Business Office
- Take a day to “stand down” by having staff clean off desks, organize files, and resolve one or two major long-standing issues. Then, celebrate the upcoming school year by hosting a luncheon or fun event for your staff.
- Schedule a one-day “back-up staff” event to ensure designated back-up staff are familiar with any tasks they may have to assume. This activity also provides staff with a chance to explore potential opportunities for succession into a different position.
- Review expense projections and student enrollment data to ensure that the assumptions remain valid. Review the prior year's final budgetary and audit reports to identify areas for improvement. Confirm existing fund balances. Be prepared for unexpected requests for unfunded costs with a simple response to the requestor, such as: “Where are the funds coming from to pay for your unplanned expense(s)?”
- In light of federal funding holdbacks, update the cash flow projections to ensure revenues are adequate to meet obligations. Analyze opportunities to enhance investment revenue.
- Address items related to the procurement process, including vendor delivery times, adherence to bid specifications, and off-cycling purchase opportunities. Review the adequacy of inventory control and distribution systems. Assess utility, energy, self-funded insurance, health, and workers' co-op consortiums for adequacy or potential upgrades. Revisit services provided by educational service agencies with an eye toward greater efficiencies or expanded services.
- Refresh any guidance documents related to purchasing, conference attendance, staff reimbursement, IT use, and substitute use that fall under your areas of responsibility.
- Consider recognition opportunities for your operations, such as ASBO’s Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) or Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting (COE) programs, as well as the Eagle and Pinnacle awards. Work with your public relations staff to highlight your team’s successes throughout the year.
- At least once a week, get out of the office or start your day at a site to manage by walking around, catch “good” things happening, and reaffirm your team’s role in contributing to student success. Use your mobile device to capture pictures for future reference.
Internal Stakeholders
- Offer your expertise to student associations, service clubs, PTAs, booster clubs, alumni, and employee organizations in the form of training and general understanding of the district’s operations. Explain your role in maintaining effective and efficient operations.
- Provide the superintendent and school board with a “summer-in-review” report, highlighting significant achievements and activities related to facilities, training, and new initiatives that occurred during the summer.
- Recognize your support staff, including maintenance, substitutes, transportation, and food service employees, as well as those who support summer programs. Providing capital project contractors with kind words when projects are completed on time and within budget can motivate them to do their best work.
External Stakeholders
- Personally contact significant vendors, bankers, insurance agents, emergency officials, and consultants to reaffirm relationships. Reach out to your elected government representatives to express your appreciation and commitment to working with them. And don’t forget to use your network of ASBO mentors and peers as a valuable resource for support and new ideas.
- Review emergency plans with state, county, and local first responders. Consider mutual-aid agreements that can range from shared athletic fields to snow removal and emergency relocation sites.
- Reassess how your external customers perceive you. Are you the “no” person all the time or a “solutions” person ready to be of assistance? Many times, you have to be the “financial consciousness” of the district, and you can operationalize that using many positive strategies.
Clean Slate
One of the benefits of “back-to-school time” is that the slate is clean, allowing for alterations, improvements, or modifications to a process of continued improvement for the benefit of the district, staff, students, and you.
Have a great new school year!