Purpose Statement
To provide participants with practical knowledge and specific skills to increase their capacity within a school district’s business office.
Description
Establish a yearlong cohort for attendees with the opportunity to learn & develop an individual’s knowledge regarding processes & procedures used in a business office. This course will require the participant to fulfill course work & assignments pertaining to business office operations. The candidate will have support from mentors to help guide their work in practical & relevant experiences.
Audience
New (or semi-new) Business department personnel looking to advance their careers.
Time Commitment
This is a year-long program with a mandatory monthly meeting for discussion & assignments (3rd Thursday). Along with a monthly class for the program, there will be required R10 offered business-related training during this course.
Requirements
The cost for this program is $5,000.00/per participant. Along with the cost, the participant needs to be nominated by their superintendent (see nomination form) because of the time requirements needed to fulfill the program expectations.
Superintendent Nomination Form
Calendar of Topics
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ESC R10 - Abrams Bldg. - Mockingbird Rm
- Budget Boot Camp
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Richardson ISD - 701 W Belt Line Rd, Richardson, Texas 75080
Rm A105
- Introduction of participants
- Commitment/Expectations of Participants
- Goals of the program
- Mentor opportunity alongside training
- No one walks through this alone
- Support organizations
- Review of TASBO annual calendar
- Requirements and concerns for each month
- Create a Master Planning Document
- Presentation of significant areas within Finance (with a short definition and explanation as to why these are critical areas)
- Computation and procedures related to setting the Tax Rate
- Comptrollers Property Values
- Use by TEA
- Appeals
- Computation and procedures related to setting the Tax Rate
- Budget status for August 31 year ends (What status should be) For the June 30 year ends we can related to what happens the final month of the process
- Difference between June 30 v August 31 year ends
- Presentations to the Board
- Elements necessary for final approval
- Budget Public Hearing (may be combined with public hearing on tax rate)
- Publications – What and where
- Basic operational areas for the Business Office
- Budgeting
- Accounting
- Payroll
- Accounts payable
- Purchasing
- Reporting
- Records Management
- Operations – in many smaller districts
- PEMIS Fly-over
- What is this?
- Where does it come from?
- What does it do?
- Who is responsible for this?
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Richardson ISD - 701 W Belt Line Rd, Richardson, Texas 75080
Rm A105
- Template
- Walk through the mechanics of the Template.
- CTE & CCMR Funding
- Template
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Richardson ISD - 701 W Belt Line Rd, Richardson, Texas 75080
Rm A105
- Template
- History
- Where did it come from
- Omar Garcia
- Doesn’t TEA have a template
- What happens when Omar actually retires
- Where did it come from
- Does it change
- Why does it change
- When does it change
- What do we do if it changes
- Positive
- Negative
- How often should I use the Template and what for
- Frequency
- What to look for
- Who do I inform
- What about TEA’s template
- Link
- Difference from Omar
- Why does it change
- LPE v DPE
- Legislative changes
- How do you use the template and when
- Planning / budgeting
- Monthly
- After Budget Approval
- Update elements
- Confirm information with PEIMS
- Example
- Snapshot date
- Comptroller’s property tax audits
- History
- TEA Website
- General overview of TEA website with emphasis on Finance and Operations
- Highlights of frequently visited pages.
- Budget (Fairly deep dive analysis)
- Revenue
- State Aid
- Template identification
- Local Revenue
- Property estimates
- County appraisal District
- Timing
- What to note
- County appraisal District
- Property estimates
- Federal Programs
- State programs
- State Aid
- Payroll projections
- New personnel
- Raises
- Non payroll budgets
- Long range planning
- Enrollment
- Property values
- State Aid
- Federal Programs
- Revenue
- Template
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Collin room
- Property Tax Values and Collections with Guest Speakers Jim Lambeth and Robbie Harbuck of Linebarger
- Comptrollers Property Values
- Use by TEA
- Appeals
- Deadlines
- Publications
- Public hearings
- Wording of motions
- Comptrollers Property Values
- Truth in Taxation (TNT) with Guest Speaker Lauri Mann of Linebarger
- What is it?
- How does it impact my District?
- What is involved?
- Comptroller of Public Accounts
- Sources of Information
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- TEA
- County appraisal district
- County treasurer or whomever performs your tax collections
- Other sources
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- Gathering the Data
- Templates
- Forms
- Guidance
- Comptroller's Website
- Navigate the website!
- What information is where.
- What other information is available?
