It’s no secret that schools across the US are facing some serious financial hurdles right now. With the end of federal COVID relief funding looming large on the horizon, coupled with a myriad of ongoing financial challenges, many schools find themselves teetering on the edge of what feels like a fiscal cliff.
ESSER funds were a lifeline for schools, allocated based on factors like the percentage of students from low-income families. But now, with the program’s impending termination, schools are scrambling to fund positions, pivot creatively, and use the remaining funds effectively.
To shed some light on these challenges, Allovue launched an annual Education Finance Survey in collaboration with the EdWeek Research Center. Teachers, school leaders, and district leaders from all corners of the country chimed in to share their experiences and insights. A total of 1,855 educators responded to the 2023 survey, including 467 district leaders, 592 school leaders, and 796 teachers.
Key Findings
If tasked with implementing immediate budget reductions to address current financial challenges, school and district leaders prefer cutting spending on reserves, professional development, and/or extracurricular activities.
Regarding the impact of the cessation of federal COVID stimulus funding on their ability to provide essential resources for a high-quality education that meets all students’ needs, 41 percent of school and district leaders anticipate a somewhat negative impact, while 32 percent foresee a very or extremely negative impact.
The study cites a middle school math teacher in South Dakota who expressed concern about job security, stating, “My job is funded with COVID dollars. I will not have this job at the end of the school year unless COVID money is renewed.” However, the discontinuation of federal COVID funding is not the sole factor straining district budgets. Changing demographics, cited by 55 percent of respondents, continue to be the most frequently cited cause, with current students demonstrating higher levels of need compared to previous cohorts.
Post-ESSER Resources for Schools
The findings from the survey indicate that a significant number of administrators face challenges due to a lack of adequate resources—such as modern budgeting software or access to professional development opportunities covering topics like forecasting and long-term planning. If you’re looking for resources, we’ve got you covered.
Browse the free resources below or reach out to our team to explore funding options—we’re always just an email away.
Raj Thakkar from Charter School Business Management joined us to discuss budget tips for school leaders as they head into summer break. Here are the session’s top three tips.
Mitigate the risk to your school by navigating two-factor authentication, backup data, and secure logins. Download this free guide on cybersecurity created in partnership with SoftwareMSP.
In this session, Preet Singh joined us to answer questions on technology for school leaders. He spoke about IT services, cybersecurity, and security awareness training for school staff. You can watch the full video here or read the transcript below.
Join the experts as they answer all your questions live on Tuesdays on YouTube at 10am PT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET.
Hi everybody and welcome back to Tuesday Tips. I’m Michael Barber from Charter School Capital. Really happy to be joined by Preet Sing today from Software M S P Preet. Good to see your face and thanks for joining us today.
Yeah, we really appreciate the partnership that your team has provided for us. The last few months we’ve been building some content together around all things cybersecurity and IT services for school leaders. So we’re going to spend the next 10 or so minutes diving into some questions on that very topic and so wanted to start really broad conversation on telling us what’s happening in the space. Is there anything we should know just as a top line update of maybe what’s impacting school leaders as they head back to school as it relates to cybersecurity and IT services?
So a lot is happening. There’s always a lot happening in the tech space, but especially nowadays, we’re hearing a lot about cybersecurity. We’re hearing a lot about ransomware, just services being impacted that an organization is supposed to be offering. Just this morning I saw a large higher up road education district or school was impacted in Michigan and they had to just take the decision to shut down everything the day before classes are opening and returning, right? So that’s a huge impact. So cybersecurity is something that’s just top of mind and should be top of mind, rightfully so, because it is impacting not just larger organizations, but smaller ones and people that may not know how to react for that fact when things and incidents do happen. So a lot of issues.
Yeah, unfortunately I think it’s going to get worse as we start to see more rise of AI and the impacts of ai, both in positive ways but in a lot of negative ways as well. We’re going to talk about AI in just a second. How can IT services, let’s turn to that part of the conversation first, really enhance A school’s efficiency and productivity. What can school leaders expect when they’re leveraging maybe an outside IT services firm and just in general how IT services can increase efficiency and productivity for school leaders?
No, that’s big, right? Because I think having and implementing the right IT solutions and services and schools can streamline a lot of processes. There’s a very popular framework and model that’s used to assess and improve these performances, and that’s the people process technology framework that it’s based on the idea that organizations are made up of three elements, people, process and technology. These are three elements needed to work together in harmony to ensure a successful organization and everything operates together properly. So if one aspect is weak or it’s not aligned with the others, it can have a huge impact on efficiencies and effectiveness. So I think having the right IT services, the right technology, the right team that manages that, those services and technology can streamline processes like administrative tasks, attendance tracking, grade management, online learning, and just communication. It’s huge among students and staff and parents, and these are all systems that we’re all very familiar with, but these are all relying on the technology to be running efficiency. So I think adding those enhances our experience and the teachers and the parents and the students’ experiences, making sure there’s no errors and just create a better or productive learning environment. I think that’s huge to have the right IT services in place.
Yeah, I think that framework, people, process and technology can really help provide a good starting point for how school leaders can think about the conversation. And I know both your team and our team work together on a guide over the summer that brings some of that nuance to life. I’m looking over on the side of my screen. I’m going to drop that resource right into the chat. So if you are looking for that resource as a school leader, please feel free to go grab it, grab it. It’s a hundred percent free. We’re not collecting in any information from it. It’s A P D F download. Very simple to grab from our website, and I dropped that U R L right into the chat, so if anybody is watching this, you can go head over to charter school capital.com and grab that IT guide for school leaders right there.
Let’s turn to another question that I think is important and we’ll shift the conversation away from IT services to cybersecurity. Obviously you gave us a great example of a school in Michigan that is just days into or a school district that days into the academic school year and already facing challenges here. I think we all know that regardless if you’re a school or if you are a private organization in any other industry, we are all faced with the growing threats around cybersecurity. We’d love to understand some thoughts around the key components of a robust cybersecurity awareness program for students and staff. If you can give us some thought starters around that question.
Yeah, it’s important to write, to have the awareness training and have a proper program in place to have those conversations and to have at least a policy. So I think having a lot of what we’re seeing nowadays is having a good interactive module on recognizing phishing scams, password protection, safe browsing, data protection. All this is really, really important to address and to keep in mind, keep top of mind for a lot of the staff and a lot of the people that are just using the technology essentially, if they’re using your email, your systems, your network, that’s just a huge risk less they know how to act or what to look for. Social engineering is a really, really big issue right now. And so having awareness training programs to let people know what type of social engineering is out there, what type of links to click or be weary of, these are really, really big important policies I think to have.
And that comes from it just having regular updates and a cadence for information being sent out. There’s a lot of really great tools out there that can simulate attacks and that can say, Hey, here’s a phishing simulation. Let’s see how many people in your organization actually click it. If it were a real simulation or a real attack, we’ve simulated it. This is how much your score is, what can we do to improve the score? And a lot of these systems would help you put out the right modules and the right training. So having those real world examples and clear reporting mechanisms, I think ensures both students, staff are well-informed and vigilant against cyber threats. That’s
Huge. Yeah. I think one of the things someone said to me once in my career, a cybersecurity leader in an organization that I worked for in the past said, unlike what your parents told you to never judge a book by its cover, you should always be judging every email by its cover because you just never know that someone’s trying to fish or attempt to fish or spoof or act like someone that you may feel like you’re close to. So just be very aware that those bad actors are in your inbox. In fact, this morning I was at the gym and I got an email that looked like a password reset request from what I thought was Office 365. It looked very Microsoft orientated. It even had the favicon, almost like the profile image that looked like it was Microsoft colors. And when you clicked into the from name, it was from a completely different domain. So you just always have to be wary of what’s happening inside of your inbox. It is the place I think that more often than not becomes the gateway for some of these bad actors. Right?
Absolutely. A hundred percent spot on. And those are the types of things that you know to look out for. And you’ll be surprised a lot of organizations don’t ever let their users know. And then they go to a different organization and they’re like, oh, wow, I probably clicked on hundreds of links in my last place. So having those really helps, and a lot of cybersecurity insurance policy is mandated now. You have to have cybersecurity training and awareness programs in place, and they’re asking for quarterly reports now. So just different mandates and different regulations that are going to come down the pipeline. I know for sure in our space as well.
For sure. I want to turn the conversation a little bit to what I assume is top of mind for school leaders, and that’s something in the realm related to this conversation. That’s AI and just the impacts for school leaders, one of them being data privacy and what AI can get access to, would love some thoughts around how you balance what’s happening inside of school and the technology you’ve got at your disposal innovation with protecting personal information.
Yeah, artificial intelligence is a big, big topic this last year, maybe even more so this last six months for our space because I think our AI and education, it improves a lot of efficiencies and personalization, but it’s risky and it raises a lot of privacy concerns about education materials and more importantly data, student data. And so I think striking that balance, it involves a very, very big focus on data collection security, whether it’s encryption or anonymization of the data. These are really big elements that we have to really make sure is implemented if you’re going to be doing ai, any type of ai. But we’re doing a lot of AI already, and it’s being used in the education space today. We may not realize it or think about it, but if you’re using systems or we’re all familiar with systems that are doing plagiarism detection, exam integrity, chatbots for enrollment, retention and learning management systems, these all have a little bit of AI built into them.
It may not be full fledged or more consumer focused or present, but a lot of the transcription we’re using as well, that’s all ai. It’s using that AI back engine at a surface level to say, Hey, these are actionable items. So I think there’s a lot of analyzation we have to do, and these are very all common AI services that are being adopted and very, very quickly. The innovation is steaming ahead as we speak. So I think the concerns are for real, we just have to be aware of them, and the decisions are made off of another concern is I think the decisions are made off of whatever data that we’re providing the system with that’s part of the AI and generative. So there might be bias, there might even be decisions that are being made off of that bias or inaccurate, even discriminatory. So we have to be very, very conscious about these things when using and implementing ai.
