The majority of school principals are able to make some purchases for their schools without running into the red tape associated with getting a supervisor’s approval, new EdWeek Market Brief survey data shows.
But where their school districts draw the line on that spending varies.
The differing approaches can make it challenging for representatives of education companies to know when to engage a principal in trying to make a sale.
Unlike the typical process for major purchases of products for district-wide use, which tend to follow a lengthy, mandatory formal bidding procedure, the process and the pool of money given to each individual school’s leaders for smaller contracts varies by state and school system.
Understanding school principals’ spending power — and the limitations on that power — is important for companies, especially if they are looking to introduce their products through a process that follows a faster sales cycle or that awards contracts that are smaller in scope.
There is a long history of education companies seeking to introduce products to principals through pilots or other small-scale rollouts at the school level. The hope is that the product will show results and win the confidence of principals who will talk up the benefits to central office administrators capable of pushing for a districtwide purchase.
To get a better idea of the budgets and autonomy principals are working with, EdWeek Market Brief asked 168 school leaders nationwide in September and October what dollar amount they can spend without the approval of a supervisor — and what types of products they buy on their own, without clearance from their bosses.
The data captures a range of answers, showing that some principals’ unilateral power to spend is capped at around $1,000, while others can greenlight a contract worth 10, or even 30, times that amount.
3 in 10 Principals Have No Spending Authority
A substantial portion of the school leaders surveyed, 17 percent, say their authority is fairly limited — that they can make purchases only up to $1,000 without clearance from above.
Nearly a quarter of principals, 23 percent, say the dollar limit for their school purchases without supervisor approval is somewhere between spending $1,000 and $5,000 per contract, the survey finds.
A smaller percentage of principals say they can make purchases that cost as much as $10,000 or $20,000 (8 percent, each).
And a combined 9 percent of school leaders say they can make purchases of $20,000 or more on their own, without approval.
Notably, 29 percent of school principals say they have to send every purchasing decision up the leadership chain and are not given the authority to make purchases without approval.
The factors that affect how much money principals can spend include a school’s size, as well as a school district’s overall approach to budgeting, said Chris Page, principal of Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado.
The survey results ring true to Page, who said he is authorized to make purchases up to around $20,000 as the principal of a school serving 1,300 students. For contract renewal, that cap may creep up towards $30,000 if the school population has grown since the original contract was written up.
That dollar amount is high in part because Page’s district, the 63,000-student Douglas County school system, located south of Denver, runs on a “site-based” model, he said. A site-based approach to budgeting allows individual schools to manage most of the money in the district in large school budgets, while district-level staff oversee spending on a few key districtwide initiatives or supplemental resources.
The model is different than most districts in the state — and across the country — which tend to use a centralized approach to spending, meaning district-level staff largely make decisions about purchasing while principals manage small pools of money to fill any gaps in the products and services.
“If it’s a major expenditure, I might have to work with the district or … set money aside into specialty accounts,” Page said. “For the most part, in my role, I make a large percentage of almost all purchases.”
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Principals’ Spending Priorities
While Page is a key decision-maker, he says it’s still important for vendors to get both district-level and school-level buy-in for a product or service before trying to close a sale. Often, he directs vendors interested in selling to his district to different department heads or subject-matter experts.
In a site-based district, those stakeholders often play a bigger role in purchasing, Page said. They have a better sense of how something will work in the classroom, he said, and they have more time to vet and experiment with different tools.
“Vendors think, if we go directly to the [school or district] administration we’ll have an easier chance or opportunity to have that curriculum approved,” Page said. “Some principals are really strong in curriculum, so that works with them. But the time that they have to really dive into those resources is limited.”
The survey also asked school principals what specific types of products they have purchased on their own, using their spending authority.
A strong majority of principals use their discretion to spend money on office supplies and equipment (81 percent), professional development for their staff (66 percent), and supplemental academic resources in core subjects (64 percent), EdWeek Market Brief’s survey found.
Other common purchases include school library materials (60 percent), supplemental resources for non-core academic subjects (56 percent), and social-emotional learning resources.
Half of principals say they spend their discretionary money on devices or device accessories, while relatively few principals, 16 percent, say they put their purchasing power toward piloting products.
Putting Staff and Students First
The survey results accurately reflect the priorities for many school principals’ spending, said Eric Hale, executive principal of Bryan Station High School in Kentucky’s Fayette County school system.
His school, which serves more than 2,000 students in Lexington, prioritizes putting money into efforts that support staff, including professional development and stipends for taking on extra responsibilities, as well as purchases that meet their students’ unique needs, he said.
To make purchases, districts in the state use a site-based model. Each school works with budget committees elected by school staff. Hale is the chair of his committee, which is made up of a couple dozen department chairs and academy leaders.
“It’s a unique situation in that there is a lot of autonomy at the school level around resources and staffing,” Hale said. At his school, “my No. 1 priority is centered around student achievement.”
The EdWeek Research Center also collected data on what kinds of products and services individual district-level administrators spend money on, when they are given the authority to do that outside the traditional budget process.
There are some statistically significant differences in the spending that principals report compared to district leaders.
School leaders are more likely than district leaders to use their discretionary spending power on supplemental academic resources in core subjects, social-emotional learning, and school library materials.
The finding makes sense, Hale said, because school-level staff members are better positioned than central office staff to understand the needs of their student populations for academic and social-emotional support.
“There are common needs among all schools,” Hale said. “But sometimes the cookie-cutter resources don’t always work. … Each campus is unique. That’s the first thing for each bidder to understand.”
Takeaway: The amounts that individual school principals have to spend, independent of central district control, aren’t especially high — about one-quarter of those surveyed say can buy products and services for $5,000 or more.
But even so, that amount of money can be enough to pay for a small-scale adoption or pilot of a product at the school level. Many education companies try to build trust in their products by going through school principals, in the hope that those school-level leaders will become champions for an offering getting purchased across the school system.
Vendors need to be cognizant of the limits on school principals’ spending autonomy, and know the products they’re most inclined to take a chance on — PD and supplemental academic resources rank near the top of the list.