Welcome to the Alaska Association of School Business Officials e-newsletter! |
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ALASBO's Mission: To promote the highest standards in school business practices. |
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ALASBO Participates in the ACSA Legislative Fly-In
Thank you to the ALASBO members who attended the ACSA Legislative Fly-In March 27-30 in Juneau. Pictured are Andy Ratliff, Jim Anderson, Cassee Olin and Katie Parrott who gave a presentation about education funding. Others who attended are members Yodean Armour, David Means and Executive Director Darcy Carter. ALASBO members met with legislators, provided testimony and responded to requests for information pertaining to education-related bills.
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Meet Summer Leadership Featured Presenter Michelle Backes
Michelle Backes is the founder of The Savvy U where the mission is to teach transforming truths to empower people to live a life of purpose, peace and victory. As a Senior Certified Consultant at Trust Edge Leadership Institute, she specializes in leadership development and training. Audiences love her practical strategies and tools for developing a high trust culture in work and life. Michelle shares wisdom from all her diverse experiences, delivering high-energy, presentations that inspire, motivate, and challenge people to be their best version of themselves.
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Message from ALASBO President, Andy Ratliff
Greetings ALASBO and happy beginnings of summer! The sun is shining, the snow has melted for a lot of us, and budget season is in full swing. It was great to finally see a few of you in person at the ACSA fly-in and I feel like we made a lot of progress in our advocacy efforts. Reflecting on the many conversations that I had with legislators on both sides of the aisle, a recurring theme kept coming up; districts need to be able to tell their success stories and show the value of public education as well as ensuring that we are being efficient with the dollars provided. Read the rest of Andy's message here.
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Executive Director's Message- Darcy Carter
I am excited to see you soon at ALASBO's Summer Leadership Conference(SLC)! This year, SLC will be held in Fairbanks at the Wedgewood Resort July 15-17, 2022.
After 2 years of meeting virtually, this in-person conference will provide you with opportunities to connect with colleagues face-to-face and build your networks. Our sessions are packed with ideas you can take away and implement in both your work and personal lives. Thanks to our sponsors, registration for this event is free; you just need to provide transportation and lodging. You will be able to mingle with not only your fellow members, but also with our sponsors who this year are American Fidelity, GCI Education, First Student, Red Rover and OneBridge. We thank them for supporting ALASBO and this conference! Thank you to Pam York, ASD/King Tech High School, for her work helping us create our SLC logo.
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ALASBO Education Director News- Jennifer Schmitz
I hope that you are enjoying all this spring weather and sunshine as much as I am. It is hard for me to believe that I have already been working for ALASBO for over a year. I remember back in February of 2021 thinking that I would never be able to follow all of the different acronyms that are used in the school business world. Although I am sure there are some that I still haven’t heard or totally understand, I have come a long way!
We recently completed the NBMI Session with 8 first-year participants in the 2021 Cohort. The 2019 Cohort finished their final year with great success and the 2020 Cohort will begin their final year in July. Congratulations to all of the NBMI participants!
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Member Spotlight:
Katie Parrott
Our member spotlight shines on Katie Parrott. Katie is the Business Manager at Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District.
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The SPED MOE and Allowable Exceptions-
Alenita Danner, School Finance Specialist, DEED
The School Finance team at the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) works hard to provide excellent service/support to all school districts and business managers. Part of my work at this time of year is to help school districts navigate the Special Education Maintenance of Effort (SPED MOE): Compliance Test Edition. I know that receiving an email from me regarding a SPED MOE issue is not something that business managers necessarily look forward to, but I’m here to shed a bit of light on the subject and hopefully make the process of passing the test that much easier next time.
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The following ALASBO member events will take place at the Wedgewood Resort, Fairbanks, AK:
- July 15: New Business Manager Institute (NBMI) Kick-Off Cohorts 2022, 2021, 2020
- July 15-17: ALASBO Summer Leadership Conference begins Friday evening, July 15
- July 18: ALASBO School Business Academy
- July 18: ALASBO Strategic Planning
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Thank you to our Power Lunch presenters!
March 8: COVID Relief Funds presented by DEED staff.
April 12: Microsoft Word Basics presented by Natalie Bates KPBSD.
May 10: Year End Audit Prep presented by Karen Morrison, SFO and Melody Douglas, SFO
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Study Group Completes SFO Exam Preparation Course
ASBO International manages the Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations (SFO) program for members who meet the exam eligibility requirements. There are sixteen (16) ALASBO members who have passed the SFO exam.
An SFO exam study group consisting of 9 ALASBO members met weekly beginning April 5, 2022 and ended May 3, 2022. The SFO material provided by ASBO was presented by ALASBO members who have passed the SFO exam. Here is a list of the SFO presenters and the topics covered during this year’s SFO study course: Click here to view the rest of this article.
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A Fabulous Investment of Time - AASB Law & Policy Day- Melody Douglas, Associate Executive Director
AASB held the 4th School Law and Policy Day April 28-29, 2022, in conjunction with the Alaska Science of Reading Symposium held at the Egan Center in Anchorage to a large group of board members, superintendents, business managers, and teachers.
The well-rounded agenda included sessions presented by attorney John Sedor, Luke Fulp (pictured), Deputy Superintendent of Business and Operations, Mat-Su Borough School District, and Chad Aldeman, Policy Director with the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. In addition, there was an enlightening civil discourse session that closed this extraordinary event. Read the rest of Melody's article here.
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ALASBO Board of Directors to Update Strategic Plan
The ALASBO Board will hold a strategic planning workshop on July 18 to develop an updated Strategic Plan to guide ALASBO in the coming years. Those who attend Summer Leadership will have an opportunity to provide input to this important process. All ALASBO members are welcome to send ideas, comments, and/or suggestions for board consideration to Darcy Carter at darcy.carter@alasbo.org.
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Multi-Year Board Policy Review Committee Completes Work-Melody Douglas, Associate Executive Director
An AASB/ASA/ALASBO joint effort to review certain non-instruction AASB model board policies that began the Fall of 2019 will conclude its work in May 2022. All Article 3 – Business & Non-Instructional Operations (series 3000) and Article 4 – Personnel (series 4000) board policies (BP) and administrative regulations (AR) and selected business focused policies in other AASB articles have been updated to reflect best practice and/or current law. Click here for the rest of the article.
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Come What May…May Will Come
Dr. Lisa Parady, Executive Director, ACSA
May is here, and not only are the days brighter, but the future for education in Alaska is giving us hope for a new year, for new opportunities on the horizon. Refresh anew!
Many of you advocated for our schools this past week after the Senate passed a budget that removed forward funding for public education and potentially jeopardized other education funding. Your voices were heard. Read the rest of Lisa's article here.
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Software User Groups
Alio, Black Mountain, and Infinite Vision/Tyler Software User Group meetings have been initiated. The first meetings were held earlier in May; each group will meet again June 28 and August 23, 2022. Please contact Melody Douglas at melody.douglas@alasbo.org if you wish to be added to a user group or if another software user group should be created.
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Thank You!
Silver Level
Sponsor
Black Mountain Software
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Thank You!
Gold Level
NBMI Bronze
and
SBO of the Year
Sponsored by GCI
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Thank You!
Silver Level Sponsor
First National Bank
ALASKA
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Thank You!
NBMI Platinum Level Sponsor
Altman, Rogers & Co.
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Altman, Rogers & Co. combines the experience of a large firm with the personal attention only a small firm can provide. We provide auditing, accounting, consulting and tax services from our offices in Anchorage, Soldotna and Juneau. We specialize in working with government entities, non-profits, and Alaska Native corporations. We proudly serve over 36 Districts across Alaska and are thankful to be celebrating 30 years in business in 2021. 907-274-2992 altrogco.com
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Thank You!
Bronze Level Sponsor
UKG
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