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- [00:02]
A
You're listening to asbo international's school business insider. I'm your host, john brucato. Each week on School Business Insider, I sit down with school business officials and industry experts from around the world to share their stories and explore the topics that matter most to you. Find out what it means to be a school business official and get your insider pass on all things school business. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to School Business Insider. Today's conversation bridges two critical arenas of school business leadership, federal advocacy and on the ground, fiscal reality. Today, I'm joined by Christopher Smith, chief financial officer at Katy Independent School District in Texas and chair of ASBO International's Federal Advocacy Advisory Committee. We'll explore how federal advocacy priorities are shaped, what issues are rising to the top nationally, and how those discussions translate into real world challenges in Texas, including funding pressures, enrollment shifts, mandates, and political dynamics. This episode is about leadership at multiple levels and how school business officials can influence policy while navigating local complexity. Chris, welcome back to the podcast again. Good to see you.
- [01:23]
B
Thank you, John. I appreciate you having me. And it's good to see you, too.
- [01:26]
A
Yeah, glad to have a returning guest. So let's kick it off. Just talking a little bit about your role in the federal advocacy leadership. So you serve as the chair of ASBO International's Federal Advocacy Advisory Committee. What exactly does that role entail?
- [01:42]
B
Well, I'm new at that role. Let me back up and say that I've been on the advocacy committee for three years now. I just finished my third year and start my fourth, and I am in the role of the chair of the committee. The role of the chairman of the committee is to try to lead the group. And I work closely with Elica Yost, who is a fantastic staff member there at ASBO and really keeps me kind of fed with information. But we work together to try to bring that group along and do the best things that we can for the committee with the hopes of making an impact to the classrooms across our country.
- [02:20]
A
So you said you've had a few years under your belt to kind of get the lay of the land. How is it going so far as chairman?
- [02:26]
B
So far, so good. We've had a couple of meetings since I became chairman and I thought they were real productive and we got some good ideas. We've got a couple of us that are going to present at the ASBO Conference on Federal Advocacy, and we've been developing that and it's kind of exciting to watch much happen from its infancy.
- [02:46]
A
Yeah, that's great. And so what prompted you to kind of step into this role. I mean, I'm sure there's some pretty big shoes to fill. I mean, there's been some really powerhouse members leading this committee. So why stepping in now? What made you kind of take that plunge?
- [03:00]
B
Well, it's daunting to step in now because you're right, I do have big shoes to fill. And I think it's a tough time to be an advocate for public education right now. And so I think it's tough because I'm feeling tough shoes and it's a tough time. But I don't back down from a challenge, I guess. And when offered the opportunity to do it, I thought, you know, I'm not doing my job right if I don't do it. Even though it's big shoes and it's a tough time. Why not?
- [03:31]
A
Yeah. Well, congratulations on stepping into the role. So can you tell us a little bit more about how federal advocacy priorities are identified and shaped within ASBO International?
- [03:41]
B
Well, we work together as a group and then of course the ultimate ASBO board approves those, but we work together as a group to come up with that. Some of those topics are evergreen. In other words, it's the same thing that we do every year because they're important every year. But we go through that document. Elica does a great job of keeping that updated and staying on myself and the other members of the committee to make updates and apply input as necessary from the District's lens, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. And she does a good job of putting our comments together and ultimately the document that goes to the board that we take to the hill in Washington D.C. annually.
- [04:27]
A
So we just had an episode a couple weeks ago about advocacy and does it really work and kind of unpacking the whole process? You said those evergreen issues, we have those. I'm sure every state has those, but we were just talking about those locally here in New York, where I'm located. And part of the conversation was that these evergreen issues sometimes fall on deaf ears. They can be frustrating after years and years of beating the drum and nothing really happening. But if you don't talk about them and they get lost, then you kind of lose the string and lose the opportunity to keep that at the forefront of legislators minds. Are you finding that to be true at the federal level as well? I mean, you might be beating the drum on these same issues every year and maybe you're not getting a lot of traction. Is it challenging to kind of keep talking about the same thing and not Seeing a lot of movement. And what gives you your drive to kind of keep the advocacy train running?
