Assessment of Principals’ Budget Preparation and Resource Allocation Procedures in the Administration of Public Secondary Schools in Southwest, Nigeria
Author: *Ogunbiyi, Oluwadare Deji, Dr. (Mrs.) Odeh, Regina C., Fr. Dr. Kajo, Didacus Tyotyev & Dr. Idoko, Alphonsus Alfa
Abstract: The study assessed principals’ budget preparation and resource allocation procedures in the administration of public secondary schools in Southwest, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. This study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study was 3,254 while the sample was 650 respondents. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to determine the sample size of the study. The instrument used for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled, “Principals’ Budgeting Preparation and Resource Allocation Procedures Questionnaire (BPRAPQ)”. Seven experts validated the instrument used for the study, five in Educational Administration and Planning, and two from Measurement and Evaluation. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, 30 copies of the instrument were trial-tested on principals and Bursars in three Local Government Areas that were not part of the used Local Government Areas from three states in Southwest, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha statistic to compute the reliability estimate and the overall reliability co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions that guided the study, while a t-test was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study at a 0.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study were that there was no statically significant difference between the mean ratings of principals and bursars the procedures used by principals for budgets preparation, while a significant difference exists between the mean ratings of principals and bursars on resource allocation procedures used by principals in the administration of public secondary schools in Southwest, Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that public secondary school principals should endeavor to prepare their annual budgets at the beginning of every academic year and ensure to involve their subordinates and other school management team in the preparation of the budgets..