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Tag: school district

When Your Chart of Accounts Gets Out of Hand

Is your school district’s chart of accounts not working for you? Here are some questions to ask when designing a new one.

December 25, 2014 Short URLaccountability, accounting, best practice, school districtAnalysis, Basics, Data, Procedures and Practices, Productivity

The Giant Account Coding Monster

“Here’s your process. It satisfies all my needs.” Even when there is lots of customer input, the more powerful party will resolve disagreements in its own favor. Even though California’s Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) is far superior the previous system and was a done deal fifteen years ago, whenever I take an assignment in

May 3, 2014 Short URLbloat, education, problem solving, school districtAccounting, Analysis, Data, Government, Laws and Regulations, Public Schools

Parental Involvement: Cause or Correlation?

I was in a meeting about student success. We had broken into groups, and the question of parental involvement came up. “Were your parents involved in your school?” I half-whispered to a fellow director, born and raised in Hong Kong. “Not at all” she said. “Not mine either” said I (born and raised in another

March 3, 2014 Short URLachievement, achievement gap, best practice, California, California school districts, education, parental involvement, parental participation, public education, Public Policy, school, school district, school districts, school meeting, student engagement, student success, successPublic Schools, Uncategorized

How Can I Talk to You About School Spending?

There are always a few diehard policy wonks and spending watchdogs at school board meetings. District staff know their names. We greet them with a polite nod and sometimes stop for a brief chat. In a larger district you’ll see the occasional print reporter recording and taking notes. Every now and then a television crew will show up to get

January 30, 2014 Short URLbest practice, communication, government spending, lcff, local control funding formula, politics, public education, public participation, public school finance, public schools, school board, school board meetings, school district, school district business, voters, voting, watchdogsFinance, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Public Schools

Billion with a “B” for iPads

I highly recommend the following commentary in the LA School Report: If iPads are the answer, what’s the question? The author interviewed tech savvy LA Unified students, who also happen to be in the target demographic for the iPad purchase (students of color in south LA and Watts). One of the student responds: “What I’m struggling to

January 21, 2014 Short URLanalysis, best practice, budget, business, California, California school districts, community engagement, decision process, government, government spending, instructional technology, iPad, iPads, laptop, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, notebook, parents parental participation, public education, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, technologyFinance, Government, Public Schools, Technology

Proposition 98 Forecasting and Finagling

Dear aspiring school business leader, My recent post on California’s Proposition 13 was for you. This post is about Proposition 98. Together, these represent the two voter initiatives that you MUST understand. Start with the Wikipedia entries for both. This gives you a general overview. Then read the Legislative Analyst’s Prop 98 Analysis. If you find this intolerably dull,

January 19, 2014 Short URLCalifornia school districts, Education funding, government, government spending, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, Proposition 13, Proposition 98, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school finance, voter initiativeFinance, Government, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Public Schools

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

Reputation: a Matter of Trust

Today I recommend thinkpurpose’s post Why I Don’t Care About the Reputation of my Organisation. …If you aim for a good reputation, trust takes a back seat. Spin, presentation and image are the easy ways to a good reputation but trust is made from simpler and sterner stuff. It has to be based on something

January 12, 2014 Short URLbest practice, building reputation, business, career development, customer experience, disengaged employees, employee engagement, engagement, experience, government, online reputation, public schools, reputation, reputation management, school district, success, superintendent, TripAdvisor, trustCareer Development, Government, Management, Public Schools, Working Together

The Money Grab

A recent video accuses “special interests” and “school district insiders” of trying to get their hands on money intended for high needs students. Sigh. Let’s stop using charged words when important decisions about the future of education are at stake. The terms “insiders” and “special interests” are derogatory. They imply that teachers and district officials are trying to hoodwink parents. Seemingly, if you

December 28, 2013 Short URLbest practice, budget, business, California school districts, district officials, education, government, government spending, lcff, local control funding formula, money grab, School corruption, school district, school district business, school district officials, school finance, special interests, unionsLocal Control Funding Formula, Public Schools, School District Jobs

Governmental Cost Recovery

I have heard the mantra again and again “we don’t make a profit” meaning, if we charge for services it’s only on a cost recovery basis. Yet I just read that Inyo COE charges a flat 7% to its charter schools for providing business services. If a charter school now receives significantly more funding under the Local Control Funding Formula,

December 25, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, best practice, business, business services, Cafeteria Fund, California Schools Accounting Manual, charter school, Charter Schools, cost accounting, Cost recovery, CSAM, education, Education Code, Excel, fee for service, fund balance, government, government spending, Inyo County Office of Education, Inyo Register, lcff, overcharging, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, surplusAccounting, Cost Accounting, Government, Local Control Funding Formula

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