Yeah, there’s so many facets when it comes to the impact that AI is going to have on an education. I can only imagine just as we’re seeing states and limited at the federal level, but very at the state level, particularly within California and other sort of major technology centers, you’re starting to see state legislatures put policies around cybersecurity specifically for schools. And I would imagine the next thing that’ll follow, and then in the very well, let’s hope in the near term future, if our legislators are paying attention, that they’re starting to think about policies that ensure that kids are safe and their data is safe and that what they’re being exposed to and learning management systems and all of these places where technology connects our kids inside of the classroom, that parents will have an understanding of what data is being allowed, what exposure to AI their kids are experiencing, because just like you said, the ethical considerations around AI can be challenging for certain demographics and certain segments of the population, and we’ve got to make sure our kids are being exposed to the right learning opportunities when it comes to the AI’s impact on those learning opportunities.
I want to wrap up our talk because we’re pushing past our usual 10 minutes together, but wanted to ask specifically, have you seen any, with your experience with schools, are there any schools that are making any policies around ai, anything that you’ve seen schools start to talk about with AI specifically in policies that are putting in place for either data or just their practices with some of the software, the systems that they’re using inside their schools?
Yes, we are. And a lot of those policies I think are coming right from a overall policy framework. And I think that comes down to just, Hey, do we have anything in place? Just start somewhere, right? I know a lot of organizations in charter schools may not have anything. They’ve just never had to deal with anything like this before. Maybe checking out laptops was part of their technology policy and making sure you’re using some sort of passwords that are encrypted or basic level of technology policies, but start somewhere. So we’re seeing a lot of organizations and we’re helping them create these policies that have some sort of strict guidelines that just say, Hey, implementing strict access controls, very, very important to have regular audits, educating stakeholders about the data usage, whether it’s for AI or anything else. Just ensuring that data usage is not just being leaked and given out freely.
So anytime there’s a request, it has to go through proper channels. Anytime there’s some sort of module that they want to link with your Google or Microsoft workspaces, get the right permission, right? Lock all that down and ensure that there’s not compromising privacy rights and information. So I think a lot of schools are adopting those AI policies or looking at adopting some AI technologies, but then the policies need to be implemented as well. And so making sure you’re prioritizing that data privacy and consent and transparency, just outlining that and making sure those ethical considerations are being held accountable. I think start there. Start somewhere. It’s better than nothing, right?
Yeah. You’ve got to start somewhere. Such good advice. I’m going to give you a moment. I’m going to drop into the chat just an additional guide that we worked on with your team over the summer as well around cybersecurity and a guide for school leaders. But I wanted to give you a moment to just give us the pitch for software M S P. Just tell everybody where they can find more information about your team.
Yeah, no, appreciate that. We’re coming from a group of people that are fractional CTOs and have worked in a lot of different industries and highly regulated industries and nonprofits and charter schools and small municipalities. Those are our focus now and has been for several years. So I think software, M S P, you could find us online, software msp.com. There’s a lot of really great technologies and a lot of great services and guides that we’ve helped create with a lot of great partners like C S C. So we have a full fledge of technology services and the resources that we provide are more of just, Hey, this is what’s the right thing to do. We’ll help you get there if you choose to work with us from a network voice, digital transformation security perspective. But ultimately we just want to make sure everyone’s doing something with their technology and always looking to enhance it and secure it. So we’re here as a resource and happy to chat with anyone that might have any questions.
Well, we appreciate that offer, and if you want to learn more about what software M S P does, we also did a great webinar with your team a couple months ago just before the national conference. You can pop over to charter school capital.com, just search cybersecurity. And that webinar along with these guides that I’ve popped in the chat will show up in your search results webinars completely free. And I believe there was an exclusive offer to anybody that joined the webinar, which continues on in infamy through an on-demand platform. So you can go take a look at that webinar and still take advantage of that offer. But it was a really good primer for this conversation. Pret, I just want to say thank you again for joining us. We really appreciate the time we’ve gone over by several minutes, but this is always a hot topic and we’ll look forward to bringing you back on Tuesday TIPS when we’ve got some room in the calendar and just say thank you for everyone joining us alive. We’re here every Tuesday at 10:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Eastern talking all things challenges for school leaders. We appreciate you being here, and we’ll see you next Tuesday. Take care.
As the new academic year approaches, Back-to-School Night stands as one of your most powerful opportunities to establish meaningful connections with families. In today’s digital age, these face-to-face interactions have become even more valuable for creating lasting impressions and building the strong community foundation that supports steady enrollment.
Why In-Person Events Matter for Your School
Despite our increasingly virtual world, nothing replaces the impact of in-person experiences—especially for families making important educational transitions. Whether it’s parents of incoming kindergarteners, sixth graders, or high school freshmen, families need to physically experience your school environment to truly connect with your mission.
These personal interactions allow families to:
Feel the unique atmosphere your school offers
Meet teachers and staff who will guide their children
Witness your educational philosophy in action
Develop a sense of belonging to your school community
Research consistently shows that these emotional connections drive enrollment stability far more effectively than digital marketing alone. When families feel they’re part of your community, they’re more likely to remain committed through the years.
Creating Community Through Thoughtful Planning
Back-to-School Night can serve as the cornerstone of your broader community engagement strategy. By thoughtfully designing this event, you transform it from a simple information session into a meaningful experience that resonates with families long after they leave your campus.
Practical Strategies for an Impactful Back-to-School Night
1. Create Consistency and Clear Communication
Establish Back-to-School Night as a reliable tradition in your school calendar. Announce the date early in your welcome-back communications and remind families through multiple channels. Consistency builds anticipation and signals your commitment to family engagement.
2. Personalize the Experience
Offer guided tours that showcase your campus highlights while providing opportunities for genuine conversation. Having current students involved creates authentic perspectives that new families particularly value. Consider organizing small meet-and-greet sessions with teachers to foster more meaningful connections than large group presentations allow.
3. Engage Through Interactive Elements
Design themed activities that demonstrate your educational approach in action. Whether it’s a hands-on STEM challenge, a collaborative art project, or a mini language lesson, these experiences make your curriculum tangible while creating memorable moments for families.
4. Provide Meaningful Takeaways
Send families home with thoughtfully designed materials that extend the experience beyond the event itself. Whether it’s a school calendar highlighting community events, a resource guide, or even simple branded items, these tangible reminders strengthen the connection to your school community.
5. Establish Ongoing Communication Channels
Use Back-to-School Night to ensure you have current contact information for all family members who wish to stay informed. Consider creating simple sign-up opportunities for your newsletter, parent portal, or communication app right at the event while families are engaged.
Building Enrollment Through Community
The relationships fostered during Back-to-School Night contribute directly to enrollment stability. When families feel genuinely connected to your school community, they become your most powerful advocates, sharing their positive experiences with other potential families.
By investing time and creativity into this crucial event, you’re not just informing parents about the year ahead—you’re inviting them into an educational partnership that can flourish for years to come.
According to an article from The Center for Education Reform, 42% of charter school closures are due to funding. It’s well known that charter schools face unique financial challenges, so it’s important to get ahead of these issues as schools grow. Making sure your school has the money to meet operational costs, pay teachers and staff on time, and purchase learning technology and supplies can be challenging while staying advised of deferrals, delays, and reductions.
This is where budgeting comes in. Budgeting is an essential part of running a charter school. From managing operating costs to forecasting cash flow, it can be a complex and challenging task. However, with the right knowledge and team behind you, you can make informed decisions and set your school up for success.
In this article, we will explore 5 essential features of a charter school budget.
Review salary scale changes with the future in mind.
For any school, salaries and benefits comprise the largest ongoing expenses. When considering salary scale changes, it’s essential to plan for the long term, not just next year’s budget. If your school is seeing an increase in funding, keep in mind that this is unlikely to increase at the same rate each year—and it’s likely to plateau during economic downturns. Also, look carefully at budget surpluses, which can be misleading. For example, you may need to use surplus funds to replace computers and textbooks in the next year or two. Raising the salary scale can have non-financial repercussions, too. If your staff comes to expect a 10% pay increase to base salaries each year, it can be very hard to cut back without damaging morale. All this is not to say that you shouldn’t raise salaries—competitive rates are essential for attracting and retaining top-quality teachers and other staff! But it’s important to take a strategic approach.
Use non-financial incentives to maintain a positive culture.
Year-over-year salary increases are expensive. The good news is that while competitive pay is important, it isn’t among the top factors that contribute to employee satisfaction and retention or a person’s decision to leave a job. In particular, a positive and supportive culture makes most employees happy to come to work each day. Make a habit of smiling and greeting staff by name; running meetings efficiently; delivering negative feedback constructively and in private; and setting expectations for positive interactions among all staff. Provide money for career growth and professional development. working with your teachers and other staff members to understand each person’s individual goals and interests. Paying for a professional course isn’t free, but it typically costs less than a permanent salary increase. Lastly, be sure to show impact. Whether by data or individual examples, demonstrate to staff collectively and individually how much they’re making a difference to their students and families. (For more on supporting teachers so they’ll stay at your school for the long term, see our webinar Teacher Retention for 2023 & Beyond: How to Build a Lasting Relationship.)
Set a Target Fund Balance.
Fund balance is a metric of financial viability and financial health. A school’s fund balance, or net assets, is the accumulation of all surpluses and deficits going back to the beginning. To put it another way, if you sold all off the school’s assets for cash and paid off the debts, the remaining cash is the fund balance. Talk to your financial experts and your board of directors about the fund balance that will ensure your school’s viability.
Set a Target Cash Balance.
A school may have a large fund balance but still be strapped for cash—which is how salaries and rent are paid. There is no ideal target cash balance or benchmark for a school; it varies by state, funding levels, and phase of growth. As a general baseline practice, always plan to have at least 90 days of cash on hand at minimum, or about 25% of your annual operating expenses, so that you can continue to pay the bills and operate without a hitch.
Be Strategic About Facilities.