- T – values
- Results of Audits
- Forms
- Guidance
- The FIRST Report
- Why it is important.
- What does it mean, where does the information come from?
- Timing
- Elements and Scoring
- Presentation to community and board
- Requirement for public hearing
- Property Tax Values and Collections with Guest Speakers Jim Lambeth and Robbie Harbuck of Linebarger
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ESC R10 - Abrams Bldg. - Pecan Room
- School Bond Elections with Guest Speaker Julie Thannum
- School TRE Elections
- The Texas School Finance System
- Equity vs. Equality
- How did we get here?
- How does it really work?
- Why are some schools subject to recapture?
- The Texas Legislative Process for School Finance
- The capitol.texas.gov website!
- Who are the big Three?
- How does it work?
- Major players
- Committee system
- How to stay informed?
- How to be involved?
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Houston room
- Sources of Local and Federal Revenues with Guest Speaker Jessie White
- Property tax revenue
- Timing – when are the funds likely to be collected.
- Normal timing of payments
- Split payments
- Report on collections
- Information
- Reconciliation
- ARB, Supplemental adjustments, court cases
- Delinquent Taxes
- Timing – when are the funds likely to be collected.
- Property tax revenue
- Federal Revenue
- Programs: Title 1, IDEA B, ESSER I (CARES) ESSER II, ESSER III, etc.
- NOGA’s
- Allowable expenses
- How to budget for these funds
- Areas to watch out for
- Purchasing requirements
- Payroll and assignment /duty logs
- Documents
- Accounting for federal funds
- Other revenues
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- Rentals
- Investments
- Activity funds
- Child Nutrition Funds
- Proprietary Funds (child care, etc.
- Athletic Funds
- Current year Budget Status
- What to look for?
- What has changed?
- What to do if there are significant changes?
- Bond Planning and Capital Management with Guest Speaker Jim Buie
- Financial Managers
- Bond Underwriters
- Bond Elections
- Capital Programs Planning
- Bond Payments – Feb and Aug
- Sources of Local and Federal Revenues with Guest Speaker Jessie White
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Ellis room
- State Aid
- Golden Pennies vs. Silver Pennies (Copper)
- After budget is adopted
- Comparison to TEA SOF
- Reasons the numbers change
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- Programs: Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), Instructional Materials Allotment IMA, etc., Safety initiative
- Allowable expenses
- Required programs – steps
- Required expenses by PIC codes
- State Reports from TEA (Summary of Finance)
- Monitor frequently
- Preliminary … near final … final
- Payment Ledgers
- State Revenue
- Programs: Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), Instructional Materials Allotment IMA, etc., Safety initiative
- Allowable expenses
- Required programs – steps
- Required expenses by PIC codes
- Calendar Yearend close
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- Payroll
- Accounts payable
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- What is required after year end and when does it need to be done
- W-2s
- What happens to employees who resigned during the year and can’t be found
- Computer delivery v paper delivery
- 1099’s
- What is the criteria to select vendors who receive
- Form of entity
- Monetary amount
- What is the criteria to select vendors who receive
- W-2s
- What is required after year end and when does it need to be done
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- Current year budget status
- Review of current revenue and expenditure year to date totals as well as projections to end of year.
- What to do if not tracking
- Adjustments to the budget
- Review of current revenue and expenditure year to date totals as well as projections to end of year.
- Construction Projects with Guest Speaker XXX from ??? Architects
- Planning for a construction project
- Facility needs assessment
- Demographic information
- School sites
- Designing a construction project
- Design teams
- Community involvement
- Types of Construction Contracts
- Getting the “best Value” for your project
- Competitive sealed proposals
- Construction Manager-Agent Contracts
- Construction Manager at Risk
- Design-build Contracts
- Job Order Contracts
- Getting the “best Value” for your project
- Bidding the Project
- Determining the best prices
- Monitoring the Projects
- Construction schedule
- Initial meeting with expectations
- Weekly construction Meetings
- District representatives
- Architect representatives
- Contractor representatives
- AIA Document
- Monthly Draws
- Verifying the Draws
- Planning for a construction project
NOTE: No class in December
- State Aid
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Collin room
- Finance Template Training
- Step by step training
- Using data from our sample district
- Using data from their individual districts
- Step by step training
- Basic operational areas
- Payroll
- Interface with HR
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- Retire/Rehire
- Staffing and Template
- District personnel
- Elementary teachers
- Secondary teachers
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- Position control
- Benefits
- Retirement investments
- 403B
- 457
- Allocation of duties
- Logs
- Records retention
- Accounts payable
- Flow of information
- Allowable / awarded vendors
- Record retention
- Possible hacking schemes
- Accounting
- Coding/Recording
- Reports
- Board Presentations
- Required
- FIRST – looking at most recent audit to compare
- Budget public hearing
- Tax rate public hearing
- Required
- Payroll
- Finance Template Training
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Hunt room
- Purchasing
- State requirements
- Request for proposals
- Request for qualifications
- Exempt areas – Professional services – Auditors specifically named
- Specific purchasing requirements
- Construction requests
- Two step process
- Rules on negotiation
- Contracts-attorney review
- Multiple awards
- Selection of multiple firms
- Construction requests
- Federal requirements
- Different from State requirements
- Major differences
- Sole source documentation
- Does it really exist?
