- What are your school system’s top 3-4 goals?
- How does your budget reflect the organization’s focus on those goals?
- And what will success look like (and how will it be measured)?
These are the kinds of sound-bite creating questions that you should be able to answer, right? If you are the Superintendent, the CFO, or CAO of your school system, this should practically be the outline for your elevator speech.
I just spent two days with the Government Finance Officers Association and the Gates Foundation discussing Smarter School Spending. The consensus in the room was that too many school systems do not have a focused set of strategic goals and do not have a consistent and meaningful link between their budgeting process and how to move the needle on those measurable objectives.
This is a big deal. It is also really, really hard, and the ability to effectively (and elegantly) answer these questions requires marshalling resources from across the district. Think about how you would answer these questions now, and how you would like to answer them in the future. Also, know that there are at least a few ASBO members who have been through the long and detailed process presented at the website above, and have come out the other side better for it. You are welcome to go and dig around on the site (it is in a soft launch phase), but look for more info and professional development around this process and those questions soon, and certainly at the annual meeting next year in Texas.
And, if you can answer these questions effectively right now, I’d like to know who you are and how you got from point A to point B, so respond below and I will be in touch.