15.3 Choral department budget  (Page 2/2)

When the administration does not provide a budget request form, the form listed below or a variation of it, may be useful.

This example is the most brief and concise portion of the budget and suggests one or two one-time purchases. In any budget submitted, include on one page the total budget request and a small breakdown as shown. Administrators prefer this information for their use as they develop the total budget and be able to see your total request at a glance. Further pages should then detail the requests made and include estimated costs when known. These pages should also contain the reasons for the expenditures and all supporting evidence for them.

Choral department budget:

Music Purchases Amount

Concert Choir

Boys Chorus

Girls Chorus

Mixed Chorus

Contest (including solos)

Recordings

Technology

Clinic Expenses

(includes clinician's fee and all administrative costs)

Apparel Maintenance

Music Folders

Personal Computer

PC Software

New Folder Cabinet

New Rehearsal Piano

(specifications attached)

Contingency Funds

Total ____________

Piano tuning and equipment repair is included in the building and equipment maintenance budget, but where this is not the case it should be included in the department budget request.

When any new item is included in a budget, support the request with evidence that:

1. Demonstrates the need for the item.

2. Demonstrates how it will be of value, educationally, to the students.

3. Shows how similar uses in other schools have been successful (if known).

Whatever the requests that are made, whether for new items or for budget increases, the priorities will be somewhat different with each choral director. However, every director should be careful to keep the education of the student as the primary consideration in all budget requests. This does not mean that a request for office help will not ultimately benefit the students, because it may free the director to spend more time with the students or in his preparation for teaching. Luxury items that benefit only the director cannot be justified.

There are certain expenses that can be placed in other budgets, allowing better use of the choral budget. Expendable classroom items can often be placed on instructional materials budgets. This will take some pressure off the choral budget. All office items can usually be placed on a schoolwide budget.

In many situations, maintenance items such as piano tuning and repair, and wardrobe maintenance, can be placed on school maintenance budgets, again providing relief for the choral budget.

It is usually best to separate the budget into those items that are recurring ones, such as the cost of music, and those items that can be called one-time purchase items, including stereo systems, recording devices, etc. At least do this on the department level if not at the administrative level. In this way a choral director will be able to easily know his operating costs. When costs rise, it will be simple to determine how much more money will be necessary to support the department.

Placing a contingency item in the budget is worthwhile in many situations and may not be necessary in others. It should be approximately ten percent of the total operating budget, exclusive of one time equipment purchases. This would allow for some flexibility to meet, for example, the unusual performance opportunity that might require repertoire not already in the budget.

It is also advantageous to break down the music purchase budget to show the cost of music for known festival participation and annual events requiring special music purchases. It may not be necessary to include this break down in every instance (even then it should be computed and retained at the department level for reference), but in most instances such a breakdown can be valuable to administrators responsible for budget allocations.

It is most important that the choral director be knowledgeable about all areas of his budget. When he is called on by the administration to discuss or to defend items in his budget request, he must be able to substantiate his requests and explain the need for each item. He should also have a very good idea of the approximate cost of items. This can be done by checking with commercial firms in advance regarding costs. A director should do his homework well before meeting with the administration. They will be impressed by this and it will reinforce the requests.