Building "Best Practices" in School District Business Operations
Strengthening Business Practices in Oregon Schools
"Strengthening Business Practices in Oregon Schools: A Critique of Two Processes Designed to Identify and Disseminate Best Business Practices" is an issue paper comparing the processes and comments of the Secretary of State Business Practice Audits and the OASBO reviews on their strengths and weaknesses. The paper concludes that reviews and audits have been valuable and should continue, with a number of important recommended changes.
SIX reviews complete!
The Salem-Keizer Business Review was recently completed. View key findings, the Executive Summary, and the full report below.
|
|
|
|
View the Business and Operations Review Grant Final Report for Eugene, Greater Albany, Beaverton, Harney, and Yoncalla.
Eugene School District
Greater Albany School District
 |
 |
 |
Beaverton School District
|
|
|
Harney County School District
 |
 |
Yoncalla School District
 |
|
A Chalkboard/OASBO Partnership
In the summer of 2007, the Chalkboard Project and the Oregon Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) joined forces to launch a pilot project reviewing business operations practices in five Oregon school districts. Their goal: to develop a set of “best practices” that can be shared with districts throughout the state.
The districts
OASBO selected five volunteer districts of varying sizes, geography, and demographics to participate in the review: Beaverton School District, Eugene School District 4J, Greater Albany Public Schools, Harney County School District #3 (Burns), and Yoncalla School District. The Beaverton School District received the first business practices review. Reviews in Harney County and Yoncalla school districts were completed in the summer of 2008, and all results are expected by October 2008.
The process
A 22-member team comprises OASBO members, staff of OSBA, auditors from the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, and other business experts who conduct the reviews. The team evaluates district practices in areas such as processing payroll; purchasing services and supplies; providing food service, transportation, and custodial services; and forecasting budgets.
After completing all five reviews, OASBO will build a database of best practices based on factors such as district size, location, and socioeconomic characteristics. The database will provide districts statewide a set of “best practices” to encourage innovative changes and savings.
Chalkboard's role and interest
Chalkboard provided OASBO with an $87,000 grant to conduct the business practices reviews. Chalkboard's interest in funding the project grew out of extensive research about how Oregon K-12 schools can improve. Statewide spending on district business operations is higher than the national average. In addition, more than half of Oregonians believe schools can do more to eliminate unnecessary spending. Findings from the OASBO project will complement the information available on Chalkboard's Open Book$ Web site, an online tool showing how Oregon school districts allocate money in key areas.
Read the press release announcing the partnership...
Read an article from the Beaverton employee newsletter about the review...