- [05:21]
B
Well, a couple things. First of all, a lot of what we do, or at least me and my role of what we do is kind of go around the track over and over again. And so it becomes second nature to do the same thing every year, annually. So. Evergreen Adams yeah, you kind of wish they could go away because the progress. But you see it every year and you just get used to it. It's part of our job. But I would say that my one of my colleagues here in Texas spent many years on this committee or six years on this committee, and one of the things that they had on the committee was the windfall provision on, you know, those folks across the country that receive pensions and don't participate in Social Security, don't get Social Security benefits. And she was on that, you know, I don't know how many years ago, but umpteen years ago, and then just a little over a year ago that that was lifted. And so that was a large win for the advocacy efforts of probably an evergreen item that had been on there forever. And finally it got checked off. And what a good thing for the employees in public education across the country.
- [06:34]
A
Right. So it really sounds like perseverance and staying the course is vitally important with advocacy because to that windfall provision, had you just kind of given up on it maybe three years ago, you potentially wouldn't have seen that change, which to your point, is a great benefit to employees.
- [06:50]
B
It was just a huge win. And again, an evergreen item, but one that was well worth it, the effort. And there's others. That's just the one that jumped out of my mind now. Right.
- [07:01]
A
So speaking of some other issues, not necessarily evergreen, but, you know, really just the swath of issues that you're trying to deal with at the federal level. What are the top federal issues that school business officials should really be watching right now? So, you know, you're sitting around the table physically, virtually, trying to figure out these legislative items, but really is the practitioner, what should school business officials be kind of focusing on at the federal level that would impact them and their districts?
- [07:28]
B
Well, clearly the funding levels, and we got a big win a few weeks ago where the budget was passed. It did not have a cut or a substantial cut to public education funding through the various different grants that we partake in across the country. And that was. That was kind of a win there, too. I mean, I think we were all kind of apprehensive that a cut may be inevitable. We had seen some cuts, what I guess 10 months earlier in July of last year that the administration made, and we thought that that was foreshadowing a lot tougher year. And as I was glad to see come to fruition, this last, within the last two or three weeks, I can't remember now that we weren't cut like we had expected, that was a win. But I would say that advocacy efforts and people in the roles of school business officials should be looking at that and looking at it and communicating with their legislator about the importance of those funds, asbo, through the website and through the emails that we get and the other opportunities that are out there to be informed, there's plenty. And if you stay informed and read that stuff or take a look at it, communicate with your legislator, communicate with your colleagues who may be a little closer to one of those grants, you're able to be a better manager when a change may happen that may not be good or maybe really good. It just depends. But I would say just use the tools that ASBO offers to enable you to follow what's going on.
- [09:09]
A
And speaking of ASBO and just really kind of amplifying the voices of school business officials, there are so many different advocacy groups, sometimes advocating for the same thing, sometimes could be in competition with different competing priorities. So tell me, how do school business official voices really influence national education finance conversations? And why is it important for the school business officials specifically to be a part of that conversation?
- [09:38]
B
Well, I guess I'll give you an example of last summer while we were on our Hill visits. We had just found out like within a few days before about the cuts the administration had. And we were able to share directly with our individuals, senators and representatives there in, in D.C. we were able to tell that those offices exactly what those cuts were going to do in their particular districts. And I think that's where they kind of the light bulb went on of, hey, this is real. There's going to be people in X district, in X state losing their jobs because we did away with, or the administration did away with the funding. And that really, you could see the light bulb go on in their, in their minds about when it became real. Right.
- [10:25]
A
So really telling those stories to the legislators and how it's going to affect their constituents, I think really to your point, definitely kicks that light bulb on. So let's talk a little bit more about how federal policy is really translating to local impact. So when you think about the federal policy discussions you've been having, how are these policies ultimately affecting Districts like yours in Katy isd.
