The Pinnacle award was the culmination of a team effort and the most gratifying part of the experience was the recognition it brought to Wisconsin ASBO (WASBO) and the additional exposure given to our project, Investing in Wisconsin’s Public Schools. Additionally, Virco’s support of the award also provided the unique thrilling experience of donating furniture to an elementary school in need.
What began as a brainstorm to improve budget presentations has grown into a hands-on learning activity used across the state. It is a transformative learning experience for participants. Before sessions we’ve asked, participants (who inevitably have varying degrees of knowledge about school finance) to do a word association with the term “school budget.” We frequently hear words like; complicated, taxes, confusing, overwhelming and ambiguous. When the word association exercise is repeated at the end of sessions, recurring words are; community, student, engaging, complex and interactive.
This transformation is building stronger bonds with school districts and encouraging the kind of thoughtful dialogue that inspires change and action on the behalf of students’ needs.