Sep 10, 2018

4 Tips for Improving Your Charter School Operations

by: admin

While the quality of the teachers and the curriculum at your charter school are perhaps some of the biggest drivers of success, the leadership teams at high-quality charter schools recognize that charter schools are also multi-million dollar enterprises that must operate with maximum efficiency. Because your school is a school of choice, you must earn the satisfaction of your students and their families in order to ensure continuous re-enrollment and a growing student body. The business and logistics side of the school is absolutely vital to its success, and as such, a focus on your charter school’s operations is a must.

At Charter Asset Management (CAM), we understand that often the finance and operations sides of running a school may fall outside the comfort zone of school leaders’ pedagogical expertise. As a charter school support organization, we have put together some tips that you can implement to get your charter school’s operations running smoothly and productively.

What Falls Under Operations?

If you are in the process of opening a new school or trying to improve the operations at a school that is struggling, you may not be entirely familiar with the responsibilities of the operations team. The charter school operations group has a wide and diverse array of duties, including, but not limited to:

  • Planning, coordinating, and supervising the day-to-day business tasks of the school office
  • Managing student recruitment and enrollment
  • Planning and running school-wide events
  • Managing volunteers
  • Assisting in the creation of the budget and finances and ensuring adherence to the school’s fiscal policies and procedures
  • Running the food service program
  • Managing transportation services
  • Ensuring the safety and security of the students, teachers, staff, and the campus itself
  • Supervising the office manager
  • Assisting with teacher development
  • Scheduling and compliance with audits
  • Fundraising
  • Being the contact person for the community

Best Practices

While the specific tasks of the operations team are numerous, to ensure the success of your school in the long term, there are four key areas of charter school operations you need to focus on:

  • Fully developing a comprehensive long-term financial plan which includes all aspects of facilities and maintenance (not only enrollment growth)
  • Continuously renewing your fundraising activities
  • Staying accountable to your students, their families, and the wider community
  • Investing in teaching quality

Below we will break down each one into actionable items.

Financial Planning

This may be the most important subject for the entire charter school community, as lack of funds means that a school cannot keep its doors open. Unlike traditional public schools, charters do not have the assistance of districts in managing the budget or paying for transportation, food services, janitorial services, and facilities upkeep.

More often than not, the amount that charters receive from the state is not adequate to cover all their costs. As such, sound financial planning and budgeting are imperative. And while most school leaders are not business and financial experts, there are many things the charter school operations team can do to ensure the fiscal health of the school.

Learn and Understand Basic Key Financing Concepts

  • Balance sheet vs. Income statement
    • These are the two most important financial statements for your business
    • The balance sheet equals the assets and liabilities of the school on a specific date (may include receivables and payables)
    • The income statement (also called profit & loss [P&L] document) details the revenues and expenses over a specific time period, usually a fiscal year
  • Operating income
    • This is the amount of revenues minus the amount of expenses the school incurs in a given fiscal year
  • Depreciation
    • This means allocating the cost of a tangible asset over its useful life
  • Fund balance vs. Cash balance
    • The fund balance equals the net worth of school – total assets minus total liabilities (the sum of each year’s operating income since inception)
    • The cash balance equals the amount of cash the school has in the bank at any given time – this is necessarily less than the fund balance as the fund balance includes cash plus any payables or receivables as well as land and equipment that is being depreciated
    • The projected cash balance indicates whether the school can meet its obligations on time (pay bills and employees)
  • Accruals
    • Accrued expenses are recognized on the books before they are paid
    • Accrued revenues are recognized on the books before they are received

Though not everyone in the charter school operations team will be confronted with difficult fiduciary issues every day, it is useful that everyone has a basic understanding of budgeting and finance.

Budget for Large-Expense Items First

Before contemplating buying new textbooks for a science course or adding a few more computers, be sure you can cover the big-ticket items you will face, including, but not limited to: special education encroachment costs, rent, and payments to big vendors for services such as food provision, custodial services, or back-office support.

Share Fiscal Responsibility

It is not best practice to have only one person from the charter school operations group authorized to complete purchases, sign checks, and record transactions. Split these tasks among at least three people, such as a business manager, board treasurer, and external auditor. Also, share legal compliance responsibilities and general accounting.

Enlist the Board’s Help

Often, a school’s board is made up of business professionals with significant experience and expertise in operations and financial matters. Utilize their expertise! The board can guide school leaders in effectively overseeing the budget. They can also coach the charter school operations director in setting up a transparent budget and producing monthly financial statements (they may even be able to donate top-of-the-line budgeting software––be sure to ask). The board will be able to help with developing your strategic plan, including financial goals and budget projections.

Note: when choosing board members, be sure to include people who possess the capacities needed to execute the fiduciary duties of overseeing and regulating a public school, non-profit corporation, and a multimillion-dollar enterprise all at the same time. After all, that is what your charter school is!

Fundraising

Over the lifetime of your charter school, and especially in the first three years of its establishment, fundraising should be a significant portion of the charter school’s operations focus. Often, charter schools have to short-change their educational programs in order to pay rent and maintenance costs. Thus, a comprehensive and robust fundraising plan is critical to ensuring schools can keep offering the high-quality educational opportunities all students deserve.

Further, fundraising cements the school and the surrounding community together as everyone feels they have a stake in the outcome. And fundraising does not have to be painful. There are numerous fun activities that can be undertaken by the students themselves, and their families, to raise money for their schools.

Accountability and Feedback

Charter school operations teams at highly successful schools understand that they are responsible to a wide audience, not just the school itself. This means they need to stay in constant contact with families, local businesses, and donors about school events and activities, recent successes, and news, as well as solicit feedback from interested parties. Further, they need to constantly monitor financial compliance by undergoing audits regularly.

Constant Contact

A key component in the continuous monitoring of a school’s success is asking for a direct evaluation of the school from those who have the biggest stake in it: the students and their families. As such, satisfaction surveys should be distributed regularly, with a target response rate of at least 80% by students and at least 75% by parents/caregivers. If the response rate is a lot lower, that in and of itself is a glaring indication of disengagement with the school and needs to be addressed immediately.

Further, the operations department of the charter school should regularly send out newsletters and emails highlighting special events and reminding families of important dates, and engage with students and families via social media.

Audits

Some states require an examination by a state auditor, but even in states that have no such stipulation, regular audits of the major systems of your school should be a priority for your charter school operations group. Further, the audits should be undertaken by independent, external auditors. Your operations team should consistently assess the compliance of auditable items and revise procedures as necessary, such as setting up and organizing student attendance files, documenting invoices and payments, ensuring all contracts and MOUs are signed, and accurately recording all board agendas, minutes, and resolutions.

Teachers: The Backbone of Your School

While hiring less seasoned teachers may seem like an easy way to reduce your bottom line, high-quality schools know that in the long run, investing in great teachers is actually one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve the outcome of your school. Schools with better teachers attract more parents and also motivates those parents to be more involved and committed to the school and their children’s success.

Further, as high teacher turnover can have significant negative effects on the school, a major focus of your operations should be the satisfaction and development of its teaching staff.

Helping You Succeed

Charter Asset Management (CAM) wants to ensure that your charter school is able to offer the innovative, high-quality education that all students deserve. We believe strongly in the charter school mission and assist schools in reaching their potential by offering affordable and reliable short-term funding. Check out our blog for other informative articles, read more about our funding programs and our values, and contact us via phone at (213) 335-6275 or our online contact form any time. We look forward to speaking with you.