It's been a whirlwind summer for school business officers trying to nail down budgets. How do the pros handle uncertain times?
Stay the course
As unsettling as the times can be, resist the urge to dip, dodge, or divert your steady course. Big moves result in big ripples of overcorrection. We also know certain expenditures are basically set in stone: for example, most districts use 80 percent of their budgets on payroll encumbrance. Remember the goal of forecasting is getting close to your predicted outcome, not necessarily right on.Getting it close
Horseshoes, hand grenades, and school budgets—we’re just aiming to get close to the forecast. A little over or under is manageable, but a huge deviation because of overreaction is less so. The repetition of forecasting and predicting budget numbers year after year has resulted in a set of guardrails you can work between with confidence. Because predictive analytics help plan for the hypothetical future, forecasts always include the red-flag numbers that answer the question “When is our school district’s financial condition projected to become concerning?” All the uncertainty in the world dissolves when you’re able to point at that deeply concerning “fall off the cliff” chart and illustrate how far your district is from that point.Ask lots of questions, lean on your skills, rely on your tools
Your skills and experience in school finance have helped prepare you for this level of uncertainty—even when it’s also very scary to face budget shortcomings and unstable funding. Enterprise resource planning systems are designed to make the process of reporting and extracting financial data easier. But technology cannot address every challenge in K12 school budgets. For that, you’ll want to lean on your network of professional collaborators. K12 school business offices around you using similar budget or ERP solutions (check out your vendor’s networking options!) can provide valuable advice. There’s no reason you have to weather uncertainty alone.Follow-up resource: What to do on a lean year
Gaining momentum doesn't have to be exhausting.WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOUR EDTECH? The right combo of tools & support retains staff and serves students better. We'd love to help. Visit skyward.com/get-started to learn more.
|
Erin Werra Blogger, Researcher, and Edvocate |
Erin Werra is a content writer and strategist at Skyward’s Advancing K12 blog. Her writing about K12 edtech, data, security, social-emotional learning, and leadership has appeared in THE Journal, District Administration, eSchool News, and more. She enjoys puzzling over details to make K12 edtech info accessible for all. Outside of edtech, she’s waxing poetic about motherhood, personality traits, and self-growth.
