School Operations Specialists (SOS) is a team of consultants which “strongly believes that the best solutions are driven by best practices taken from successful school districts. [They] understand the demands placed on district leaders to be resourceful and strategic while at the same time putting out fires daily.” (Budgeting 101 PowerPoint). SOS’s mission is to work with school board members to develop strategies which leave districts in a better position than they started.
During his presentation, Beaulieu talked about how districts should approach the budgeting process and how to think about funding instructional priorities. He offered a comprehensive, strategic plan for identifying these priorities using key metrics from school districts and investing in the things a given district is doing well. Later on, he shared a host of tools designed to aid districts in their decision making and empower smarter spending: the Balance Tradeoffs Tool, Budget Projection Tool, Budget Roadmap Tool, Cost Projection Tool, and the Program Success Tracker, to name a few.
“There has to be an investment…to pick out the good things you’re doing, the things you’re doing to move the district forward, and what you really are doing well. But again, with news media, all the complications and challenges, most times you hear the negative aspects … versus the great things that are going on, the value of those public schools.”
Beaulieu’s plan unites strategic academic planning and the budget process. When school board members focus on what they are doing well and spend the rest on ensuring academic success, the students benefit!
It is CALN’s and SOS’s hope that as more school board members gain this knowledge, whether newly elected or with years of service, more dollars will be spent in an efficient, productive manner, and in ways that best serve students.
If you were not able to make it to our Budgeting 101 training and would like to learn more about Aaron’s guidance and the tools provided, please email firstname.lastname@example.org for the presentation slides or session recording.