Superintendents' Perspectives on the School District Budgeting Process at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Potential Effects on Future School District Budgets

School superintendents face complex issues on a regular basis, these issues include but are not limited to scarce resources, the politics of the school board and conflicting demands from the community (Noppe, Yager, Webb, & Sheng, 2013). In March 2020, the United States faced an unprecedented event when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses and schools to close. This placed unforeseen budgetary challenges on superintendents that they had never faced prior and did require superintendents to change how districts allocate funds right now and possibly how districts allocate funds in the future. This qualitative study examined superintendents' perceptions of how, at the onset, the COVID-19 pandemic affected school districts' budgetary process and their perceptions of the effects on future school districts' budgetary process. There were 15 participants for this study, all of whom were superintendents in their current district during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research showed that when initially faced with the challenges of COVID-19 the superintendents relied on their knowledge of leadership strategies and being able to adapt to an unknown situation. The current rate of inflation along with supply issues are going to be a hurdle that districts will need to overcome. Adding to this the serious issues of learning loss suffered by students and the increase of mental health concerns are going to have to be part of any future school district budget. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]