., & Miyashiro, R. (2017, January). Governor’s budget
workshop. Presentation at workshop of School Services of California, Anaheim, CA.
Bird, J. J. (2011). Dollars and sense: A budget-building framework for transparency for
superintendent leadership. Management in Education, 25(4), 156-162.
Borgogni, L., Russo, S. D., & Latham, G. P. (2011). The relationship of employee perception of
the immediate supervisor and top management with collective efficacy. Journal of
Leadership and Organizational Studies, 18(1), 5-13.
Bryant, F. (2016, December). School district energy manager offers program funding tips.
Energy User News, p. 4. Retrieved from http://www.bnp.com
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 148
Butcher, J. (2013). School choice marches forward. Education Next, 13(1). Retrieved from
http://educationnext.org/school-choice-marches-forward-2/
California Charter Schools Association. (n.d.). Growth and enrollment. Retrieved October 9,
2016, from http://www.ccsa.org/understanding/numbers
California Department of Education. (2015). DataQuest: Teacher and staff data [HJUSD].
Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
California Department of Education. (2017a). DataQuest: K-12 public school enrollment
[HJUSD]. Retrieved August 20, 2017, from http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
California Department of Education. (2017b). Open enrollment. Retrieved from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/op/
California Department of Finance. (2016). California public K-12 graded enrollment projections,
table, 2016 series. Retrieved from http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Demographics
/Projections/Public_K-12_Graded_Enrollment/
California Department of Finance. (n.d.). Demographic reports. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from
www.dof.ca.gov/Reports/Demographic_Reports/
California Department of Public Health. (n.d.-a). Table 1-14 (revised). Life expectancy at birth
and average years of life remaining at age 65 by selected years and sex, California, 1919-
1920, 1929-1931, 1939-1941, 1950, 1959-1961, 1969-1971, 1979-1981, 1990-2005.
Retrieved from https://archive.cdph.ca.gov/data/statistics/Documents/VSC-2005-
0114.pdf
California Department of Public Health. (n.d.-b). Table 2-1. Number of live births by age of
mother, California, 1960-2011 (by place of residence). Retrieved from
https://archive.cdph.ca.gov/data/statistics/Documents/VSC-2011-0201.pdf
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 149
California Proposition 30, sales and income tax increase (2012). (n.d.). In Ballotpedia. Retrieved
October 9, 2016, from https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_30
,_Sales_and_Income_Tax_Increase_(2012)
California Proposition 55, extension of the Proposition 30 income tax increase (2016). (n.d.). In
Ballotpedia. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from https://ballotpedia.org/California
_Proposition_55,_Extension_of_the_Proposition_30_Income_Tax_Increase_(2016)
California School Boards Association. (2009). Declining enrollment [Webinar]. Retrieved from
http://media.csba.org/content/webinar/smalls/decEnrollment.html
California School Boards Association. (2016, August 31). Robles-Wong v. State of California
frustrating conclusion to years of work. California School News. Retrieved from
https://www.csba.org/Newsroom/CSBANewsletters/2016/August/ElectronicOnly/2016_0
8_31_robles.aspx
Caskey, J., & Kuperberg, M. (2014). The Philadelphia school district’s ongoing financial crisis.
Education Next, 14(4). Retrieved from http://educationnext.org/philadelphia-school-
districts-ongoing-financial-crisis/
Clark, R. E., & Estes, F. (2008). Turning research into results. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Coleman, P. D., Walker, R., & Lawrence, L. (2012). The pros and cons of education budget cuts:
An investigative study. Research in Higher Education Journal, 12, 1-10.
Cornman, S. Q. (2014). Revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary
education: School year 2011-12 (Fiscal Year 2012) (NCES 2014-301). Retrieved from
National Center for Education Statistics website: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014
/2014301.pdf
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 150
Cotterall, S., & Murray, G. (2009). Enhancing metacognitive knowledge: Structure, affordance
and self. System, 37(1), 34-45.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
DN editorial: School district’s structural deficit. (2016, May 16). Philadelphia Daily News.
Retrieved from http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20160516_DN_editorial
__School_District_s_structural_deficit.html
Donlevy, J. (2010). Teachers, technology, and training: Continuing financial challenges face
budget year 2010-2011. International Journal of Instructional Media, 37(2), 117.
Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA273786649&sid
=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=00921815&p=AONE&sw=w&a
uthCount=1&isAnonymousEntry=true
Eccles, J. (2006). Expectancy value motivation theory. Retrieved from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/expectancy-value-motivation-theory/
Ed-Data. (2017). Home page. Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http:///www.ed-data.org
EdSource. (2007). Keeping California school districts fiscally healthy: Current practices and
ongoing challenges. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/wp-content
/publications/Districtfiscalhealth.pdf
EdSource. (2009). Proposition 98 sets a minimum funding guarantee for education [Policy
brief]. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/PolicyBriefR3.pdf
Esselman, M., Lee-Gwin, R., & Rounds, M. (2012). Rightsizing a school district: A dramatic
self-examination led the Kansas City, Mo. public schools to close schools and cut $68
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 151
million from its annual budget. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(6), 56-61.
doi:10.1177/003172171209300613
Fensterwald, J. (2014, December 11). Districts want to highlight retirees’ costs [Web log post].
Retrieved from http://edsource.org/2014/districts-want-to-highlight-retirees-costs/71343
Fink, A. (2013). How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE.
Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2010). Analyzing cultural models and settings to connect
minority achievement and school improvement research. Educational Psychologist,