A school’s facility may seem like a budgetary liability due to rent, lease, bond, or mortgage payments. But with some strategic planning, a facility can provide budget safeguards in a few different ways. If your school is looking to acquire a permanent facility, plan to have more space than you anticipate needing. If your school is in a permanent facility, establish a long-term repair-and-replacement fund to cover roof repairs, HVAC issues, and plumbing. If your school already has a facilities reserve (for example, as a requirement for a tax-exempt bond), ensure that it’s large enough to cover a structural emergency. (For more on facilities planning, check out our free guide 5 Steps to Upgrading Your School Building.)
Budgeting is an essential part of running a charter school. From managing operating costs to forecasting cash flow, it can be a complex and challenging task. However, with the right knowledge and understanding of budgeting terminology, you can make informed decisions and set your school up for success. Let’s explore 5 essential terms you need […]
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdowns schools can use to stave off overwhelm. […]
Free Download
Charter School Budget Guide
To help you achieve your goals, we’ve put together this informative and thorough guide to share best practices and call out common pitfalls to avoid. Over the past decade, we’ve reviewed thousands of charter school budgets and helped guide countless schools through their charter school financing processes.
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdown schools can use to stave off overwhelm. The key is preparing a little bit at a time.
Here’s what the plan looks like:
As seen in the chart above, month one is dedicated to the fiscal audit overall. That’s because month one is when schools have just completed the previous year’s audit, so first steps are about how to move forward from there.
For a detailed look at previous months, click the links below:
Understand insurance laws and regulations that apply to your school
✔️ Review Your Policy and Shop Around
Check with other brokers and carriers to see if there’s a better option for your school
Look into carrier ratings, policy details, and costs for your school and employees
Tip: Make sure you check your current insurance company’s cancellation policy if you’re switching insurance companies
✔️Check Premiums and Deductibles
Review whether your premiums are broken into smaller payments or just one annual fee
Consider scheduling your premium payment differently to save money
Tip: Check your deductible to see how close you are to meeting it
✔️Examine Employee Benefits
Shop employee benefits to make sure you have the policy that’s the best fit for your school
Tip: Consider paying a flat amount rather than a percentage to keep expenses down
✔️Review Retirement Benefits
Understand what you’re offering in addition to mandatory state retirement benefits
By performing a focused audit of your insurance, you can ensure that your school is adequately protected and prepared for the future, and can help you identify potential coverage gaps and save you money. If you’re looking to learn more about insurance options for your school, your insurance broker or carrier is a great resource.
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdowns schools can use to stave off overwhelm. […]
The thought of an audit can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re focused on the daily demands of running and growing your school. Addressing compliance issues, evaluating internal controls, and implementing auditor recommendations can be daunting. However, breaking the process into smaller, manageable steps throughout the year can make a significant difference. The Charter School Audits […]
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdowns schools can use to stave off […]
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdowns schools can use to stave off […]
The idea of the audit can invite stress, and it’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. The Charter School Audits Guide Preparing Your School for the Annual Audit offers month-by-month breakdowns schools can use to stave off overwhelm. The key is preparing a little bit at a time.
Here’s what the plan looks like:
As seen in the chart above, month one is dedicated to the fiscal audit overall. That’s because month one is when schools have just completed the previous year’s audit, so first steps are about how to move forward from there.
For a detailed look at previous months, click the links below:
Month 3 is a significant month for schools as it is the perfect time to conduct a thorough examination of your HR department. While it doesn’t necessarily have to be done in Month 3, it is ideal to do it in the spring when teachers are making plans for the next year and can inform you whether they will be returning. There are several parts to the internal review this month, so, if possible, divide the work between several people.
Step 1: Review Employee Policies and Procedures
Go over contracts and agreements for the upcoming school year. Include arrangements for management, teachers, and other staff.
Step 2: Standardize Roles and Create Employee Pay Schedules
Completing this together with revising your contracts will save time, provide continuity, and prevent discrimination.
Step 3: Have Your Attorney or Insurance Carrier Review Your Documents for Compliance
Look into employee recruiting and hiring software to streamline your hiring process.
Tip: Some full-service Back Office Providers (BOPs) even offer fingerprinting management.
Step 4: Organize Personnel and Confidential files
Ensure that you have both physical and digital copies of these files to be easily accessible.
Step 5: Update your HR Handbook
Attend an HR law update meeting. These are a great way to brush up your HR policies.
Tip: Some are free and usually occur at the beginning of the calendar year.
Check with local law firms, insurance organizations, or your Charter Association to see when the law update meeting takes place in your area.
Review, redraft, and add new laws to your HR Handbook, and send it to your insurance provider for review and updating.
Tip: Many insurance companies offer a once-yearly update for free, and they can look it over for compliance.
Share your updated handbook with your governing board for approval.
Roll it out! You can begin to distribute your new handbook immediately for new hires, or you can utilize it at the start of your new fiscal year for returning employees.
Step 6: Draw up or revise your volunteer agreement.
Make sure you have both physical and digital copies of the volunteer agreements, TB testing, fingerprinting, LiveScan, and any necessary COVID vaccines.
Organizing these now will make your annual audit run more smoothly.
The thought of an audit can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re focused on the daily demands of running and growing your school. Addressing compliance issues, evaluating internal controls, and implementing auditor recommendations can be daunting. However, breaking the process into smaller, manageable steps throughout the year can make a significant difference.
The first month after completing your audit is all about reflection.
Evaluate: Take a moment to review the results of the audit. What went well? What challenges emerged?
Organize: Gather and organize audit documents from the previous year to create a clear starting point for the next cycle.
Plan Ahead: Identify key dates and deadlines for the next audit and ensure they’re on everyone’s calendar.
This month sets the stage for moving forward and ensures your team is aligned and ready to tackle the next steps.
Month 2: Post-Audit Conversations and Strategy
February is the perfect time to focus on post-audit discussions. Use this month to dive into what worked, what didn’t, and what needs improvement.
Steps for Month 2:
Be Proactive: Reflect on your school’s audit experience and think critically about what steps you can take now to improve next year’s results. Early action can save significant time and stress later.
Evaluate Recommendations: Carefully review your auditor’s suggestions. Consider:
What internal controls need to be added or strengthened?
Are there new policies or procedures that should be implemented?
What areas of financial management need improvement?
Addressing these recommendations now can prevent recurring issues in future audits.
Update Your Corrective Action Plan (CAP): If your audit included findings that require a CAP, now is the time to update it. Ensure your CAP outlines clear steps and timelines for resolving any compliance issues.Note: Not all schools will have a CAP or receive one as a result of their audit. Check with your authorizer for clarification.
Why a Month-by-Month Approach Works
Breaking audit preparation into smaller, focused tasks each month helps reduce overwhelm. It allows your team to address critical areas methodically while staying on top of daily operations. Over time, these incremental efforts add up, creating a smoother, more efficient audit process.
By dedicating February to strategic discussions and actionable steps, your school can use the audit as an opportunity for growth. Thoughtful planning and proactive adjustments will not only ease future audits but also strengthen your school’s financial and operational foundation.
Audits don’t have to feel overwhelming. With a little preparation each month, you can stay ahead of the game and keep stress at bay. The Charter School Audits Guide provides a step-by-step plan to help you tackle your audit process smoothly and confidently, tackling each of the key aspects of your school month by month.
Here’s a breakdown of the plan:
As seen in the chart above, month one is dedicated to the fiscal audit overall. That’s because in that month, schools have just completed the previous year’s audit, so the first steps are about how to move forward from there.
Review your previous audit with your auditor. Your audit review is a great opportunity to discuss ways you can improve your school with the auditor. Look over your financial statements together and be sure to take notes.
Review feedback with your audit committee. Take the auditor’s advice and comments back to your audit committee. Discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Present the auditor’s findings to your governing board. Go over the auditor’s findings and answer any questions from the board members. Tip: After presenting, ensure you get a copy of the minutes so you can reference them when necessary.
Submit your audit to your authorizer. Be transparent with your authorizer, but also let them know that you and your colleagues are working on any improvements based on the feedback you received during the audit process.
Prepare your audit message. Reflecting on these conversations, prepare your audit message for a wider audience. You’ll want to make sure your message is clear, detailed, and anticipates the questions your audience might have.
Post your audit and audit report. Make your audit message into a web post for visibility in your community.
It’s understandable to feel daunted by the need to address compliance and other issues while you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of growing a school. You can be ready when the time comes by breaking things down month by month. To take a deeper dive into this plan, get your free download of The Charter School Audits Guide.
During my time as interim CEO of a five-campus charter school, my team spent a lot of time talking about the communities we served and the stakeholders in those communities. Each school serves a specific community, and each community has a unique set of needs, desires, goals and challenges. Over time, we developed a needs assessment framework.
So, what exactly is a needs assessment? It’s is a systematic approach to understanding the nature and needs of your community. I’ll go over the three key recommended steps in a needs assessment, as well as some of the pitfalls to avoid and how to bring it all together.
Identify and Engage the Stakeholders
A good place to start is to establish the nature of your community and its segments. Of course, we can think of your school and its immediate neighborhood. For many charter schools, this may be the case. We have some schools that work with us that have students commute 30, 40 minutes by car. For those schools, community means something more than geographic proximity.
Your community is composed of your students, their parents, loving guardians and any adults actively invested in the lives of these students, and community members. The internal segment of your community is composed of the teachers and staff, the school leadership and the board. Another segment of your community would be the authorizers. The owner of your school building is definitely a stakeholder. [CallOutBox bgcolor=”orange”]A needs assessment is a systematic approach to understanding the nature and needs of your community.[/CallOutBox]
Atlantis Charter School in Fall River, Massachusetts, has built a unique coalition of universities, businesses, financial and philanthropic institutions, and other community groups. Through this coalition, the charter school students have access to the Berklee College of Music in Boston and TJ’s Music, a real recording studio in Fall River. Atlantis students have access to a curriculum that mirrors what’s taught to Berklee first-year students. Through another partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), students have access to the university’s Integrated Design Management (IDM) lab. Programs such as these create a pipeline for students into STEM and the Arts.
