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- [00:01]
John Brucato
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. Leadership is Tested the Most when challenges Arise School business officials today face a complex landscape. Shifting policies, financial strain, and increasing demands for transparency and accountability. In times like these, the ability to lead with clarity, ethics and confidence is more important than ever. In part one of our two part series on strengthening school leadership, I'm joined by Jim Roann, Executive Director of ASBO International. Together we'll discuss how to maintain composure and strong leadership amid financial and political shifts, why ethical decision making is essential for school business officials, navigating tough situations, practical leadership strategies to ensure stability and trust in your district, and how SBOs can effectively advocate for their schools and communities. This episode is all about building leadership skills that withstand pressure and making the right calls even in difficult times. Then in part two, next week we'll dive into budget strategies and financial decision making with Jonathan Travers of Education Resource strategies, discussing how SBOs can make smart, sustainable financial choices that support long term success. All right, let's dive in. Jim, welcome back to sbi. It's good to see you again. How is everything going, John?
- [01:48]
Jim Roann
Thanks, man. It's great to be back. Spring is just around the corner and real excited to get back out there and enjoy the outdoors.
- [01:58]
John Brucato
Yeah, same here. I looked at the weather next week for me and it's in the mid-40s, so that's just very much welcomed. It's been kind of a grueling winter so far, so why don't we jump right into it? Can you start by just really sharing your perspective on some of the biggest challenges that are currently facing school business officials?
- [02:17]
Jim Roann
Yeah, absolutely. You know, right now, navigating an uncertain political and fiscal climate is probably at the top of everybody's mind. There's a lot of changes going on at the federal level, so staying up to date on what's going on and how it's going to impact our districts is a major challenge. So we need to determine how to support our increasing student needs with fewer resources available, because that's going to be a challenge we're going to face nationally. And generally speaking, we're seeing declining enrollment challenges in some districts with student attendance and engagement a need to continue Focusing on student mental health and academic performance, and of course, rising costs for operations of a district, special ed cost compliance costs, technology, legal and regulatory. All these things are going to become a challenge at a time when revenues are really uncertain.
- [03:07]
John Brucato
Yeah. So doing more with less seems to be the theme. I mean, is there eventually a breaking point where school business officials and school districts are showing diminishing returns and can't do more with less?
- [03:18]
Jim Roann
Well, absolutely. And that's what you have to be careful for. And that's why you have to plan to make sure that you're identifying those opportunities where you can reduce costs when necessary. That's going to have the lowest impact on student achievement.
- [03:32]
John Brucato
Great, great. So, as you had mentioned, you know, with political pressures, and there's a new administration in the White House a month or so in, there seems to be a lot of pressure on the Department of Education. What do you see as some of the most significant potential policy or funding threats? I know it really is a moving target right now, but kind of, you know, reading the tea leaves. What is Jim Rowan really concerned about?
- [03:55]
Jim Roann
Well, I think fully dismantling the Department of Education is a concern. It does require an act of Congress to do so, but there are ongoing efforts to scale back the bureaucracy and the size of the department in the event that it does somehow go away. That doesn't necessarily mean federal education programs like Title 1, IDA, student financial aid, et cetera, goes away, but they may be reshuffled or reorganized under another department. You know, one issue of concern is how rapidly everything seems to be changing at the federal level and keeping up with everything that's going on. Our members want to do what's best for students and also ensure that they're following the law. So a lot of the recent executive orders have been issued and been challenged in court or we're waiting for additional information from the department. So it's creating a lot of confusion in the field. Our members are just trying to keep calm amidst the chaos. We're concerned about how pressures to cut federal spending overall will impact federal education programs and district budgets. Members rely on Title 1 funding for low income students, IDEA funding for special education, Medicaid dollars for student health services, and E rate funding for broadband connectivity. So while federal funding, on average is about 10% of a district's budget, some districts rely much more heavily on federal funding than others.
- [05:11]
John Brucato
Sure, sure. So, you know, you're a seasoned school business official. You've been in the field for a long time. I mean, just based on your past experiences. I'm sure, you've seen some highs and you've seen some lows. Just given this kind of chaotic nature of so much going on. What's your advice to someone listening, a school business official? Should they just kind of like hold their breath and wait it out and see what happens in the next six months, or should they be tuning into every single news item and policy change?
- [05:38]
Jim Roann
So I think that they can't afford to sit back and wait and see. They need to be prepared. They need to be having conversations at the district level. They need to stay engaged with their professional association, whether it's their local affiliate here at Asthma International or wherever else they get their reliable news feeds. But they need to stay on top of the changes that are coming down so that they're in the best position to react should it become law.
- [06:05]
John Brucato
So what's going on with ASBO International? Are you guys kind of scrambling every single day, just kind of reacting to the news? I'm sure you're partnering a lot with AASA and sister organizations. What has really been the tone in your offices?
- [06:18]
Jim Roann
Well, you know, we want to stay ahead of the curve as much as we can. So as much information as we learn, we're providing information to our members either through our global school business network or through other means of communication just to keep them abreast of what's going on. We have started these round tables now, kind of like we did back in Covid, where, you know, what's keeping you up at night and it's just an opportunity to bring our school business professionals together and have a conversation in a non threatening environment. We're not recording those sessions. It's basically just tell us what's on your mind, what can we do to, to, you know, to offer some, some peace of mind and help you through this transition.
- [07:01]
John Brucato
And if somebody isn't familiar with that, where can they get more information on those roundtables?
- [07:05]
Jim Roann
So Elica Yost, our director of advocacy and education, has communicated information out. I also believe you can probably find it on our website. I know the first session we just did was just through a zoom link. I think our future sessions are gonna be done through our Learn site.
- [07:21]
John Brucato
Great.
- [07:21]
Jim Roann
So it'll be a much easier process for people to get registered. So as those upcoming, upcoming roundtables come up, we'll be communicating that out to our membership. But I would say that if any member has concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to me or Elica, any member of the ASBO team. If we don't have the answer, we'll Definitely work on trying to get it for them.
- [07:41]
John Brucato
I talked to Elica a little bit offline and we were just kind of talking about just a general federal update. I believe ASBO International has something coming down the pipe for its membership. Do you have any more info on kind of date or webinar or what might be coming membership's way for just kind of some federal update?
- [07:57]
Jim Roann
You know, I don't off the top of my head, but I do know I've seen that on our website. Once again, I think if you go out to our website@asbointl.org and click on the Learn link, I believe there's information out there on the upcoming federal update.
- [08:10]
John Brucato
Right. So you mentioned that, you know, in, in, in kind of a nuclear option, maybe the, the Department of Education is dissolved. But that doesn't necessarily mean the same for funding mechanisms like IDEA and title. You know, from a financial perspective, what are immediate concerns that districts should really be kind of gearing up for?
- [08:29]
Jim Roann
So I think they need to prepare for federal funding cuts and then how they're going to communicate that potential impact to their team, their leadership and their community. You know, consider investing more in legal and compliance as districts are going to need to work with their legal counsel to navigate a shifting federal policy environment on things like dei, immigration, civil rights and other issues impacting schools. So I think for now it's just have the conversation, put it on the radar, be transparent with your community, make sure you stay in touch with legal counsel. Because there's a lot of things being said right now, a lot of orders that have been stopped in the courts. The districts are going to turn to legal for guidance on what the next steps are.
- [09:12]
John Brucato
And is there a growing concern about a cut in federal funding and how it may impact all school districts? Maybe not those just that are receiving title in idea, but every single district in, in, in the United States. Because, you know, in a previous episode we were talking about, you know, I was at an advocacy session in New York and one of the legislators was, was talking to us about how 40% of the new York state education budget is through federal funds. So even though it's not a direct pass through that, if that, if that funding is, is cut, then the overall pie has shrunk. I mean, what should districts really be kind of talking to their legislators about in the state capacity to kind of potentially get ready for a federal cut? Because it's going to affect all of us in some capacity or another, not just those that are receiving the funds directly from the government.
- [10:02]
Jim Roann
Well, I think establishing that relationship with your local representative is so important so they understand the importance of education. The federal money that comes through, whether it's pass through from the state, were in the case where maybe they were receiving any kind of direct grant funding. Obviously that's a concern idea. Title one, Medicaid funding, the impact on lunch programs, huge. But they also need to consider if there's federal cuts being made at the local level and those federal states or those federal cuts also impact the state budget. As the state looks for ways to balance their budget, that could have an ultimate impact on how much state aid is provided for the local school. So you've got to kind of be cognizant of that whole pie and understand where your revenue is coming from, continue to maintain that positive relationship with your local legislators and advocate for public funding for school districts.
- [10:57]
John Brucato
That's great. You mentioned maybe gearing up on your budget for legal and policy and compliance. How do these kinds of shifts impact school business officials on a daily basis? Are, are you seeing that there's conversation around making tough decisions and maybe reducing educational program that could have direct impact to students in the classroom? Just because again, using that pie analogy, school district only have so much in terms of resources. If you're shifting those resources, something's going to have to give. Tell me your thoughts on that.
- [11:24]
Jim Roann
Yeah, well, school business officials are the financial leaders of the school. You know, your food service supervisors, they rely heavily on funding for their school breakfast and lunch programs. Typically, your chief school business official is typically responsible for the budget and forecast. So making sure you're providing up to date information and playing an active role with your leadership team is going to be essential as potential funding reductions could have a dramatic impact on the. On providing resources for student learning. You know, making sure that your leadership team and those that are going to be making those budget decisions within your school district, understand where are the opportunities to reduce costs that are going to have the less impact on the education program. That's where you've got to start. So be transparent, open lines of communication. Our members are used to that during the COVID crisis. You know, they manage their districts very well through that process. So I think if anything, the COVID crisis has probably prepped them for times of uncertainty. So it's just, you know, once again, being transparent, open communications are going to be crucial.
- [12:31]
John Brucato
Yeah, open communication, I think is incredibly important. Not just with your administrative team, but your community overall. How would you recommend that school districts communicate such a shift? Because if you think about, you know, you were Mentioning Covid and how challenging that was. But with those day to day challenges came some pretty significant financial windfalls to school districts. You know, funding like we've never seen. Now it appears that the pendulum is totally swinging the other way. How are you able to articulate that in a coherent manner to maybe your average community member who isn't paying attention to the nuances of how federal funding works?
- [13:07]
Jim Roann
Yeah, well, I think it starts small. You know, I remember the days when I was in my school district and we had a funding crisis or a funding concern. You know, it always started with a local finance committee. It might expand out to the mayor's breakfast or some local community leadership group. And you just do as much engagement as you can on a very small level, keeping it very simple, very focused on what's going on. If they believe in the leadership and they trust in what they're hearing and saying, you'll have the support of the community. So just getting out there, being open, trying to give them small bits of information not to overwhelm them. School finance can be very complicated without all this uncertainty. So just trying to chunk it down into very small pieces and, and open up every line of communication possible and empower the leadership team to help you, your principals, your teachers, have closer connections to your parents than central administration. So make sure that your leadership team is up to speed on what's going on so that they can share the message with those that they work closest with.
- [14:13]
John Brucato
You touched on this a little bit already, but can you expound on what role advocacy can play in ensuring districts can really get through these tough times?
- [14:21]
Jim Roann
Yeah, so, I mean, it's more important than ever to reach out to your lawmakers and advocate against cuts to education. You know, share why education funding to your students, school and community are so important. Because as negotiations to cut education, health and nutrition programs might be happening, being proactive and telling your lawmakers how federal dollars are currently being used in your schools and how cuts would impact the community are huge. So ask your representatives and senators to champion these programs to help support their local communities. You know, this week is actually Public Schools Week. I know this will probably air well after this week's concern, but, you know, hopefully some of our school districts are out there taking this opportunity to share positive stories that are going on in their school districts, how they're serving their students, and celebrate the success. Show the value of public schools and education to our lawmakers, encourage them to come into the classroom, come visit your district and see what's happening firsthand. And then I Think finally, just save the date. Attend the Asthma and ASA's Legislative Advocacy Conference in July, July 8th, the 10th in Washington D.C. join us on the Hill this summer. But remember, advocacy is something we do throughout the year. I remember going back many, many years when we would go to pass a levy and I would go into communities and they would have all these town hall meetings and they would meet with their community and kind of talk about why they need the funding. That needs to happen all the time, not just when you need the money. Create a partnership with your community. Be transparent. Have that conversation so that when you come out there and there is a need like this, you've built the support behind you to help them. The constituents within your school district have more power than you as an administrator and an educator, you have a vest. Everybody has a vested interest in education, but that parent who votes for those legislators have a key role to play. So engage your community and help them to make those calls to the congressman.
- [16:20]
John Brucato
It's a great point and I think regular communication is important for all of those reasons you mentioned and just maintaining those relationships. You also don't want to be the district that only shows up when they need a handout. Right. You want to maintain that trust and that transparency. I think that goes a long way.
- [16:35]
Jim Roann
Absolutely.
- [16:36]
John Brucato
So what strategies can school business officials use to really maintain financial stability during, you know, economic downturns, funding cuts? Doing more with less is, is, is a good kind of introduction, but how does one really kind of approach that.
- [16:51]
Jim Roann
Well, let me just give you a couple high level thoughts here. Number one is priority based budgeting. Making sure that you're, you know, budgeting the things that have the most impact. Look for cost efficiencies and ways to reduce your budget. Don't wait for the federal cuts to happen. You know what you're hearing? More than likely something's going to happen. So take steps now to possibly identify those. Basically what you're doing now is you're preparing yourselves to be able to react if the legislation happens to come through. Look for alternative funding sources, you know, maybe some other local community grants, public private partnerships. Look at your staffing. Is this an opportunity to do some staffing adjustments through attrition or look at flexible staffing models. Financial forecasting and planning is going to be essential not only for the current year, but for future years. Community engagement, making sure you have that transparent communication, keeping stakeholders informed about the challenges. Getting community input is also important, not just to be out there telling your story, but listen to what the community has to say. Leverage technology. There's a lot of digital solutions out there. Are there other ways that you can leverage technology to reduce cost? And I think then finally is just to continue to advocate, look for policy advocacy, collaborate with other districts, collaborate and stay engaged with your local affiliate, ASBO International. You're going to need partners to get through this.
- [18:22]
John Brucato
Right. And speaking of which, can you tell me the importance about the relationship with school business officials, with their school board superintendents and maybe local officials to build contingency plans? You had mentioned that long range planning is a crucial aspect to kind of getting through these tough times, which, you know, as listeners probably know already, I'm a huge proponent of long range financial planning. But our school districts may be building multiple different versions of their budget. Just kind of waiting to see what happens. Like, talk to me a little bit more about best practices with building contingency plans.
- [18:56]
Jim Roann
Yeah, so I mean, it all starts with, you know, the school business official is that financial leader within their school district. So it starts with that partnership, making sure that you're on solid ground with the superintendent, your board of education. But, you know, building out those models and being very transparent in the assumptions you're using. You know, oftentimes when you're building a forecast, you might be accused of, well, you know, you're being too conservative or you're being too liberal. I think it's okay to have different scenarios, but just make sure you're communicating those scenarios. You know, it's a crystal ball. We don't really know what's going to happen. It's just really preparing. So, you know, establish those clear communication channels. Have regular meetings with your board and your superintendent and local government representatives. You know, like, I can't, oh, I can't overstate the fact that meeting with your local elected officials is huge. Your mayors, your city councilmen, or your town council folks, they're vested parties within the community. So making sure that they're up to speed on what's going on. Ongoing transparent reporting, making sure that you provide clear and comprehensive financial reports to the stakeholders. If you're building a forecast and a contingency plan, communicate it. Let them know what the assumption is. Collaborative planning sessions. You know, they always say, you know, I might have a whole lot of ideas, but if I can put myself in a room with 15 or 20 others, the ideas are going to be much better and much stronger. So create those collaborative workshops, walk through scenarios and maybe come up with different options that you haven't even thought about. Making sure your roles are clarified, what each stakeholder group is planning with their contingency plan. It doesn't do you any good as a chief school business official to build all these contingency plans if you're not communicating those plans to the stakeholders. Because obviously at the end of the day, the school board's going to adopt the budget, the superintendent is going to implement the budget. You all have to be on the same page and then just making sure that goals and priorities are aligned. Everybody has a unified vision. Leverage your expertise and resources, like I said, getting expert input when necessary. Resource sharing. A lot of school districts share resources and conversations within each of the each of their local school communities. And then obviously just monitoring and evaluating, just listening to what's going on and then being able to pivot. That forecast might be obsolete by the end of the week, but as long as you're on top of it and you're updating it with the latest and greatest information, you're doing everything you can.
- [21:39]
John Brucato
Right. You've given a lot of great points in terms of how to communicate, how to receive feedback. How do you balance all of this? I mean, how much is too much? I think a lot of school districts pride themselves in being transparent and communicating and being proactive, but it may not always be absorbed by the community if you're communicating too much. So how would you recommend someone strike that balance of just enough that Goldilocks of communication essentially?
- [22:06]
Jim Roann
Yeah, well, I think that's a great question. I don't think it hurts to over communicate. Those on the receiving end of communication are going to filter what they want to hear and when they want to hear it. So I would always caution on over communicating and being over transparent versus being under transparent. And then just look at the different means of communicating, whether it's through public appearance or board meetings or public meetings or print media. You know, just try to attack it from a lot of different angles. But you're right, I mean, there's a lot to digest. But most school business officials out there in our world are already prepared. They have five year forecast or three year forecast. They have budget plans, they have contingency plans, they have reserves. This is not new. They're used to this. It's just a different crisis they're facing today and just being able to once again reengage their local community in a time of crisis and just build the plans to respond when necessary. Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option.
- [23:16]
John Brucato
Right, right. So you've been in the field for a long time. I'm sure you've seen a lot of Financial missteps that districts have taken. I mean, maybe cutting too deep in these uncertain times or maybe not cutting enough or, you know, anything in between. What are some of those common financial missteps you've seen happen over time and how can they be avoided?
- [23:37]
Jim Roann
You know, short term fixes. You know, one that comes to mind is one of the first things that districts tend to cut is deferred maintenance. I did it when I was in a school district because it doesn't have the greatest impact on student achievement. It does create long term problems. At the end of the day, you may have to make that cut, but it shouldn't be the first thing you go to. And if you are going to make that cut, make sure you're communicating the ramifications of that reduction. Because over time, if you're not maintaining your facilities, it's just going to constantly increase the cost. So just making sure that you are not cutting vital programs, making sure that you're not underestimating the true cost of new initiatives, making sure that you look at programs that you're offering, reexamining the cost of those programs, do a cost benefit analysis. Are you getting the result that you had hoped for? Making decisions without input from key stakeholders can also lead into a lack of support. So make sure that, like I said, use your finance committee. If you're making major changes to your programs, involve your stakeholders so that they have some buy in. Failing to maintain sufficient reserves is huge. I think most school districts now try to establish some sort of a rainy day policy. This might be a time you have to tap that rainy day policy. I would not recommend going there immediately. I would first take a look at your budgets, see what opportunities you have to potentially reduce or suspend spending in the transition rather than just going right to the bottom line, ignoring revenue diversification. You know, sometimes you rely so significantly on one source of revenue, you know, trying to have a balanced revenue stream so that when you do get hit with one particular area, there may be opportunities and, you know, poor communication and then efficiency improvements. Take a look at your operations. Are there ways to be more efficient? Technology is one that can really creep up with you. I face it at ASBO International, just like I did in the school district, you get inundated with technology solutions. Then all of a sudden when you start to look at that budget, how much you're spending a year on technology. So make sure you're evaluating those technology solutions. Who has the licenses? Are you? Do you necessarily have to pay for all those licenses? Those are just a few Tips?
- [26:09]
John Brucato
Yeah, it's too easy to get bloated with technology, I think. I mean there's a lot of shiny objects that promise a lot of efficiencies. But if there isn't kind of like your own watchdog or somebody taking a look at these and are they as efficient as they should be, are we getting a good roi, then you're really not doing yourself any justice. And I think you also make a great point in terms of your rainy day fund and that being the last kind of line of defense because when you start using those revenues, you're now potentially in a position where you're mismatching one time revenues with recurring expenditures. And I spoke with Bob Saul last week about some, some budgeting strategies and we really focus on how your expenses are what you have the most control over. So that's what you can kind of use. And he also mentioned, you know, maybe being careful on the deferred maintenance because that can creep back up on you long term. So all really great points.
- [27:02]
Jim Roann
One more, one more thing I would add, John, and I can't state this with a high enough priority look at your contracts, whether it's service contracts, whether it's technology contracts. Most contracts have an auto renewal period. Make sure you have a contract database where you're tracking when a contract comes up for renewal because if you miss that 60 or 90 day notification period, then you're stuck for another year. So depending on the level of contracts you have, you should have somebody looking at that because if you need to cut something and you're going to go to something that's under contract, if you miss that window of non renewal, you're going to be stuck for another year.
- [27:42]
John Brucato
That's a great point. So what about financial indicators or resources that school business officials should be monitoring? I mean I don't think everybody needs to be a macroeconomist and maybe studying CPI interest rates every, every single time the FOMC comes out with something. But you know, what, what, what should school business officials really be focusing on? And are there trigger points where if X happens then Y is our decision and path forward?
- [28:06]
Jim Roann
Sure. And like I said, I'm sure a lot of school business officials are already doing this through their budget processes and their forecasting. But you should be looking at your revenue and expenditure trends, you know, tracking the stability and the changes in your revenue sources. Same thing with the expenditure side to make sure you're not overspending and if there's opportunities within your budget that you built in for. You know, I always Built plans to maybe adopt a new textbook adoption or put three or four new school buses. It might be a time to pause and evaluate. Is that absolutely necessary right now in this time of uncertainty? Keep an eye on your general fund balance to make sure there's sufficient reserves for any unexpected expenses that comes through maintaining reserve or maintain and review your reserve funds to provide a financial cushion during an economic downturn. That's why we build those reserves is for situations like this. Looking at your enrollment and attendance rates, monitoring those attendance trends to see how they're going to impact not only your current year budget, but future years. That's going to be important. What about debt level and debt obligations? Do you have long term obligations, short term obligations you need to meet? Are there opportunities for some short term borrowing or cash flow borrowing if necessary? Liquidity is going to be important to make sure that you're meeting the day to day expenses and then just watching your cost per pupil, you know, are you spending compared to your your peers? Are there opportunities there to do something different? Every school district values what they do differently. I'm not saying that you should always have the same per pupil expenditure because every community values something a little different in their education model. Some districts will invest a lot, maybe in a number of foreign language advanced courses, things like that. Others don't have the ability to do that. So it's not always apples to apples, but just understanding where your cost per pupil is. If you're heavy in administrative cost per pupil, that's going to be one of the things you're going to get hit by your community is that you're in a time of crisis, we're running out of money and you're exceeding the average by X number of dollars. So just kind of keep an eye on those things. Things.
- [30:24]
John Brucato
If a district is potentially looking at using reserves to balance their budget, can you give any advice on how you would approach that or how you would recommend approaching that? Because I mentioned mismatch of one time revenues with recurring expenditures. I think maybe floating a year or two on a budget is okay, depending on the circumstances, but it's obviously not a long term solution. What advice would you give if a district's looking at potentially deficit spending and using reserves?
- [30:54]
Jim Roann
So I think the first thing I would want to make sure is that I've exhausted every opportunity to reduce costs in the existing budget without having a dramatic impact on instruction. If I feel like I have streamlined my budget to the point that any further cuts are going to have an impact on education, then that's When I would prepare a plan to send to the superintendent on how I would want to use reserves, I would also spell out in that plan what would be our strategy for replenishing the reserve, how long we can maintain ourselves before we're going to have to take the next level of cuts and get into something that might have more of a dramatic input. You don't want to take your reserves to zero because you are going to have situations arise that maybe you can't, you know, you can't control. So make sure you keep the eye on the things that you can control. And even if it's going to be painful, you might have to make a shift in investing in certain programs that have an impact on student achievement. But don't make that as an isolated decision. Make sure you're communicating that with your board, you're having that conversation with your community. If you have to suspend a program, make sure they understand that. Hopefully we'll be able to reinstate that when we get through this bubble.
- [32:05]
John Brucato
Yeah. And always kind of keep an eye on that and earmark it in every budget saying we haven't forgotten about this. It's just, just a matter of how do we prioritize our funding to kind of bring us back to level seven. So we've talked a lot about, we've talked a lot already about many different topics and a lot of great pieces of advice from you, Jim. I'm hoping we haven't raised our listeners anxiety levels too much, but you know, it can be stressful. Kind of talking about and hearing about all of this. How do school business officials, how can they stay calm, ethical, composed under these kinds of pressures.
- [32:40]
Jim Roann
Yeah, I think there's a lot of things you can do both at the professional level and the personal level. You know, you got to prioritize, prioritize self care, you know, maintain your health. Regular exercise, a balanced diet, make sure you're sleeping, you got to get a good 8 hours sleep. Stress management, you know, there's different kinds of techniques, whether it's yoga, meditation, a medical massage, whatever it takes to relieve that stress. But also just those transparent communications. If you're communicating openly with your stakeholders about the challenges you're not facing and you're not trying to keep that all to yourself, that's going to help relieve stress. If you're going to bottle up all inside of you and not share those concerns with the rest of the team, don't take it upon yourself to try to solve the problems. Engage your team, engage your community, engage your colleagues at asbo International. That can definitely help you through this. Be an active listener, you know, make sure you're listening to what other concerns are. Always make decisions based on ethical decision making. Integrity. First, stay focused on the mission. Everything goes back to the mission. What are your values? And then just make sure that you balance your immediate needs with long term goals. You know, if there's a plan that's going to reduce stress. Typically you get stressed out when you don't have a plan and you're reacting. The more you can be prepared for the crisis, the better off you are going to be in maintaining some sense of calm. So those are just some ideas around trying to stay calm. What I find works for me when I get a little uptight is if the weather allows me to go take a 30 minute walk on my lunch break, maybe put my headphones on and listen to a little music. Whatever works for you. Take time throughout the day to maintain your own health because if you get under the weather, then you're just putting the district even in more trouble because you're this chief business official helping to guide them through this challenge. So your health and wellness is important.
- [34:50]
John Brucato
Jim, can I share with you something we do at my district most recently? So this is not an endorsement of any one product, but it just so happens that we all have a peloton, not all, but there's about 10 or 15 of us. And we all ride together every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And it really has grown into this kind of stress reliever camaraderie thing where we're all up early in the morning riding, knowing that, well, I'll be at work, you know, for the rest of the week. And it has just evolved into a really fun activity. And to your point, the exercise is super important. So not only is it fun to kind of compete against each other in, in a friendly manner, but we're also feeling better physically and mentally, just kind of expelling all that energy, getting that stress out in the morning. So if anybody does ride out there, hit me up and you can join our our rides every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. But that has really proven to be a lot of fun, but also a good way to kind of keep us all in check, keep us stress free and just kind of keep us on the same page. So that's been fun.
- [35:52]
Jim Roann
That's great. You know, let me share one as well. And this was not only an initiative that we did to help our health and wellness, but it also helped us reduce our cost in the health care area when I led an associate or when I led a local government community. We were able to get our, our staff, we had probably 250 employees township wide. And we bought into a wellness program where we provided each person with a pedometer. And then we had a step contest over a period of time. And the health insurance company agreed that if we could get everybody to do a biometric screening and a health risk assessment that they would not increase our premiums the next year, they would keep them flat. So we did this health and wellness initiative where we kind of put pressure on each other to get the health risk assessment, to get the biometric screening and to do these steps. And we had 100% participation. We had a 0% increase in healthcare. And with healthcare costs rising 15 to 20%, that could be huge on your budget. It also provides incentive because you're creating health and wellness opportunities to keep your employees safe. So there's a lot of great ideas out there to engage your team in, in staying safe.
- [37:10]
John Brucato
That's really impressive that you had that kind of participation. I, in my last district, we really did a big push in terms of a wellness initiative and something very similar to what you were just describing. But I was met with a lot of resistance of like this big brother. Oh, we're looking at all your metrics. I'm like, I don't want to know what your blood pressure is, don't worry about it. And you're protected anyways from all that. But I'm glad to, glad to hear that worked out for you. That's great. So, so what are some key leadership principles that help guide decision making when the stakes are so high? We talked about kind of managing stress, staying ethical and composed. But what would you, what would you give to our listeners in terms of, you know, really some of those guiding principles?
- [37:50]
Jim Roann
Well, honesty, transparency and accountability are ones that come to the top. You know, making decisions based on ethical standards and principles, ensuring transparency and honesty in all cases. Communications. The minute you break trust, you've lost your community. So you've gotta, you've gotta establish that trust and then take responsibility for your actions. Encourage a cult, a culture of accountability within your organization. Vision and clarity. Make sure you have a clear vision and make sure the organization understands the goals and objectives you're trying to achieve and then stay focused on those missions and values. You know, sometimes we tend to operationalize things very quickly, but that strategic planning and that big picture perspective cannot get lost. So take time to do some scenario planning. You know, develop various scenarios on what to anticipate should this happen or should that happen. Be decisive and confident. Be able to adapt and be flexible. Have empathy and compassion. Show empathy and understanding toward the needs and concerns of your stakeholders. Fostering a supportive and inclusive environment. You know, once again, that goes back to having those communications with your community. If you're going to make a reduction in a particular program and you do that without communicating, you're going to violate that trust that you're trying to create. You know, be collaborative, communicating, transparent. And then, of course, just demonstrating your ethical courage by standing up for what's right. Sometimes it might not be popular, but sometimes you've got to do what's right. So those are just a few things I would want to point out.
- [39:35]
John Brucato
Tell me a little bit more about the ethical courage. I mean, trying to balance all this can be challenging. There's a lot of external pressures. School business officials may be in a position to be encouraged to take shortcuts or do things a little bit differently. That could be in the gray area. How do school business officials balance their ethical responsibility while potentially facing these financial constraints?
- [40:00]
Jim Roann
Yeah, well, I've always practiced that. As long as it's not immoral or unethical. If it's a gray area, I'm going to talk to legal. I'm not going to make that decision on my own. But I've always practiced that regardless of the cost. I will not fall outside of my ethics and my morals to solve a problem. So I think as long as we remember that that is true to who we are and what we do, if you violate that, you violate everything. You violate trust and confidence. So that's so important.
- [40:41]
John Brucato
And trying to come back from that too, is, you know, two to five times as challenging to regain that trust once it's lost. So those are some good points. Do you have any real world examples of some leaders you've witnessed who have successfully led through crisis and what have you and what can we learn from them?
- [40:57]
Jim Roann
Well, I mean, there's a couple obvious ones. I mean, you had Martin Luther King leading us through that movement, advocating for equality and justice. You had Ruth Bader Ginsburg on gender inequality and her work on legal advocacy for justice and equality. But I think when I think about who the real heroes are and who's led us through the most recent crisis is, I think, our members. I mean, if we go back to Covid, there was so much uncertainty. One day you couldn't even pick a package up off your front porch that was delivered by the UPS guy without allowing it to air out or spraying it down with lysol you couldn't even.
- [41:40]
John Brucato
Get groceries with, like, disinfecting it.
- [41:42]
Jim Roann
Right, right. Because there was no certainty around anything. So the fact that this generation of SBOs has managed theirselves, their districts, through that crisis of uncertainty, not to say that what we're about to face is, is not going to be challenging, but the health scare and the impact that Covid had on our learning environments, on our instructional program, and the fact that we were able to rally and address that speaks volumes for the leaders that we have in the field. And I have no doubt in my mind that our members and our schools will come through this crisis just like they have every other crisis. We'll work together, but as long as you embrace those common principles of planning, being transparent, open communications, they're going to do great. So my heroes are the school business officials out there that got us through the crisis of COVID And I have the utmost confidence that they're going to pull through this with no problem. And we're here to help in any way we can.
- [42:47]
John Brucato
Absolutely. So I think we can both agree that you can't go it alone. We can't work on an island and expect results or expect not having burned burnout or anything like that. How do school business officials cultivate an ethical workplace that's strong, that can weather these, these tough times and the storms ahead?
- [43:08]
Jim Roann
Well, first of all, you have to lead by example. You know, demonstrate that ethical behavior, model that ethical behavior and all your actions and all your decisions. You know, I attended a personal development academy for some personal growth this past year, and one of the speakers, and I may have even mentioned this in one of my other podcasts, he says, the leader brings the weather. So the attitude and the example that the leader shows is what your people see, and that's what your people do. So leading by example is so huge. Being transparent, being open and honest. They may not like what you're about to say, but they will respect you if you're open and honest. You know, make sure you have those clear ethical guidelines, the code of conduct. If you have members that are struggling, provide training, provide ethics training on to make sure that they're aware of those standards. We talked about open communication, recognizing and rewarding ethical behavior, you know, providing that positive reinforcement. You know, integrate ethics into your decision making. I think we all do that now. Fostering a culture of accountability, providing supportive leadership, continuous improvement, and once again, collaboration and community engagement.
- [44:30]
John Brucato
You know, I have to admit, I did steal that you bring the weather. I had Tim Rishulti with the high Performance Leadership Academy with Amanda Wang and Sabrina Soto on a couple weeks ago and we talked about that whole entire program and how asbuild International has been partnering with them as of late to do that. So I'm glad to see that you've gone through that too. And it sounds like an awesome opportunity. So let's talk about some resources for school business officials. Is there any, you know, obviously ASBOON International is at the forefront of, you know, our work and what you're doing. Any other professional organizations, training books, I mean, what do you recommend that school business officials kind of tune into to kind of keep them moving forward and really strengthen their leadership skills?
- [45:13]
Jim Roann
Well, I think number one is check out our advocacy center. If you go to asbointl.org advocacy there you're going to find a number of resources that's going to help you advocate for your district, including information about those upcoming webinars and events to get involved with. Grow your advocacy, leadership and communication skills by attending our conference in July or, and I don't have all the details yet, this is all going to be fleshed out through 2025, but we talked about this on a previous segment. We're going to be expanding committee opportunities, ways for members to get involved, whether that's writing an article, communicating in the global School Business Network, getting involved on a committee. So there's going to be huge opportunities for people to get involved. We just talked about the High Performance Leadership Academy. What a great experience. It was like a six week program, self paced, you know, five to six hours a week, not too late. You can find information about that on our website. Talk about an opportunity for professional growth and personal growth. Some of the key or some of the key speakers. The late Colin Powell had a lot of education lessons during that program. So highly recommend it. Leadership Forum. I know it's next week so, so.
- [46:31]
John Brucato
It might be too late this year.
- [46:32]
Jim Roann
Might be a little bit late this year, but next year we will be the last week of January in, in New Orleans and there's always a great leadership program. The Eagle Institute will also be before that. So great opportunity to get involved there. Our ASBO International conference in October will be in Fort Worth, Texas. What a great way to get involved and collaborate with your peers and get updates on what's going on that's impacting education. And then, you know, just browsing our various leadership training and offerings on our ASBO learn. We have, we have over 200 webinars or seminars out there on demand. So there's a lot of resources There for people to be able to access and and get information to help them through the day.
- [47:21]
John Brucato
And what do professional associations, what are their role in these turbulent times? I mean, you've just named a lot of great resources that Asborn International offers to its membership. But in general, what can individual school business officials rely on their professional associations for?
- [47:41]
Jim Roann
Yeah, so I think primarily is communication. What is happening? Keep me up to date. Elica and her role as our advocacy director, making sure that she's providing updates to the members, keeping them up to date on what's going on in DC Is crucial. Communicating within the global school business network, making sure that you're reaching out to us through these roundtables. What's on your mind? What can we do? How can we react to provide the support that you need? We spend a lot of time soliciting feedback and input on how to better serve you as a member. If there's things that we're missing, please let us know. We've got resources to be able to reallocate to you, but really just being that resource and that go to person to be able to find out information to make sure that when something is finalized, that we're putting together a webinar or a seminar to be able to get that out to the members so that they can learn firsthand on how to address this latest rule or this latest law.
- [48:45]
John Brucato
That's great. And we talked a lot about what school business officials can do for themselves and do to support their staff. But what can school districts do to support their school business officials? What should school business officials be expecting from their districts to support them and give them the tools they need?
- [49:06]
Jim Roann
Well, I think that professional development and training is huge. A school business official hopefully has a great relationship with their superintendent to be involved in their professional organization, whether that be the state level or their national level, because they're going to be the association that's going to keep them in tune on what's going on. So hopefully, to have that support from upper leadership, to become a member and to participate in training and maybe a conference to create that network to be able to collaborate with, is going to be huge. You know, we have various certifications, whether it's our SFO or awards programs with COE and MBA to raise the awareness within your community that we are a school finance office that takes accountability. Very serious. We've been recognized for a budget, award or financial statement or I'm an sfo. Those types of things are huge. Access to technology and tools, making sure that the school business official has the Tools they need to be efficient. I said before, making sure there's opportunities to collaborate and network not only at their state and national professional level, but even within their communities. I remember when I was a school business official, we had a number of countywide meetings where we would come together and we would collaborate on different things. You know, making sure there's adequate resources so that the finance office can be adequately staffed to be able to respond to this. Provide clear communication and support to the sbo. Make sure that the SBO understands what's going on on the educational side of the school district because they need to work hand in hand. Obviously the school business official was there to provide the resources and support for the education program, but they need to understand what is going on if there are new programs being implemented. So making sure that two way communication exists, recognizing your school business official, making sure that you are respecting that school business official as a financial leader and that you're looking at them as a resource. I've always used, you know, reflected on that three legged stool. You've got your board of education, who's your policy. You've got your CEO with your superintendent, your CFO with your financial side. If any one of those legs are broken, you're going to have a broken system. So making sure that those three groups are locked in hand in hand are so important. And then just making sure that they provide autonomy and let you make the decisions that you need to make. Openly communicating, being openly transparent, but let them do your job and to trust you to do your job.
- [51:52]
John Brucato
All right. Well, Jim, I trust that you'll share this episode with AASA so their superintendents can hear all your great advice. So if we've unintentionally stressed out some of our listeners, what's one piece of advice you can give a school business official who may be feeling overwhelmed just by the mere nature of uncertainty? You know, two months into this, 20, 25.
- [52:15]
Jim Roann
Well, my one piece of advice is going to come in four parts. So number one, prior to prioritize and plan, you got to have a plan. Number two, lean on your network, your colleagues, your professional colleagues, your personal colleagues, your mentors, whoever you seek support and advice from, lean on your network. Stay grounded. Practice that self care and mindfulness. Make sure that you're taking care of yourself. And then continuous learning. Keep abreast of practices. If you are listening to this episode and for whatever reason you have unsubscribed to some of our communications, because I know sometimes we all get flooded with our inboxes, I would highly recommend that you resubscribe so that you don't miss out out on key communications that are coming out of ASBO International.
- [53:08]
John Brucato
So, wrapping up here, what's one leadership trait you think that everyone listening should really be focusing on and developing?
- [53:16]
Jim Roann
Without a doubt in my mind, it's resilience. And that's the ability to adapt, recover, and thrive in the face of adversity, uncertainty and change. And that's where we are right now. That's where we were in 2020 with COVID And it takes resilience to be successful. And I just want our members to know that ASBO International is here for you. If we don't have the answer, we'll find it for you. May not be the answer you're looking for, but we'll make sure that you're up to date on the latest information to try to make things as best as we can make them for your district.
- [53:52]
John Brucato
Great. Well, Jim, thank you so much for today and sitting down with me again and just sharing some really good knowledge on what it means to be a leader in uncertain times. Times.
- [54:02]
Jim Roann
Thanks, John. As always, I really enjoy our time together.
- [54:05]
John Brucato
Yeah. And for all you listening, make sure you subscribe to School Business Insider on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcast, because next week we'll be diving into part two of Leading an Uncertainty. We'll see you next week. Thank you for tuning in to School Business Insider. Make sure to check back each week for your favorite topics on school business.
- [54:26]
Jim Roann
SA.