36(1), 45-56.
Ginns, P. (2005). Meta-analysis of the modality effect. Learning and Instruction, 14(4), 313-331.
Ginsberg, R., & Multon, K. D. (2011). Leading through a fiscal nightmare: The impact on
principals and superintendents. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(8), 42-47.
doi:10.1177/003172171109200809
Hess, F. M., & Kelly, A. P. (2007). Leading to lead: What gets taught in principal-preparation
programs. Teachers College Record, 109(1), 244-274.
Huang, C. (2016). Achievement goals and self-efficacy: A meta-analysis. Educational Research
Review, 19, 119-137. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2016.07.002
Janofsky, M. (2016, March 16). California charter schools set goal of 1 million students despite
pushback [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/2016/california-charter-
schools-set-goal-of-1-million-students-despite-pushback/561958
Jimerson, L. (2002). Interdistrict open enrollment: The benign choice? The Clearing House,
76(1), 16-19. doi:10.1080/00098650209604940
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 152
Kapphahn, K. (2016). Evaluation of the school district of choice program. Retrieved from
Legislative Analyst’s Office website: http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2016/3331/district-
of-choice-012716.pdf
Kheel, R. (2013, March 18). Land swap proposed for school site, park. Orange County Register.
Retrieved from http://www.ocregister.com/articles/park-500267-school-district.html
Kirkpatrick, J. D., & Kirkpatrick, W. K. (2016). Kirkpatrick’s four levels of training evaluations.
Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice,
41(4), 212-218.
Kronholz, J. (2014). California’s districts of choice. Education Next, 14(3). Retrieved from
http://educationnext.org/californias-districts-choice/
Levenson, N. (2011). Declining resources, targeted strategies. The Education Digest, 77(1), 42-
48.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-396.
Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Mayer, R. E. (2011). Applying the science of learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to the design and
implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods
sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). Fast facts: Enrollment trends. Retrieved March
20, 2017, from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=65
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 153
Odden, A., Picus, L., & Goetz, M. (2010). A 50-state strategy to school finance adequacy.
Educational Policy, 24(4), 629-654.
Olsen, K. D. (2010). What brain research can teach about cutting school budgets. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Owings, W., & Kaplan, L. (2012). American public school finance. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Paino, M., & Rossett, A. (2008). Performance support that adds value to everyday lives.
Performance Improvement, 47(1), 37-44. doi:10.1002/pfi.177
Pajares, F. (2009). Self-efficacy theory. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web
/20161018071503/http://www.education.com:80/reference/article/self-efficacy-theory/
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE.
Peters, D. L., & Daly, S. R. (2013). Returning to graduate school: Expectations of success,
values of the degree, and managing the costs. Journal of Engineering Education, 102(2),
244-268. doi:10.1002/jee.20012
Pintrich, P. R. (2003). A motivational science perspective on the role of student motivation in
learning and teaching contexts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(4), 667-686.
Rubio-Cortes, G. (2013). Fiscal sustainability case investigation: El Rancho School District.
National Civic Review, 102(1), 12-16. doi:10.1002/ncr21111
Rueda, R. (2011). The 3 dimensions of improving student performance: Finding the right
solutions to the right problems. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 154
Schraw, G., & McCrudden, M. (2009). Information processing theory. Retrieved from
https://project542.weebly.com/uploads/1/7/1/0/17108470/information_processing_theory
__education.com.pdf
Shambaugh, L., Kitmitto, S., Parrish, T., Arellanes, M., & Nakashima, N. (2011) California’s K-
12 education system during the fiscal crisis. Retrieved from American Institutes for
Research website: http://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report
/CA_Fiscal_Crisis_Report_Draft_Final_May_19_0.pdf
Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York,
NY: Portfolio/Penguin.
Spegman, A. (2017, March 13). Making school wellness programs work. District
Administration. Retrieved from https://www.districtadministration.com/article/making-
school-wellness-programs-work
Starrett, T. M., Casey, P., & Dunlap, K. (2014). Superintendent response to the financial
turndown. Journal of Education and Learning, 3(1), 34-39.
Stover, D. (2003). Stretching the incredible shrinking school budget. The Education Digest,
69(1), 59-62.
Summers, R. A. (2015). The superintendent as transformational leader: A case study analysis of
the strategies, initiatives and processes used by superintendents of exemplar 21st century
school districts to implement district-wide change for the 21st century (Doctoral
dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No.
3688378)
FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 155
University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education (Producer). (2016). Ethics
sections from a dissertation [Video]. Retrieved from https://2sc.rossieronline.usc
.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=108879
Waters, T., Marzano, R. J., & McNulty, B. (2003). Balanced leadership: What 30 years of
research tells us about the effect of leadership on student achievement. Retrieved from
McRel website: https://www.mcrel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Balanced-
Leadership%C2%AE-What-30-Years-of-Research-Tells-Us-about-the-Effect-of-
Leadership-on-Student-Achievement.pdf
Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative studies. New
York, NY: The Free Press.
Weston, M. (2010). Funding California schools: The revenue limit system. Retrieved from
Public Policy Institute of California website: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs
/report/R_310MWR.pdf
Zainuddin, S. (2013). Budget participation, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. Actual
Problems in Economics, 5(143), 261-267.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 156
APPENDICES

