School districts are planning for fiscal year 2022 facing a wide range of significant uncertainties – none of which are likely to go away in the short term or be easily remedied. Revenue projections continue to fluctuate, enrollment forecasts face added challenges from remote learning, and costs associated to COVID mitigations will continue. In addition, districts will be working to support students who begin the 2021-22 school year with greater needs than ever before.

Addressing these challenges will take significant thought and work to develop a transformed vision. As part of these discussions districts will need to rethink past spending patterns to free up resources and balance budgets and to make foundational investments to support students. To address these challenges, finance officers and district leaders should revise their budgeting and planning processes for fiscal year 2022 and beyond, to be more flexible, data-driven, and grounded in new needs.

Who Will Benefit: CFO/Finance Director, Budget Manager & Analyst, Treasurer, Department Director

• Those who successfully complete this seminar should be able to:
• Evolve existing guiding principles to drive decision-making to address current challenges.
• Develop various revenue scenarios and communicate about uncertainty.
• Invest the time needed to understand enrollment projections and family preferences and how this impacts the budget.
• Ensure the budget process facilitates school designs that are targeted to meet students’ distinct needs.
• Infuse flexibility into the budgeting and planning processes to adjust key decisions as needed.
• Use multi-year projections to facilitate better long-term discussions.