If a school district has more than $10 million in tax-exempt debt, inclusive of all outstanding bonds, certificates of participation, and other public debt issues with durations of more than nine months, it must comply with the contractual requirements entered into under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. District administrators and…

During the past several years, school district personnel have faced an arduous task of convincing a local electorate--including those who are not directly associated with local schools--to increase its own tax rate. Convincing demographic groups that have a vital interest in improving school facilities can be an easier task. Parents who want to…

Districts around the country have been forced to reduce personnel and programs because sufficient funds are unavailable to maintain what are commonly referred to in education as "level service budgets." Perhaps it is time for school business officials (SBOs) to engage in serious conversations about whether K-12 public schools should place greater…

Full-day kindergarten programs did not survive the recession in some states, where districts reduced them to half-day programs in light of severe funding cuts. Now, with rising tax revenues and falling unemployment rates, the restoration of full-day kindergarten is back on the agenda. However, now that funds are available, is restoring full-day…

There's not a school business official in the country who isn't dealing with budget cuts and trying to do more with less. This article shares some proven strategies to help school districts reduce spending and address personnel issues associated with retirement plans. Because public education employers are exempt from the Employee Retirement…

School officials often assume that the food service director or management company should be the one concerned with the cafeteria program's management details. But of course that's not the case. Cafeteria operations affect the school business bottom line, so they indeed fall under the purview of school business officials. Not only should school…

For most districts, budgeting has become a cost-cutting exercise designed to close the gap between revenues and expenses. During this process, decision makers inherently assume that existing operations are efficient and effective--an assumption that is rarely validated by facts. Cutting programs and services balances budgets but does not…

How do other countries fund their public schools? Through an analysis of common traits, such as the total percentage of funding for education in relation to the annual gross domestic product (GDP) and the annual per-pupil expenditures (correlated to the U.S. dollar), one can start to develop a clearer perspective on basic school-funding…

In February 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54, "Find Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions." This statement changes how a fund balance is classified on the face of the government fund financial statements and refines the definitions for government fund types. The statement's…

Beginning in the early 1970s, plaintiffs initiated a veritable tidal wave of litigation over financing public education in states with unequal funding for students in poor school systems. In the only case on school finance to reach the United States Supreme Court, "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez" (1973), the…

A school district's budget tells the community a story about the district's visions for its students. It is also a planning vehicle that outlines the district's goals and objectives by showing the degree to which its priorities are being supported. Communicating one's district budget to the community--especially to nonfinancial people--in…

Private placement financing is a debt or capital lease obligation arranged between a municipality or a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization and a single sophisticated institutional investor. The investor can be a bank, insurance company, finance company, hedge fund, or high-net worth individual. Private placement financing is similar to…

The effects of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 continue to challenge school business officials (SBOs) and other education leaders as they strive to prepare students for the global workforce. Economists have borrowed a word from chemistry to describe this state of affairs: hysteresis--the lingering effects of the past on the present. Today's SBOs…

One important effect of increasing localized autonomy, authority, responsibility, and accountability has been a growing yet understated recognition that effective business management is an essential component of educational leadership. The education business is expanding and becoming more complex and requires propitious oversight. As a result,…

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that post-issuance tax compliance is among its highest priorities. This is supported by the recently imposed annual reporting requirement on nonprofit corporations regarding the application and use of tax-exempt bonds issued for their benefit. School districts issuing tax-exempt bonds often spend…