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 157
APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 158
Interview Questions

1. Please share about the position you serve in the district and what your responsibilities
entail.

2. How many years have you served in HJUSD?

3. In what other positions have you served within a school district?

4. What factors determine the amount of funding school districts in California receive?

5. When working with a budget it is typically more positive to increase revenue for the
District. What suggestions or ideas do you have to increase revenue for the District?
a. What barriers have kept these ideas from being implemented in HJUSD?

6. Similarly, how might HJUSD reduce its expenditures?
a. Have these ideas been implemented in HJUSD?
b. What would contribute to these ideas being implemented?

7. What do you think has caused HJUSD’s deficit spending for four of the past six years?

8. What challenges does HJUSD face in creating and maintaining a balanced budget?

9. Who is responsible for ensuring that HJUSD creates and maintains a balanced budget?

10. Has the deficit reduction effort focused mostly on spending cuts or revenue
enhancements?
a. What are the challenges facing both approaches?

11. What fiscal challenges do you see HJUSD facing in the next five years?
a. How do you see parent choice in schools impacting HJUSD?

12. Do you feel it is important that HJUSD create and implement a balanced budget, and
why?

13. How can HJUSD provide greater assistance to staff in understanding the budget?
a. How could HJUSD support staff in implementing their budget if they are
responsible for budget oversight?

14. Is there anything else that you would like to share regarding your involvement regarding
fiscal matters in the school district?

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 159
APPENDIX B
Informed Consent/Information Sheet

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 160
Informed Consent Form

Research Study: Implementation of Strategies to Address the Fiscal Impacts of Declining
Enrollment on School Resources

Primary Investigator: Jennifer Root, Doctoral Candidate, University of Southern California

I willingly volunteer to participate in this qualitative research study and understand the
following:

1. I will participate in an approximately one-hour interview with Jennifer Root. In this
interview she will use pre-identified questions following a semi-structured interview
format.

