District fiscal leadership and school effectiveness

There is an on-going debate in public education regarding the question, “Does money matter when it comes to school effectiveness?” Some say, yes; some say, no; others say, maybe, it just depends on how you use it. Educational leaders are given the responsibility to allocate resources to the programs in their district in order to make their students successful. With this responsibility also comes accountability for the results of their decision-making. The researcher suggests that every district has a unique fiscal culture that is shaped and influenced by a multi-dimensional, complex mix of variables. The purpose of this study was to explore how/what variables influence a district fiscal leader’s decision-making as he/she attempts to transform their limited financial resources into school effectiveness. The impetus for this research endeavor was born from the earlier work of Brenda Barrington Mendiola and her 2009 dissertation, District Fiscal Leadership and School Effectiveness in Small Rural Texas Schools. The researcher refined and updated the District Fiscal Leadership–School Effectiveness (DFL-SE) model and the District Fiscal Leadership Inventory (DFLI) in order to evaluate potential fiscal leadership principles and their influence on school effectiveness beyond small rural schools and into a sample base of mid-sized school districts categorized by the Texas Education Agency as Other Central City. This quantitative study utilized correlational and multiple regression statistics on two research questions to show the degree of relationship between the independent (input) variables, results from the factor analyzed DFLI, and each of the dependent (outcome) variables. In the first research question, significant correlations were found between measures of effectiveness and student populations. An additional finding gives credence to supporters that assert money matters. The exploratory investigation into the second research question provided some rather strong positive support for the link between the dimensions of District Fiscal Leadership posited in the DFL-SE Model and personnel perceptions of the overall effectiveness of schools as complex organizations as opposed to more discrete outcome measures of school effectiveness. This strong connection between DFLI dimensions and personnel perceptions of organizational effectiveness suggests that it makes sense to conceptualize District Fiscal Leadership Culture first of all as an organizational phenomenon. Using this finding as a basis, the researcher suggests that a mixed-methods approach and a judiciously selected sample set may be the next logical step in the study of district fiscal leadership and school effectiveness.