What is “Smarter School Spending” (SSS)? SSS is a website that contains a wealth of free tools and templates to help districts implement the best practices. The entirety of the SSS website provides a complete strategic financial planning process. GFOA expects that members of the Alliance will find the SSS tools very helpful and will want to use them, but using the tools is not required. If a district can find different way to implement the Best Practices it is welcome to do so.
What is the ‘Alliance for Smarter School Spending The Alliance for Smarter School Spending (the ‘Alliance) is a group of school districts from across the country who will work together to implement the Best Practices in School District Budgeting.
What does GFOA's Smarter School Spending Framework include? Recommendations coming from a series of 15 documents that provide guidance on optimal approaches to budgeting, across all phases of the budgeting process.
When does the Alliance meet? The Alliance meets in the fall each year and hosts several training events for members to collaborate on issues related to school budgeting. The goal is to work towards an improved budget process over the next two to three years as outlined by the Best Practices. We have picked this schedule because it should not place a burden on a district’s resources, compared to if we selected a more accelerated schedule.
What are the expectations for participating in the group? First and foremost, we want the Smarter School Spending Framework to be a process that helps to support a district in improving its budget process, not a burden. That said, implementing recommendations will take considerable effort and time from both the finance and academic staff working on the project. GFOA expects districts participating in the Alliance to develop goals for implementing the improved process and to make every reasonable effort to stay on target to achieve those goals.
Who from the district is expected to participate? GFOA requires that both the finance director (or equivalent) and academic officer/superintendent participate in the group.
What are the expectations for helping with outreach? A critical underlying reason for creating the Alliance group is to create a cohort of districts that can spread the word about the GFOA budget resources to peers. GFOA expects that most of this dissemination would take place through less formal, word-of-mouth opportunities. GFOA will provide members of the group with materials that will make it easier for them to share information about the best practices (e.g., links to videos, etc.)