2. The questions that I will answer are in respect to my views connected to the finances of
the school district. I understand that the primary purpose of the study is to identify
knowledge, motivation, and organizational behaviors that impact the ability of a school
district to create and maintain a balanced budget.

3. The interview will be tape recorded and transcribed using an online transcription process.

4. To protect my anonymity, I understand that I will identify a pseudonym for myself and
that pseudonym will be used to identify me throughout the research study.

5. I may, at any time, withdraw from the study without consequence.

6. I have the right to review material prior to the publication of the research study.

7. I understand that this interview will be used as a part of the doctoral dissertation for
Jennifer Root and may also be used for additional related publications or presentations.

8. I have the ability to participate, or not participate, in this study, without prejudice or
negative consequences.

9. There will be no monetary compensation for my participation in this study.

10. Because there are a limited number of research participants, the is some risk that I may be
identified as a participant of this study.

11. Any questions regarding my participation in this study may be answered by Jennifer Root
at (626) 374-5185 or by email at jroot@usc.edu.

I have read and understand the statements above and willingly consent to participate in this
research study as described above.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 161
______________________________________ _____________________
Participant’s Signature Date

______________________________________ ____________________
Researcher’s Signature Date

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 162
APPENDIX C
Level 1 and Level 2 Evaluation Instrument

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 163
Level 1 and Level 2 Evaluation Instrument
(To be used during and immediately following program implementation.)
Thank you for participating in this survey will assist the Business Services Department in
providing you with the very best training possible. Please answer each question by clicking on
the answer that most appropriately represents your response to the question. There are four
possible answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). This exit ticket should
take no more than ten minutes to complete.

1. I have been engaged as a participant in the Budget Training Session.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

2. The material that I am learning in the Budget Training Session is relevant to me as a site
or District administrator?
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

3. I am satisfied with what I have learned as a part of the Budget Training Session.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

4. I know who to contact when I have questions regarding the implementation of my
budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

5. I understand how to use the Budget Management Program to create and monitor my
site/department budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

6. My ability to create and manage a balanced budget will be beneficial in my role as a
site/department administrator.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

7. My knowledge of the District and/or my site/department budget has improved as a result
of my participation in this training.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

8. I understand the importance for me to provide regular monitoring of my budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 164
9. Activities during the Business Training Sessions allowed me to be actively involved in
the training.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

10. I am benefitting as a result of my participation in the Business Training Sessions.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

11. I find the Business Services administrators to be supportive towards my success in
creating and managing my site/department budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

12. I understand the components of the District’s Budget Stabilization Plan.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

13. I am able to identify the various budget sources that apply to my site/department.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

14. Through having a better understanding of the various site/department budgets and how
they can be used, I am a better steward of my site/department’s finances.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

15. I am capable of explaining the major things that impact the District’s revenue and
expenditures to a teacher or parent at my school site.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

16. I will use the information received in the Business Services Training to review my budget
on a monthly basis to identify under and/or over spending in my budgets.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

17. I have felt supported by the Business Services administrators in the implementation of
my budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

18. During the past _ months I have regularly monitored my site/department budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

19. My creation, and implementation, of a balanced site/department budget has helped me to
understand the need for the District to create and maintain an overall balanced budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 165
20. Based on what I have learned, I feel that the District’s ability to create and maintain a
balanced budget will support the District’s vision of providing students with an education
that prepares them for college and career success.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 166
APPENDIX D
Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 Evaluation Instrument

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 167
Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 Evaluation Instrument

(Delayed instrument to be administered at approximately 6 and 15 weeks after program
implementation)

Thank you for participating in this survey will assist the Business Services Department in
providing you with the very best training possible. Please answer each question by clicking on
the answer that most appropriately represents your response to the question. There are four
possible answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). This survey should
take no more than fifteen minutes to complete.

