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Finance Sub-committees

Financial management is a very important part of a school’s operation.  Although schools are self-managing, each school is required to operate under state-wide guidelines. Council’s major responsibilities in the area of finance are developing the annual budget, which is one of the school’s key operating plans, and ensuring that proper records are kept of the school's financial operations. It is recommended that all school councils have a finance sub-committee.

The Finance Sub-committee Terms of Reference (PDF - 52Kb) describes the roles and responsibilities.

Annual Budget

The finance sub-committee works in partnership with the principal to develop the annual school budget. The annual budget supports what the school is trying to do for students as set out in the strategic plan. The Annual Budget sets out the amount and distribution of resources that will be used.

School funds usually come from three sources:

  1. What the school gets from the Government each year in the Student Resource Package (SRP). The SRP refers to the money provided to every Victorian Government school each year by the Government, so they can bring about improvement in learning outcomes for students. It is linked to individual student learning needs rather than providing funds for a certain number of staff and equipment.
  2. What it has in the bank in its various accounts.
  3. What it raises each year from local sources, such as voluntary contributions, bank interest and fund-raising activities. 

Sometimes a school may get additional funds for special purposes, such as from the government for a building program, or through a specific grant to improve facilities or to run a special program. However, the three areas mentioned above are the usual sources of school funds.

The school council works to get the best results for the money spent through a carefully planned annual budget. Once it has been completed, it is presented by the Finance Sub-committee to school council for discussion and approval. The convenor of the Finance Sub-committee plays a critical role in achieving this outcome.

To support finance sub-committees in their important role, the following training and support materials are provided:

More information

For more information, see: