Unraveling the Mystery of School Finance (2024)

Unraveling the Mystery of School Finance—For Superintendents and Top Administrators

Educational leaders in California are responsible to develop multiyear strategic plans and manage the fiscal resources available to the local educational agency (LEA). Leadership teams who have the greatest success are the ones who understand the fiscal opportunities as they are presented and can anticipate and plan for challenges. Historic levels of federal and state funding for the programs and services provided administrators with great opportunity and responsibility to impact educational programs.

Collaboration with educational partners requires not just the capacity to understand the budget, but the ability to explain it in context to labor groups and the school community. California’s funding model is not only complicated, but is heavily influenced by statewide economic factors, and local enrollment, attendance rates, and student demographics. Today’s decisions are even more critical as the once robust economy is beginning to soften, enrollment continues to decline, and student needs increase.

The purpose of this webinar is to take the complexities of school finance and distill them so superintendents and other top administrators of LEAs can use financial information to make improved policy and programmatic decisions. With decades of experience in school agency finance and governance, top experts from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team and School Services of California Inc. have teamed up to bring this must-attend event to school agency nonfinancial administrators.

Webinar Content

The format of this webinar is specifically designed for superintendents and top administrators to focus on the critical aspects of understanding your LEA’s finances to improve policy decision-making. Topics will include the following:

• A strategic planning and budget development cycle that fosters the connection of educational goals and strategies in the Local Control and Accountability Plan to budget items
• Determining a healthy reserve and communicating about reserves to interest holders
• Understanding multiyear financial projections and evaluating your financial status
• Planning staffing needs and the budget impact of staffing decisions
• The latest in collective bargaining and strategies for managing the financial impact
• Monitoring and controlling the budget to avoid surprises
• Understanding the impact of cash deferrals
• Making appropriate use of one-time funds
• Best observed practices in school fiscal management and how to stay out of trouble

Cancellation Policy