Evaluates and critiques the effectiveness of the budget narrative in clarifying budget items that need explanation and elaboration.

There are several different areas of the budget that would need further explanation to include: more detailed information on the payroll costs, professional services, operating costs, overtime hours and capital outlays. This is important, because these figures are quoted as a total amount. There are no projections as to how they are have changed, from one year to the next or the underlying trends that are taking place. At the same time, you have the lack of detailed information, on how this money is being spent and the analysis process that was used. These different elements are important, because they are showing how there is a possible lack of transparency by not disclosing this kind of information. As result, this makes it more difficult to analyze the budget for possible cost overruns and wasteful spending. (Roza, 2004, pp. 201 -- 227)

Evaluates and critiques the effectiveness of the budget's handling of in-kind income and expenses.

The way the school district is handling the in kind income and expenses, is having mixed results. The reason why is because, they are using various grants (to limited extent) mainly to deal with over time hours. This is troubling, because there are a host of different grants that the school district could be aggressively perusing. As this would help to provide another way that the district could address various income issues and possible expenses that may not be allocated in the traditional budget. If the Lubbock ISD can augment the current strategy, with the one that is being suggested, this will improve the ability of the school district to maintain their current programs (without sacrificing the quality of education that is being provided.)

Evaluates and critiques the capability of an organization to develop, administer, and evaluate a grant from the perspective of how funds are allocated in the budget, and offers alternatives or recommendations as appropriate.

Currently, the Lubbock ISD has poor grant writing abilities. The reason why is because they were only able to receive one grant, that was used to address the issue of staff overtime hours. This is troubling, because it appears as if the administration has select individuals who are responsible for writing and locating various grants. As a result, this will limit the effectiveness of the grant, as it is a token amount that is addressing limited issues. At which point, the school district could be facing similar budgetary challenges, as the rest of the districts around the country.

To effectively deal with these various challenges requires, changing the tactics that are being utilized for locating and writing various grants. As an all encompassing strategy, would need to be used to address the various issues facing the district. One way to achieve this objective is to utilize school-based management. This is when you are taking an all encompassing approach when it comes to the budget. Where, the school district will begin to delegate authority to educators and departments, about locating as well as writing various grants. (Wholstetter, 1994, pp. 268 -288) This is important, because utilizing this approach can help to improve the total amount of grants that are being written. Given the fact that receiving grants is a formal process, means that the school district needs to write a number of different grants, in order to address the various issues that they are facing. This strategy will help to achieve this objective, by giving educators the power to find the funding necessary, for their department and various projects they may have. At which point, this will improve the motivation and desire (of the staff) to go the extra mile in researching as well as writing various grants. This is significant, because it allows the Lubbock ISD to be able to effectively deal with the various budgetary challenges that they are facing.

When you put these different elements together, the strategy of school-based management can improve the number of eligible grants that the Lubbock ISD is receiving, by increasing the number of people who are looking and applying for them. This is important, because one of the keys to successfully writing any kind of grant; is to apply for a number of different ones that the district could be eligible for. Once this takes place, it will increase chances that the school district will be able to find the necessary funding, without going through the normal challenges that many institutions are utilizing.

Evaluates and critiques the budget's reflection...

What is happening is the budget will barely touch on specific ways that they are addressing the underlying economic challenges. At which point, it will go into long discussions about how they are specifically addressing the underlying educational issues at various schools. On the surface, this appears relevant, when you are glancing at the budget. However, when you begin to look more in depth at the budget, it is clear that they are discussing issues that have no bearing on the economic crisis that is facing the school district. Instead, it talks about various teaching techniques and how they are reaching out to different students. This is basically glossing over the problem, without providing specifics about how the budget is being impacted, by the recession and subsequent slow growth environment. As a result, this will continue to add to the underlying challenges facing the Lubbock ISD. Once they begin to provide more specifics about spending and income; is the point that they will begin to understand the overall scope of the problem as well as how it can be fixed.
Once these various issues have been examined, we will be able to conduct an analysis of the different strengths and weaknesses in the budget. At the same time, we can find out what issues could be affecting the school district and how they can be addressed (through various grants). When you put these different elements together, this shows how the research study will help to effectively indentify possible challenges and strategies for protecting themselves. If this kind of a system can be implemented by the Lubbock ISD, then it could help to address the underlying challenges that they are facing. However, before conducting any kind of research it is imperative to corroborate our various findings with previous studies and examine the underlying trend that is occurring. When you put these different elements together, this shows how the various grants and budget analysis could help the organization to address the underlying problems they are facing. At which point, they can begin to tackle these issues, helping to improve the effectiveness of the organization, while maintaining the cost structure.

Evaluate and critique the theoretical basis underlying the grant proposal, its importance and proper management, when applying along with explaining the relevance of research literature.

The underlying grant proposal is relevant, because it addresses various fundamental challenges facing the Lubbock ISD. This is important, due to the fact that utilizing the strategy that has been proposed; will help to address the budgetary issues facing the district. When you step back and analyze the proposal, it is clear that it could address some of the challenges, but not all. In this case, there must be a concentrated effort by all staff members to increase the number of grant proposals that are being written. This would improve the odds of being able to receive a number of different grants, to address the obvious challenges facing the school district. This is important, because it will help increase the overall quality of education being provided, by making certain that educators and staff will have the resources they need. To ensure proper management, you could establish a procedure by taking into account three different elements. To include: making certain that there are proper incentives / support for staff members, having strong leadership in place and ensuring that there are effective internal controls. These different elements are significant, because they are supported by an article from the Harvard Educational Review. They found that the reason why many different initiatives do not work in school districts is because of: controversy, a lack of support / proper resources and very little internal controls. (Newman, 1987, pp. 41 -- 75) When you put these different elements together, they are highlighting how the grant proposal strategy that is being proposed, can effectively tackle these issues. Once this occurs, it will increase the effectiveness of the resources being utilized, helping to improve the overall quality of education that is being provided.

Describe and analyze the organization's background, problem statement, intended outcomes in terms of target population, evaluate how well the problem statement matches needs of target population and explains criterion used for this evaluation.

The Lubbock ISD has been facing similar challenges as other districts around the country. Where, they are wrestling…