What I aim to do with these examples is twofold. On one side, I’m hoping to lead you towards making as exhaustive a list of stakeholders as possible, leaving no stakeholder behind. On the other, I want you to think ahead and identify – based on your school’s mission, direction, and goals – the relationships you might want to establish in the future.
Determine What Questions to Ask
In previous posts, I’ve written about your WHY (the reason you’re doing what you’re doing, the vision you have for your school) and about growth. Both of these should guide this exercise. Your WHY should be accurately reflected in your Mission Statement. Your growth plan should be a topic in your board meetings and your conversations with school leadership. Keep both of these in mind, and think of the questions these inspire.
Some examples of questions to consider:
What values/principles do they associate with this community?
In their eyes, what are the key issues facing the community?
In their eyes, what are the ways in which your charter school can forward those values/principles?
In their eyes, what are the ways in which your charter school could help resolve the key issues affecting the community?
What are their key expectations, and their hopes, in terms of your relationship with this school?
In their eyes, what current aspect of your school do they hold dear? What elements and programs of your charter school drew them to the school?
In their eyes, what current aspect of your school needs bolstering or improving?
Resource Mapping
Resource mapping is the process of identifying internal and external supports and services that can help you accomplish a set of goals.[CallOutBox bgcolor=”orange”]Some resources will inevitably prove more fragile or less reliable than anticipated through this process. At the same time, you might have some welcome surprises. [/CallOutBox]
As you speak with or survey the various stakeholders, you should keep resource mapping in mind. Find out which stakeholder can help in what capacity. Find out what tools, assets, materials, programs, facilities, etc., they have which might be a resource to your school. What people are available, what skills can they leverage? What’s their time availability, and what are their expectations? (recognition, prestige, compensation, etc.) In the examples above, resource mapping led to those relationships with universities, local businesses and local nonprofits.
Resource mapping can show you:
Additional resources available to do more of what you’re already doing
New resources that can help you accomplish the same things in a more efficient manner.
New resources that can empower you to provide additional solutions to community needs.
Resource mapping has to be followed by active and strategic resource management. This is where the rubber truly meets the road. Do keep in mind that some resources will inevitably prove more fragile or less reliable than anticipated through this process. At the same time, you might have some welcome surprises with people or assets who prove a lot more valuable than you expected.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Not casting a wide enough net
One example of that, with a charter school, would be to forget to include authorizers. Or to leave out board members. The board members are ultimately responsible for the effective running of your school. They should always be included at the early stages of planning.
In a community where grandparents or extended family play an important participatory role in the life of the student, these family members should be included as stakeholders.
The students themselves are definitely key stakeholders and can also prove valuable resources. Students can be activated to create a GSA or a No Bullying campaign. Students can help organize fundraisers and do prep work for school events. Students can voice their needs, which may impact decisions about facilities, lunch menus, musical instruments, field trips or even new pilot programs to consider.
Another key aspect of this is that people who have been invited to be part of a process are much more likely to contribute, and people who have been excluded from a process are most likely to find fault and complain.
Not listening to snippets
Feedback and input won’t always arrive through formalized channels. The offhand comment a parent makes as they’re picking up their student, the suggestion another parent voices from their car during dropoff, the observation a teacher makes at lunch – all of these are snippets that can point to a serious problem or a surprising solution.
One potential practice would be to write quick emails to yourself, with the word “snippet” at the beginning of the subject line. Then, every so often, search for the keyword “snippet” in your emails, and look for trends and patterns in these snippets.
Missing the emotional component
As people share their thoughts, ideas and feedback with you, they are less likely to share the emotional context behind these thoughts. It’s a good idea to look for the underlying emotional triggers. An expression that comes to mind is, “if the problem was the problem, there would be no problem.” What this means is, if people knew and expressed what’s bothering them, the solutions might be immediately evident.
In listening to stakeholders, it helps to imagine yourself as part detective and part therapist – looking for ‘the things behind the things.’
Not understanding social structures
It can be disheartening to spend energy and time coordinating with one individual or group, only to find that they’re not the true decision-makers. To make plans based on assurances from one source, only to learn they’re not empowered to give such assurances. In identifying stakeholders AND in resource mapping, you’ll want to chart the relationships and structures among these. This will lead you to fruitful conversations with the right people.
Not recognizing external influences in your community
I recently worked with a school that did an exceptional job of identifying their stakeholders and making sure to ask the right questions, and getting solid information. What they missed was that a whole segment of their student body were family members of transient military personnel. When 10% of their student body left the school as a result of relocation over the summer, the school had to scramble to bring enrollment back to its baseline.
In our present situation, the COVID-19 pandemic is very much one such external pressure that is playing havoc with our plans. School leaders should stay nimble and adaptable, and have a Plan B and even Plan C ready.
Cohesiveness: Bringing it all together
Once you follow all of these steps, you’ll have a sizable volume of information. The task that remains is to sort through it, organize it, and most of all, sort out the conflicts.
You might find one segment of your community loves the idea of dropping the focus on language immersion in favor of an accelerated learning initiative. Meanwhile, another segment may become downright disaffected with the school if the language focus is dropped. Issues of heritage, ethnicity and tradition may make this especially emotional. Moving forward with the change without thoroughly addressing these concerns could spell doom for a school.
