data – FiscalShare

Tag: data

Peeking Behind the Curtain

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! Most of us have seen the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” The mighty Oz is a fearful sight until Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal an ordinary man pulling levers and talking into a microphone. The lesson is that sometimes the awesome and magical turn out to be an

January 24, 2014 Short URLapplications, curriculum, data, data science, ethics, platforms, software, student learning, Wizard of OzAccounting, Data, Technology

Size Matters

In the course of my career I have occasionally heard some unsavory “us versus them” talk. Teachers versus non teachers Certificated versus classified Management versus non-management School versus district Parents versus school administration Some discussions of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) resort to this rhetoric, most notably the “school versus district” polarity. I have previously mentioned the

January 15, 2014 Short URLaccounting, best practice, business, California, California school districts, data, fairshare4kids, icr, indirect cost, indirect cost rate, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, return on investment, school administration, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, us versus them, us vs themData, Finance, Government, Local Control Funding Formula, Management, Productivity, Public Schools

Speed versus Quality

Bob came to see me. “When the examiners come just say Plan, Do, Check, Act.” “Um, What?” “Oh and Alignment and Implementation. That’s key.” I rolled my eyes only after he left my office. The Baldridge examiners were coming and I had a script to follow, apparently. Thanks Cavegirl for the book recommendation Why Business

January 2, 2014 Short URLAttwood, Boyd, business, Business books, coding, data, Deming, Edwards Deming, information technology, IT, jargon, Jeff Attwood, Obamacare, OODA, OODA loop, PDCA, strategyBook Reviews, Career Development, Daily Work, Management

Excel Solver for Expense Transfers

Thank you Pronger for your post about the Excel solver function. Follow this link to view his explanation and instructions. The solver function is especially useful if you deal with a multitude of funding sources such as state and local grants, federal awards and bond funds. Each restricted funding source has very particular spending rules and most have

December 31, 2013 Short URLaccounting, Accounts Payable, analysis, best practice, data, Excel, Excel solver, Excel spreadsheet, Expense, funding sources, Funds, General Journal, government spending, governmental accounting, information technology, Invoice, Microsoft, Microsoft Excel, nonprofit accounting, problem solving, public school finance, school district business, school districts, school finance, solver, solver function in Excel, spreadsheetsAccounting, Finance, Government, Public Schools, School Construction

Schrödinger’s Excel

Or, how to be deadly and awesome at the same time Is Excel good or bad? It is both. Are you good at Excel or bad at it? Probably both. Excel is extraordinary. In the wrong hands it also can be a disaster, Excel is just a tool, like a chisel. It is inspiring in the hands of a skilled carpenter and murderous in

November 25, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, business, candidate, data, Excel, fiscal, Herb Kelleher, hiring, job candidate, Management, Microsoft, Schrodinger, spreadsheet software, testing, workAccounting, Excel, Finance, Government, Management

Zombie PowerPoint

or, Why PowerPoint Cannot Die The YouTube video Death by PowerPoint is really, well, to the point. Yet, despite obvious abuses, PowerPoint is here to stay. Powerpoint is the perfect vehicle for bulleted and numbered lists. We are addicted to lists. What do you think most people will click on: Study shows correlation between polyphenols and health, or

November 22, 2013 Short URLbusiness, communication, content, data, lists, Management, Microsoft, microsoft powerpoint, powerpoint, presentation, slides, speech, teaching, trolling, trolls, workDaily Work, Data, Management

Budget Advisory Committees are Hard

When the Budget Advisory Committee was approaching my boss and I would look at each other and groan in unison “Ugh BAC!” Why? It was not that we didn’t want to talk budget with the community. Hey, we’ll talk your ear off with all sorts of budget geekiness if you let us. It is because a BAC

November 17, 2013 Short URLbudget, budget advisory committee, budget development, community, community input, data, Education Code, government, government spending, input, Management, problem solving, public education, school district business, school districts, school spending, schools, unionsAnalysis, Data, Government, Public Schools

When School Districts Borrow

This an outstanding guide to school district debt financing by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. While the guide references California law, it is useful in understanding public school finance in general. School district administrators in California function in a complex financial universe that increasingly requires familiarity with and use of sophisticated tax-exempt public finance techniques to finance

October 20, 2013 Short URLanalysis, bonds, borrowing, business, California, data, debt, debt financing, education, education business, education finance, finance, finance techniques, government, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Management, Orrick, public education, public finance, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district administrator, school district administrators, school district debt financing, school districts in CaliforniaFinance

We Don’t Need No %@# Standards?*

Imagine comparing two school districts’ test scores, where each district uses different tests. That would be meaningless, right? Yet, this situation exists on the business side of things. Legislation will require a calculation, but the implementation is unclear. Subsequent guidelines and regulations (if any) sometimes just cite the statute verbatim. For example, prior to the new funding formula, conversion

October 3, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, business, data, Education Code, Excel, fiscal, government, problem solving, SARC, School Accountability eport CardAccounting, Analysis, Data, Excel

Eleven Important Rules for Reporting

When you are asked to report results internally or externally, there are several rules of thumb that, if followed, will usually make life a lot easier for you. Otherwise, you may overshare, share wrong data, or actually not answer the real question being asked. This is especially important when dealing with reporters and public information requests.

October 1, 2013 Short URLanalysis, archive, data, Excel, formula errors, important rules, newspapers, public information requests, reporters, reporting, reports, rules, school district, selection criteria, standardsAnalysis, Data