Haverford Township superintendent describes budget process and priority on school visits
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Summary
On WHHS radio, Dr. Hayes said district funding decisions follow board policy and state guidelines and are made by the superintendent and business manager, while she aims to spend more time visiting schools to see instruction and student impact firsthand.
Dr. Hayes, superintendent of Haverford Township SD, described the district's budgetary process and her preference for frequent school visits during an interview on WHHS.
"Ultimately, the decision as to kind of who gets funds and where they go is pretty much up to myself and the business manager," Dr. Hayes said, adding that those decisions follow board policy and state guidelines and that board members are kept informed because they are elected to represent the community.
She described the budget process as collaborative: staff meet with departments and schools to identify overlapping requests and gaps so resources can be allocated where most needed. "That allows us to see, is somebody requesting something that somebody else is requesting? Do we have an overlap? Do we have a gap in things?" she said.
Dr. Hayes said her goal is to spend more time in schools — "I prefer to try to get into schools 2 times a week if possible" — to observe instruction and understand how district decisions affect classroom experiences. She pointed to recent classroom visits and events such as Unified Bocce as examples of student impact and teacher practice informing district priorities.
She also noted she relies on a business manager for technical financial work and tries to keep longer-term, strategic focus while delegating fiscal detail.
The interview did not record specific dollar amounts or formal budget votes; Dr. Hayes described the process and the role of the board and staff but did not announce any formal actions or timelines for budget adoption.