Conflicts and misalignments can be resolved through meaningful conversations with stakeholders to understand their motives and drivers better. Sometimes conflicts can be resolved by finding “the third solution.” Instead of A or B, there may be a C solution that accommodates both needs.
You don’t have to please everyone. Prioritize and decide what aligns best with your WHY, along with what contributes to the growth and sustainability of your school. Then, communicate, communicate, communicate. People react best to change when they’re given plenty of information about the reason for a change, the scope of the change, and its expected impact.
A needs assessment and resource mapping exercise does not dictate what you should do next. It provides key information toward that – but your next moves need not be reactive. Armed with all the information, you can move to the next stage, strategic planning.
When charter schools focus on enrollment marketing, quite often, the focus is on digital initiatives. Google Ads campaigns. Facebook advertising to drive enrollment. Email marketing efforts. A revamp of the website. And more.
All of these are excellent ways to drive enrollment (and we deliver all of these as part of our pay-for-performance enrollment marketing solutions). But often, school leaders underestimate the importance of analog efforts – what I call “the ground game.”
A charter school’s ground game consists of the strategies and initiatives the charter school leader may implement at the local level. These are “old school” promotional efforts, networking, and just plain getting to know folks.
Three key initiatives can bring amazing results and help fill the waitlist at a charter school. (These are initiatives that I’ve implemented myself, back in the day when I was the interim CEO of a multi-campus charter school organization.) I share them below.
Tour of the School (Weekly)
Tours allow parents to come in and see for themselves what your school is all about. Parents want to experience what you have that is interesting or unique, they want to see your classrooms and see the grounds, and they want to meet the staff and get a sense of to what degree the ‘vibe’ of the school aligns with their culture and their vision for their child’s education.
It’s important to note that I’m not saying that the CEO or Principal of the school needs to commit to this charter school tour weekly. Tours can be delegated to staff members or even volunteers.
While informal, the tour should be pre-planned and scripted to decide the topics you want to be included strategically, the key talking points to float up, the main areas of the school that you would like to showcase. Did your school get new equipment? Was the cafeteria recently upgraded? Did you add elements to the playground? Is there something unique or interesting in your class layout or materials that you’d like to highlight? Write these points down and have a printout that volunteers giving the tour can use as a guide.
Note that school tours should continue year-round regardless of when school is in session or not.
I encourage you to prominently display how to sign up for this weekly tour on your website, Facebook page, and other promotional materials.
“Back to School” Evening Session (Weekly)
This should be a presentation delivered by a member of school leadership. It can happen at the campus or a meeting place off-grounds – it doesn’t have to be at the school. Make sure the chairs are comfortable for adults and ensure ample seating to allow for all who attend.
This presentation should be about an hour. Ideally, it would include a PowerPoint-like slideshow. Along with being visually pleasing, a presentation will provide a ‘cheatsheet’ for the presenter to follow to avoid getting lost (Although be careful that the presenter doesn’t just parrot the words on the slides! The slides should just be a guide.). Here is a great TEDx talk on delivering strong presentations.
Coffee with the CEO (Monthly)
Promote a once-monthly event to meet the leadership of the school. Events could be “Pie with the Principal,” or it can include any other member of school leadership – perhaps on a rotating schedule. The important point is that parents get to sit down with you or a member of school leadership and get their questions answered.
Events are also an excellent opportunity to create a support system for the school. You’ll have a chance to find highly engaged parents and turn them into volunteers. A parent can then help you with Instagram, another can help with flyer distribution, another can help with the school tour. You can also create a team that will help lobby for charter school acceptance when proposed bills threaten charter schools.
Show up to these events fully engaged – with patience, empathy. Quite often, the most vocal parents, and one might even say annoying, turn into the school’s strongest supporters if allowed to participate and have their voices heard.
Many of the successful schools I’ve counseled in my role as VP of Business Consulting here at Charter School Capital have mentioned parent and caregiver engagement as a key element of their growth and success. Listening to parent input, tailoring the school’s offerings to what parents articulate as needs, showing them that their voices matter, all of this counts.
There are other components of a school’s “ground game.” You can network with the leaders of the local Boys’n’Girls Club, and you can make your facilities available for town events (when feasible and appropriate).
Over the past year, many charter schools became hubs for distributing COVID-19 tests, vaccines, and even food. While this should never be done strictly for promotional purposes, this kind of engagement with the community positions a school as a reliable resource and a positive presence in the community.
By all means, continue your email marketing initiatives, your website upgrades, and your social media efforts as well.
How to Keep from Being Overwhelmed
The key to avoid being overwhelmed is delegation. Finding trusted volunteers for activities such as the school tour and the Back-to-School night will take a load off your shoulders.
In the same vein, you can entrust your enrollment marketing efforts to us. Our pay-for-performance model makes the decision completely stress-free. We only get paid for delivered results. We can help with logo design, an upgraded website, paid advertising on Google Ads and Facebook, and a lot more. Reach out today to learn more!