- Does it really matter?
- Purchasing cooperatives
- State requirements
- Current year budget status
- Review of current revenue and expenditure year to date totals as well as projections to end of year.
- What to do if not tracking
- Adjustments to the budget
- Template Update
- Review of current revenue and expenditure year to date totals as well as projections to end of year.
- Audit process – how to prepare
- Budget development and long-range planning (template)
- Purchasing
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Austin room
- Budget – detailed review
- Budget
- Who needs to be involved and in what areas
- Leadership team
- Needs for district
- Review of budget submissions
- Presentations to board on specific needs
- Leadership team
- Who needs to be involved and in what areas
- Budget
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- Revenue (Current and Future)
- State Aid
- Template review
- Local Revenue
- Property estimates
- County appraisal District
- Timing
- What to note
- County appraisal District
- Property estimates
- State Aid
- Revenue (Current and Future)
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- Federal Programs
- Names of programs
- NOGA
- Responsible person and budget submission
- Other revenues
- Activity funds
- Booster clubs
- Proprietary funds
- Payroll projections
- Working with HR
- New personnel
- Need for raises
- Salary Studies
- Teacher turnover (retirements and resignations)
- Raises
- Non payroll budgets
- Identify budget managers
- Provide information as to
- current year budget,
- current year expenditures and
- support for new requests or significant increases
- The TEA Reports
- How to complete the reports
- When to complete the reports
- How to submit the reports
- Budget – detailed review
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Collin room
- Budget Workshop Presentation
- How to prepare
- What to prepare
- Know your audience
- Website maintenance
- Required postings
- Transparency
- Communications (Staff, Parents, Community Members)
- Budget Status
- Where should we be in the budget process?
- Review of current revenue and expenditure year to date totals as well as projections to end of year.
- Finance Advisor Role
- Budget Workshop Presentation
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ESC R10 - Spring Valley Bldg. - Crockett room
- Organization of Business / Finance office
- How many people do I need
- What positions should they be in
- Process management - flow
- Segregation of duties
- Cross Training
- Coordination with others
- Superintendent, Leadership team, Human Resources, Curriculum, Operations, Transportation, Child Nutrition, Athletics, Campuses
- What communication is necessary
- Superintendent
- Ongoing financial status
- Potential issues
- Upcoming year
- Long range projections
- Other observations regarding compliance with laws and regulations for which the finance department is responsible
- Never let your superintendent get surprised!
- Leadership team
- Options for ongoing activities
- Current status of departmental budgets
- HR
- Salary in market
- Positions that cannot be filled and whether or not we are having to use contracted services and potential cost
- Curriculum
- Programs status
- Coding of expenses and personnel
- Potential needs to service students
- Operations
- Projection of utilities
- Major repairs or renovations
- Transportation
- Student load
- Substantial change in miles driven
- Condition of busses
- Use of buses for extra-curricular activities. Availability of drivers
- Campuses
- Visiting – check on if their needs are being met
- Facility needs
- Athletics
- Child Nutrition
- Number of meals served
- Revenue
- Costs
- Food
- Labor
- Projections for remainder of year
- Fund balance
- Plans for use of fund balance
- Truth-In-Taxation
- Superintendent
- What communication is necessary
- Superintendent, Leadership team, Human Resources, Curriculum, Operations, Transportation, Child Nutrition, Athletics, Campuses
- Organization of Business / Finance office
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June 12th - ESC R10 - Abrams - Pecan
- Brief review of most critical areas
- Legislative Update
- Discussion with participants as to issues they are working with
- Celebration of end of year
- Graduation / certificate presentation