1. I have been engaged as a participant in the Budget Training Session.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

2. The material that I am learning in the Budget Training Session is relevant to me as a site
or District administrator?
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

3. I am satisfied with what I have learned as a part of the Budget Training Session.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

4. I know who to contact when I have questions regarding the implementation of my budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

5. I understand how to use the Budget Management Program to create and monitor my
site/department budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

6. My ability to create and manage a balanced budget will be beneficial in my role as a
site/department administrator.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

7. My knowledge of the District and/or my site/department budget has improved as a result
of my participation in this training.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

8. I understand the importance for me to provide regular monitoring of my budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

9. Activities during the Business Training Sessions allowed me to be actively involved in
the training.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

10. I am benefitting as a result of my participation in the Business Training Sessions.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

FISCAL IMPACTS OF DECLINING ENROLLMENT 168
11. I find the Business Services administrators to be supportive towards my success in
creating and managing my site/department budget.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

12. I understand the components of the District’s Budget Stabilization Plan.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

13. I am able to identify the various budget sources that apply to my site/department.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

14. As a result of training I have a better understanding of the various site/department
budgets and how they can be used, I am a better steward of my site/department’s finances.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

15. I am capable of explaining the major things that impact the District’s revenue and
expenditures to a teacher or parent at my school site.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

16. I will use the information received in the Business Services Training to review my budget
on a monthly basis to identify under and/or over spending in my budgets.
1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree)

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which Herren Joint Union School District (HJUSD) was meeting its organizational performance goal of creating and implementing a balanced unrestricted general fund budget for the current year and 2 subsequent years. The study was built foundationally using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model focusing on the identification of gaps related to knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Nine stakeholders representing cabinet, district administrators, site administrators, and teachers were interviewed using a semistructured interview format. Each interview was coded and analyzed into themes focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. The findings revealed the need to improve the knowledge of all stakeholders through staff meeting presentations and more specialized training for administrators regarding budget development and management. Motivation influence findings centered on the need to create more confidence in the ability to create and maintain a balanced budget. Organizational influence findings included the need to provide more comprehensive branding/marketing of school programs. Recommended solutions included the development of a structure for new administrator training, regular ongoing administrator training, and the development of monthly meetings between administrators and the director of fiscal services for budget management. The recommendations also included a plan to evaluate the implementation of the solutions using the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) new world evaluation model.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Creation and implementation of a comprehensive active shooter/safety plan: a promising practice study

PDF

One to one tablet integration in the mathematics classroom: an evaluation study of an international school in China

PDF

Principals’ impact on the effective enactment of instructional coaching that promotes equity: an evaluation study

PDF

Student engagement in online education: an evaluation study

PDF

Supporting women business owners: the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center: an evaluation study

PDF

Readiness factors influencing the ability of institutions of higher education to align the budget with organizational goals: an evaluation study of a college

PDF

Quality literacy instruction in juvenile court schools: an evaluation study

PDF

Manager leadership skills in the context of a new business strategy initiative: an evaluative study

PDF

Optimizing leadership and strategy to develop an expenditure-reduction plan: an improvement study

PDF

Knowledge, motivation and organizational influences impacting recruiting practices addressing the gender gap in the technology industry: an evaluation study

PDF

Measuring the impact of short-term campus exchange programs: an evaluation study

PDF

Affluent teens and school stress: an evaluation study

PDF

Influencing teacher retention: an evaluation study

PDF

The moderating role of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on employee turnover: A gap analysis

PDF

A gap analysis of course directors’ effective implementation of technology-enriched course designs: An innovation study

PDF

Examining the faculty implementation of intermediate algebra for statistics: An evaluation study

PDF

Increase parental involvement to decrease the achievement gaps for ELL and low SES students in urban California public schools: an evaluation study

PDF

What teachers in a high-performing high school need to effectively manage workplace stress: an evaluation study

PDF

Addressing the principal shortage: women teachers

PDF

Teacher retention influences: an evaluation study

Asset Metadata

Creator Root, Jennifer Irene (author)

Core Title Implementation of strategies to address the fiscal impacts of declining enrollment on school resources: an evaluation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 10/24/2017

Defense Date 10/19/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag budget reductions,declining enrollment,OAI-PMH Harvest,school finance

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Stowe, Kathy (committee chair), Picus, Lawrence (committee member), Stowe, Timothy (committee member)

Creator Email jroot@usc.edu,refinnej2000@aol.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-448512

Unique identifier UC11265587

Identifier etd-RootJennif-5855.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-448512 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-RootJennif-5855.pdf

Dmrecord 448512

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Root, Jennifer Irene

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA