February 28, 2022
5 Resources All School Treasurers Should Know
School treasurers play an extremely vital role in our educational system. Given the cross-functional nature of this role, they hold a variety of responsibilities that help ensure the fiscal well-being of a given district. We’ve consolidated five resources below to aid a School Treasurer or School Business Offical in being the best fiscal leader, advisor, financial manager, capital and financial asset manager, efficient communicator, and ethical leader for their district.
Author's Note: The Ohio treasurer ecosystem is very strong and we will reference their resources a few times throughout this blog. Check out a few insightful resources we compiled below.
One of the most important resources available for a School Treasurer in the state of Ohio is the Ohio Standards for School Treasurers. This was developed by the Ohio Educator Standards Board (ESB), the ESB Standards Committee, the ESB Subcommittee for School Treasurers and Business Managers and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials (OASBO).
This comprehensive 64-page document was created with the purpose of “articulating clear, statewide standards… to assist school treasurers in guiding their own professional learning”. If you haven’t already checked out this document, it’s a great resource to learn about the specific standards for Ohio School Treasurers.
What we appreciate most about this resource is how it breaks down each of the 5 standards very clearly and articulates how each School Treasurer can exemplify each standard.
The Ohio Department of Education, which is a great resource in itself for anyone working in the education system, released a General Information for Treasurers handout. This details the purposes, objectives, requirements, responsibilities and duties, and basic knowledge and best practices for a CFO/Treasurer.
The handout also goes over some of the terminology that’s commonly used by treasurers such as Appropriation Resolution, H.B., and Tax Budgets. This is a great resource for School Treasurers who are just getting started or want a refresher on the basics of this role.
Given the “watchdog” like role of a School Treasurer over any and everything financial-related, there are often sub-committees or other staff that work is delegated to. This can be challenging, especially if you’re used to doing everything yourself and not familiar with delegation. A good treasurer is able to delegate tasks and serves as more of a manager rather than as executor.
With so many things going on, a School Treasurer needs to ensure that their management committee is actively contributing to the overall financial management of the school district. This financial health-check checklist is full of thought starters for Treasurers to reflect upon to ensure that they’re doing their job in delegation successfully.
If you delegate to Area Coordinators or Fiscal Consultants, this list of field services is a great reminder of areas both positions can assist Treasurers in Ohio school districts.
If you’re just looking to polish up and refine your delegation skills, here are 10 tips for delegation.
This ‘So, You’re The Treasurer’ guide is a guide put together by an independent, student-run, non-profit organization that breaks down the basics of transitioning and taking on the role of being a treasurer. The reason we included this is that it breaks down the transition process of starting a new role as a Treasurer, the basic roles and responsibilities, budgeting, a few best practices, and a guideline on how to prepare for events.
Although this guide is more directly related to a club or organization Treasurer, it has a lot of best practices broken down into digestible sections of information that can translate to a School Treasurer role.
Who doesn’t love a Do’s and Don’ts list? This Do’s and Don’ts list breaks down the fundamentals of what a good treasurer will and will not do. Although some points such as following the law may seem obvious and not worth saying, this list compares and contrasts the responsibilities in a way that exemplifies the morale a Treasurer should embody.
On the Ohio Department of Education website, the Office of Budget and School Funding has a page dedicated to Budget and Financial Information for the public and education stakeholders. This consists of an Overview of School Funding, reports and information about Traditional School District Funding, and the same for Community Schools Funding.
Pay Theory is a family education technology company that aids parents who might be underbanked to pay for their children's education. Our ease of use to make online payments with cash with lower transaction fees make us a preferred payment processor for schools, instead of competitors like PayPal or Stripe.
As a company that cares deeply about our education system and financial success, we believe that every School Treasurer should have resources available that allow them to succeed for their district.
Although this list doesn’t encompass every resource available for School Treasurers, this list is a great starting point for those looking into the responsibilities of this role! We encourage you to continue learning about the integral role of the School Treasurer in our educational districts.