- [10:53]
B
Well, impacting the state from the federal level, you know, at all. In various grants, you know, the administration just announced the different food pyramid and the different things that cafeterias can and cannot serve. Being able to. To learn that, of course we do get more information coming from our local or state education agencies. But when you get that information, when you're an advocate, you. You're kind of paying attention more and you get a little quicker. For example, when the food pyramid was announced, I was aware of it. My colleague here over the food service child nutrition program was aware of it, but there was nothing else going on and we didn't know anything for another week from our state agency. So I don't know if I'm from answering your question, John.
- [11:50]
A
No, you are. Actually. Tell me a little bit more about the food pyramid. I'm not entirely familiar with that. Specifically what is that and what is the impact potentially to schools?
- [12:00]
B
Well, I'm not an expert in it, but I know that they. That for example, I don't think that you could choose whole milk as one example that. That sticks out to me. And we had somebody say, well, when are you going to start serving whole milk? Well, the answer is, is it's going to take a while because the producers of whole milk across the country. Of milk across the country aren't producing whole milk right now, not in the little containers that we offer in our schools. And so it's gonna take them a while to shift gears to be able to provide that product to our districts. There's one example, but there's other items that can and cannot be served on the menu, et cetera. And that was announced in January of this year.
- [12:47]
A
Oh, wow. So pretty recently. So where else do you see disconnects between federal intention and local implementation? Is there. Are you seeing a disconnect between what the government, the federal government is looking to achieve and maybe how Texas is able to implement those or maybe could conflict with your existing state regulations or intentions themselves.
- [13:10]
B
You know, I don't know of any real disconnect that I'm capable of speaking of. I know that federal EDGAR purchasing rules versus state rules here in Texas, when, when. When they do conflict, we go with the more conservative of those. Those of those rules. That would be one example that pops in my head as far as conflicting. You know, the simple fact is, is there's resource, limited resources for the students across the country and, and in Texas, and our state does an adequate job of providing for some of those as it does the federal has been providing for that. And we're doing our best we can to figure out how to make all those pegs fit in their respective holes to do the best thing for kids. And are there conflicts? Yes. But from what we've typically had to do, at least in my career, is manage through those the best way we can for the betterment of the kids of our particular districts. Right.
- [14:15]
A
So policymakers are enacting legislation that impacts all sorts of different industry and ways of life in. In the United States. But what would you say is the most misunderstood aspect of federal education funding among those policymakers?
- [14:32]
B
Well, it's probably one size fits all. You know, they probably think that. That, you know, what's good for everyone, for what's good for one district is good for another. And that may or may not be true. There is a vast type of differences from, from, you know, one. One area just of Texas just 30 miles away to. It was completely different from where I sit. And so, and I know this like that through other parts of the country. But to have federal advocates are people like me and my colleagues, it's been interesting to see just how similar we are, but how vastly different we are and the different perspectives that. That people bring to that committee. For example, we had one gentleman that was that that's on the committee that lives in New Mexico and he lives on a Indian reservation, completely different than where I live. And he's completely reliant on federal funds where my district here in Texas is not. But to see, to be able to see those very big differences, but the same similarities is. Is really neat. And it's kind of. It's rewarding in a way to be able to know that we're all kind of juggling the balls, juggling the same kind of balls. They're just some. Just different colors, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.
- [15:57]
A
And do you ever find in your. Your advocacy efforts and having been on this committee for three or four years now, are there ever. Are there ever times where maybe there's competing interests or maybe things that just don't align? And if so, how do you kind of navigate those? Because to your point, what may be good for one district may not be good for a neighboring district? So how do you kind of thread that needle to find the, you know, maybe the best path forward?
- [16:21]
B
Well, I know from my perspective is again, no, there's no one size fit all. And once you understand that, then it's a little easier to give when. When it's not going to benefit you. I've seen it several topics come up over my time. That absolutely really doesn't affect my district at all. Okay. But I know that it's affecting another district or some children in another part of the country. And that may be. That, that's, that's very worthy of supporting even though it may not benefit my district. I know in Texas, we deal with that from a local level as well. There's winners and there's losers every time that a law is enacted. And if you want to just say, hey, this isn't good because it's not good for me, that, that, that's not, that may not be a fair statement for another district and children in that other part of the state or the country may, may be hurt. And so you, so there's, you got to learn when to hold your ground and when to just say, hey, this is. Overall, it doesn't affect my district and the children of my district, but it's good for the majority of this committee and the majority of the parts of the country. So I'm going to support it. Can't win all the time.
- [17:39]
A
Hey, everyone. I just wanted to take a moment to thank Today's episode sponsor, UnitedHealthcare. Every school district is unique, and your health plan should be, too. At UnitedHealthcare, our group health plans are built for you and your employees. Whether you're managing a small district or overseeing a large network of schools, we offer solutions designed to fit your needs, goals, and budget. Explore your options today@uhc.com Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by UnitedHealthcare Services, Inc. Or their affiliates. Health plan coverage provided by or through a UnitedHealthcare company. Again, thanks to UnitedHealthcare Today for sponsoring the episode. Let's get back to our conversation. And I think that can be sometimes one of the more trickier pieces to advocating effectively. And I think about just to your example, what may benefit one district may not benefit another or have an impact. But when you're in a legislator's office, you're trying to deliver the same unified message. And I find that when you're dealing with issues in your district, you know them, you have that muscle memory. You know how to speak to them immediately and what those impacts are. But if there's other legislative priorities that you're not as familiar with, you have to do a little bit extra homework so you can speak to those because it's not just is fluent as maybe an issue that impacts you directly. Do you, do you find that a little tricky too Just trying to navigate all the different issues.
- [19:02]
B
I find that the most tricky part of being on this committee is that there are issues that we're going to discuss that don't impact me or may impact my district, but at a level of granularity that I'm not familiar with. And so being on the committee forces you to get familiar with stuff that you haven't been able to get familiar with. And there are times where I go, I haven't done a very good job of keeping up because it is a lot. And again, I'm going to throw, throw some more. Kudos to Elica, who explains things extremely well to the, to the members of ASBO and to the especially to the committee when we're, when we're discussing things. So if I'm what the heck am I reading about? I'm able to read her comments and then realize why I'm not that familiar with it but why it's a good thing for kids or vice versa. Why I'm very familiar with it and it's a bad thing for kids that they're proposing or that we're trying to avoid. And again, that's the biggest challenge.
- [20:11]
A
Yeah, it certainly is challenging and that's where I get tripped up the most, is I have to do extra homework on these issues that I'm not as familiar with. So I at least sound somewhat legible when I'm talking to legislators.
- [20:22]
B
But it's over. It's a little not overwhelming, it's a little intimidating to go in and advocate for certain subjects. But I think it's important for those people that get nervous about that to remember that even though this may not be exactly in their wheelhouse, they know a lot more about it than the people that they're talking about it with. Odds are. And so I think that's important to remember and to keep your confidence up to because you're in your uncomfort zone to realize that you know this. The topic that they may bring up may not be the one that I can fluently talk about like this one, but again, I'm probably going to be able to answer it a little bit better than they are understanding. And they, they speak at a very high level. They understand at a very high level in advocacy. And I think that it is very intimidating. But it shouldn't be an obstacle that anybody that turns anybody off of it being an advocate because it's definitely something to work through. And once you start working through it, you realize, yeah, I really do know more than them and I don't have to be an expert in all areas. And once people understand that, I think they're, they're, they're going to be better advocates and a lot more comfortable doing it.
- [21:42]
A
That's such a great point. I'm glad you brought that up because that's as you were going through that. That was my exact experience when I first started at our advocacy committees locally in our state. And I remember the first year or two, I'm like, I can't do this. Like, this isn't, I don't have the chops to do this. But to your point, I finally realized that I may not be the expert in all of the topic talking points that we're speaking to, but, but there's a pretty good chance that I have a better working knowledge of most of them than maybe the person I'm speaking with. And once that kind of clicked, I'm like, okay, my confidence built up a little bit more. And you know, as the years go on, it gets a little bit more easier. But that's such a great point. I'm glad you brought that up. You're not alone in it either. You have your colleagues sitting next to you advocating the same point.
- [22:26]
B
Yes, sir.
- [22:28]
A
So let's narrow in more specifically on Texas. What would you say are the most pressing fiscal and operational challenges that, that you and your colleagues in Texas are navigating right now?
- [22:39]
B
I would say in Texas is that we've been on essentially a fixed income since 2019. And so we've navigated through Covid and the inflation that happened, the record inflation that we went through on a fixed income. And I would say that was, that would be our primary hurdle that we faced here in Texas. The other is, is, and we're seeing it across the the country is for some reason public education is not in favor right now amongst the legislative leaders throughout the country and especially in Texas. And I'm not sure why. I think it's because we spend a lot of the that we are the largest line item in in Texas budget and. There's a lot of money and there's a lot of need. And I think that the legislators for some reason are against are not in favor of public ed right now. And it makes it an uphill battle in everything we do.
- [23:45]
A
Are you seeing a push for parent school choice where maybe there's funding being redirected from public education into private school, brocheal school, charter school choice?
- [23:57]
B
Well, in, in my opinion and that's not, that is of Christopher Smith, not as of the Katy Independent School District Although I bet you a nickel that they're that, that I'm speaking for them as well. But I'm going to speak as myself. But that's been the primary focus in Texas for, for many years now is the passing of, let's just call it vouchers, ESAs, whatever you want to name them, their vouchers. And I think that's one of the reasons why that we kind of got in non favor is because they made, we made that a tough hill to climb for legislators. And they finally did it this last summer, the summer of 2025. And now I'm hoping that the tide will turn and they start looking a little bit more favorable, as they should. Patexas schools are very underfunded, but we perform very well when it comes to national averages and everything. And so the educators in Texas are doing a darn good job even though the resources haven't been to the level that we, that the children of the state deserve.
- [25:06]
A
So how have state funding formulas or legislative priorities or even mandates affected how you have to approach your budgeting in the past couple of years and moving forward?
- [25:17]
B
Well, well, I was, I'll set the stage and say that I was in a high profile elected official's office six or eight years ago now and they said frankly, you guys spend a lot of money and we don't see how the results of that spend. Give me an example. Well, we spend money on roads, but guess what? We see roads. And I invited him to our graduation ceremonies and said, hey, why don't you come to the graduation ceremonies? There's where you can see your spend. When we're graduating 7,000 graduates here in my district every year, you're welcome to come to every one of those ceremonies and see where the rubber meets the road. And they didn't, they didn't, they didn't come. But, but I think that was the, the opinion of that high profile elected official and, and of his colleagues. So, so, so how does that affect the budgeting as, as it's been? As was said in that, that office that day, they thought we had too much money to spend and we didn't spend money wisely. And that may or may not be true. I know it's not true in my district though that's still arguable. But we've had to make decisions based on that and trying to do the best way we can without affecting the results in the classroom. And that's been a real struggle to do here in Texas. And we had a board meeting the other night where we talked about how the things that we're having to do with our budget and we're doing them in a way that affects the classroom the least and there's some hard decisions that we've had to make over these last few years and. But we, you know, we've by and large avoided that in instruction, but at some point that's not going to be happening. And I don't think the decisions that my district's made in the last several months is going to harm instruction, but it's going to affect the way we deliver some things in our district. And that's, that's tough on. That change is tough on some people. Yeah. And John, didn't you asked me earlier about had something to do with the charter school. I mean, the vouchers. Vouchers, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to elaborate on that and just say that it just popped in my head that where are the kids going? Or it's going to affect. I forget exactly what you said, but the, that, that finally did pass in Texas and that starts with the 2627 school year. And we don't know how it's going to impact any individual district. Nobody has a crystal ball, but all those vouchers have been spoken for or applied for, if you will.
- [28:15]
A
So I was going to say when you say start in 26, 27, parents now have. Is there like a lottery system to get these vouchers?
- [28:21]
B
How does that work? Yes, sir, that application opened in February and all those applications have been provided. And, and there's no more application Billy out there. But yes, as I understand, it'll be like a lottery. Not everybody's going to get it. Etc. And then what will happen is when our legislative session meets again in 2027, they'll probably provide more funds to it to provide more opportunities. So.
- [28:51]
A
And they signal that they're going to be providing more funds at the expense of public education. Like, are you going to see a line item deduct from these voucher programs or are they going to add in new funds in addition to what your baseline public education funding already is?
- [29:10]
B
You know, I don't know. I think what it'll be is it'll be a shift as enrollment leaves public ed in Texas and shifts to a private. It's still the same cost, by and large. And so I'm not sure that they're going to go and funnel money at public ed or funnel money at private Ed. I think that just if students do leave, the money will follow through those funding formulas.
- [29:39]
A
Got It. So I guess that takes me to my next question. What kind of enrollment trends are you experiencing in Texas? And how are other things like inflation and maybe staffing pressures impacting your long term financial planning?
- [29:52]
B
Well, that's an interesting question for me, John, because we are in the thick of a very paradigm shift in our district. When I started here 22 years ago, we had 40,000 students and we have been the fastest growing school district in Texas over those last 22 years and we ended up at 96,000 students. This last school year we budgeted for a very conservative increase in enrollment and we had a dip of about 1600 students. I'm sorry, of about 900 students or about 1600 less than we budgeted for. So for the first time in probably my lifetime, this district did not grow. In fact, we lost enrollment from one year to the next. That trend's happening as I understand it, across the country and I think the big question is what is it front? What is causing it? Well, school choice and the fact that you know, for some reason public education has, is the poster child for the whipping boy if you will. Micro schools and homeschooling have become very, very popular interest rates. I know in my district the regeneration from a house of a couple that has is empty nesters and they say hey, why would we sell our house now and give up our 2.75% mortgage to go to our retirement lake and get a 6% mortgage? Let's just wait a few years. And so that turnover in our district's not happening as it, as at the rate it used to. Still happening, but it's slowed down significantly. We're still growing fast in our district. It's on the, the north side of our district. We're busting at the seams and enrollments coming in every day. It's just that our regeneration has slowed substantially and I think that's due to interest rates. And then the other one is the bilingual ESL population as I understand it, nationwide and in my district, I think those students are trying to their homeschool. We have a lot of ours that we've tracked that go back to their original countries or laying low in homeschool during all this times that we're in.
- [32:12]
A
And are you finding it challenging to keep up with those enrollment shifts? I mean it sounds like you've, I'm assuming have had to have new construction for new school buildings and things like that. Has that been challenging to kind of keep pace with the demand of enrollment?
- [32:26]
B
Well, again, paradigm shift from hyper growth to oh now how do we, how do we do something without growth? And you know, we're, we're, we're working on our staffing plan and guess what? It calls for a lot less teachers than we had during. And staff that we had during the, the 25 then we hired up for, for the 25, 26 school year. And we continue to say right, sizing. We're not cutting any programs or that our student teacher ratios, et cetera, they're all staying the same. But hey, when you have less students. But people are saying, hey, you're, I'm going to have less people on my campus than I had this year. Yeah, well, we're right sizing based on the fact that enrollment's not to the level that, that we, that it has been. And that's, that's a tough deal when it's grow, grow, grow new people, new people, new people. And now it just stops overnight. It's been. And so we're, we're just really kind of entering those conversations and it's not, they're not, they're not easy and it's, it's uncharted territory for us. And so, you know, we, we talk about that and at a meeting last week and then we also talked about awarding a contract for elementary number 39. Yeah, I'm sorry, 49. Elementary 49. And so that, that both those conversations are happening. Yeah. Where our staff is going to be a lot less next year and we're not firing anybody. We're going to do that through typical attrition, etc. But, but there's no need for a job fair and etc. But, but, but we did all had those conversations the very night we awarded a contract for Elementary 49. And that's kind of confuses people. But again, at the north side of our district, you know, we've got, yeah,
- [34:15]
A
that's where the demand is.
- [34:16]
B
Buildings that open this year that have four affordable buildings and students in it because those are areas where home builders are building and they're offering incentives for young families and very smaller lot smaller lots up there that make it affordable for young families that would like to be in, in our district. And those more mature lots and larger lots, more expensive homes aren't turning over at the rate it used to.
- [34:48]
A
Right. And so is that translating at all into your staffing? I mean, are you finding staff hanging on and working a little bit longer and not retiring when they're first maybe looking to or eligible because just the cost of living has increased inflationary pressures maybe keep people in the job. Are you seeing anything directly impacting your staffing and your decisions around that?
- [35:11]
B
I have not yet. I know that one of the things that Texas did this last summer, since they had avoided giving districts the ability to provide significant salary increases, they went directly and sent the money directly for salary increases. So it didn't help with anybody's deficit, but the teachers did get a substantial raise. And is that what's the long term effect of that? I know that, you know, that may entice some of those more seasoned people to stick it out a few more years. That didn't work for my wife. She retired after two years and I'm like, honey, you know, if you work a few more years, that raise that the state's going to give you is going to go to our retirement.
- [35:55]
A
And yeah,
- [35:57]
B
she didn't care.
- [35:58]
A
She didn't bite. Like,
- [36:01]
B
that's funny.
- [36:03]
A
So let's wrap up just kind of broadening the lens a little bit more. When you think about everything we spoke about today, what you're working on in the federal advocacy committee, how can CFOs and school business officials better engage in advocacy without really feeling overwhelmed?
- [36:22]
B
I would just say pay attention. We see it every day. It's just maybe an article that, oh, I'll read later, I'll read it then. And don't put it off because, and I think if it becomes a habit and you listen to it, you listen to podcasts like this and you listen to the other things that are out there available, it becomes habit. And it's an important habit. Even though federal funding is a very small percentage of my district's total spend, it's, it's still a percentage of it and something that, that is important for me to follow. And I think once you make that commitment and you realize the tools that are out there offered through asbo, that it makes, makes it, I don't want to say a fun part of a job, but a part of the job that's not intimidating by all means because of the tools that it's out there. Yeah.
- [37:21]
A
And kind of earlier to what we were speaking to, how do you measure success in advocacy work? Is it short term wins, is it long term. Prof. Progress or is it a combination of both?
- [37:30]
B
I think it's a combination of both. So I would say the best way to measure is, is consistency and if, if you're consistent from year to year, there's going to be short term wins and short term losses and long term wins and long term losses. But the, the best way to measure it is, is the consistency over time. And hopefully that over time ends up being a good thing for educators and students across the country.
- [37:56]
A
And so last question. What gives you optimism about the future of school business leadership? With your experience having a storage career in Katy and now being chair of the Federal Advocacy Committee, where does your optimism lie for the future of school business?
- [38:14]
B
My optimism lies for the future of school business and public education overall. Is the fact that even though right now for some reason public education is not in favor, it's going to be again because the kids in our schools are going to be your future heart surgeon or my grandchild's pediatrician, or great grandchild, I guess at this point would be students in our K through 12s across the country. They're gonna, you know, those, those students are still out there. And I think, I think the playing fields are gonna be tough. But I think public education is gonna be the better, the best, in my opinion, the best choice for a well rounded student with great opportunities to, to do great things. I think that's a better opportunity than to go to the route of a home school or a private school. That's, that's my opinion and I will probably take that to my grave. John, I think public education is the best place for kids to be well rounded. They get the same learning opportunities and to make a better impact. I think in our world, I think diversity and real roundedness is more important than a lot of the other things that some people value. I don't. I think public ed is the way to go it. I will take that to my grave.
- [39:39]
A
Yeah. Well said and I couldn't agree more. But Chris, thank you for coming back on School Business Insider and sharing all the good work that you are doing in Katy, in Texas, and all your great work at the Federal Advocacy Committee.
- [39:51]
B
All right, thank you, John. I appreciate it and I very much appreciate ASBO and everything that y' all are doing to support us and to better education and across this country.
- [40:03]
A
Thank you for tuning in to School Business Insider. Make sure to check back each week for your favorite topics on school business.