After 14 years working in school finance, including my work at a BOCES and alongside multiple school districts, I have seen firsthand that each stakeholder is at a different level of understanding. Board members, administrators, staff, parents, and taxpayers all come to the table with varying degrees of financial knowledge. Our responsibility as school business officials is to meet people where they are.
Communication Is Not a One-Time Event!
Budget communication is not something you do just during budget season. It is not one presentation and/or one newsletter. It is and should be ongoing, continuous, and intentional.
The work is never done. Each year brings new board members, new administrators, new community members, and new challenges. Even seasoned stakeholders need refreshers. School finance changes, and regulations shift. Funding formulas evolve, and what made sense last year may need more clarification this year.
Stakeholder understanding must be developed and cultivated.
Trust Starts with Knowledge
There is a simple truth in public finance: People often do not trust what they do not understand, and they do not trust who they do not know.
As a business official, you cannot afford to be a stranger in your own schools or community. Visibility, presence, and relationships do matter. That may mean attending school events, being present at community gatherings, and making yourself approachable and accessible.
When stakeholders see you, hear from you regularly, and understand your role, their distrust decreases. When they recognize you as a steady, consistent presence, their trust grows. It really is that simple sometimes.
School business officials are not just financial managers; we are translators, we are educators, and we must be able to gain and hold public trust.
Small Steps Have Big Impact
Start with your board of education. School board members are your primary partners, and their understanding of school finance directly affects decision-making. One of the most effective strategies I have seen for building understanding is simple: monthly micro-learning.
Instead of overwhelming board members during budget development, choose one topic each month and provide a short informational session. Keep it focused and easy to understand, and be consistent. Topics could include fund balance basics, debt service and capital planning, reserve funds, state funding, and federal funding. In the world of school finance, the topics never seem to run out.
These sessions do not need to be lengthy. Fifteen to 20 minutes of focused education can significantly elevate board understanding over time. The goal is to keep their minds working and to build financial knowledge.
Always remember: An informed board is a confident and supportive board.
Engage with Your Community
Education should not end with your board. Your community deserves transparency and knowledge. Simply posting a budget document online is not communication; it is compliance.
True communication means using plain language, creating charts and graphs that help visually tell a story. Use real-world comparisons that they can relate to and explain how dollars directly connect to student programs.
When presenting financial information, it is helpful if you can show trends over time. It is also good practice to be able to take large numbers and put them into relatable figures, like a cost per student, household number, or percentage breakdown. People support what they can relate to and understand.
Meet Your Stakeholder Where They Are
Financial literacy exists on a very wide spectrum. Some stakeholders are deeply knowledgeable, while others might be hearing a term like “fund balance” for the first time.
Our job is not to judge the level of understanding, but to elevate it. This job requires patience, repetition, and a willingness to answer the same question more than once. And we must recognize that clarity is our responsibility, not the audience’s.
The Role of the Business Official
School business officials are not just financial managers; we are translators, we are educators, and we must be able to gain and hold public trust.
We must remember to be visible, approachable, transparent, proactive, and most importantly, constant communicators.
If we hide behind spreadsheets and office doors, we create distance.
The best way I can describe budget communication is as cultural, not seasonal. The work and communication require effort throughout the year. It requires building relationships long before a vote, and it requires reinforcing understanding even after your budget passes.
Relationships Matter
I cannot say this enough: Trust is earned through clarity, consistency, and connection. Yes, numbers are important, and they matter, but the relationships you build matter more.
When your stakeholders can understand how school finance works and the people behind it, they become informed partners rather than argumentative and untrusting obstacles.
Building and holding relationships helps you move from obligation to opportunity, and that is where school finance truly serves its purpose.