Fiscal Integrity
During our recent strategic planning process, the New Prague Board of Education identified maintaining fiscal integrity as one of our key district priorities.

New Prague Area Schools has a long standing history of fiscal integrity. As New Prague Area Schools grows and as school finance becomes more challenging, designing and implementing plans and procedures to maintain fiscal integrity become more critical. This article will focus on the different aspects of fiscal integrity and how our strategic plan supports this priority.

Focusing and Utilizing Resources Responsibly
As school financial resources become more limited, utilizing and focusing our resources becomes more and more crucial.

The district's largest and most important resource is our human resources. Approximately 86% of our daily operating budget is spent on staff salary and benefits so it is important that we use this resource in a way that best serves students and other key stakeholders. Over the coming year we will create and implement a system to allocate staff to buildings and functional areas to ensure we are using our human resources in a cost efficient manner.

Another initiative in this area will be to conduct a comprehensive review of our budgeting process including how we arrive at budget adjustment decisions, how site budgets are developed, the process for monitoring budgets, and how we communicate the budget to staff and community.

Transparency and Accountability
We need to continually look for ways to increase transparency and be held accountable for our district's finances. One way to accomplish this is to have on-going communication with stakeholders which provides an opportunity for the district to educate the public regarding our financial situation as well as a way for the district to get input from stakeholders as key decisions are made. As we do this, we will build community trust and support.

A performance based culture is another way to increase accountability with the community. A performance based culture assures the community that we have high expectations of employees and are continually developing our human resources. Managers need effective tools to assess and communicate performance feedback to employees.

Internal Controls
Internal controls are designed to protect the district from loss or misuse of assets. They also ensure that all transactions are properly authorized and the information contained in financial reports is reliable. Two future initiatives will address this aspect of financial integrity.

First, we will take a systematic approach to define and document internal controls for key fiscal processes and then create an on-going review process to ensure the internal controls we have in place maintain their effectiveness. Second, we will create processes and procedures to better track and secure physical assets to ensure that assets are efficiently utilized and available for use when needed. An effective process in this area will also ensure that assets are secured to prevent loss due to improper use.

Long Term Financial Health of the District
In these challenging financial times it is critical to look into the financial future of the district to make sure decisions made today will be the best for the district in the long term.

In December of 2008 the Board of Education adopted a resolution to grow our fund balance 1% per year to a minimum of 5% by FY 12-13. Financial advisors and auditors recommend a minimum of 8-12% fund balance. Maintaining a fund balance is important for several reasons. Sound fiscal management has a long term positive impact on the success of students. It also validates fiscal credibility with various reporting constituencies (taxpayers, staff, bond counsel, auditors, and state and federal agencies). A fund balance is important to the establishment of a good credit rating for the district and is necessary for planning for the unknown and cash flow issues.

A key strategy to grow and maintain a healthy fund balance includes exploring opportunities for additional revenue. The focus to balance budgets typically is on reducing expenditures but increasing revenue is another option. We have an initiative in place to focus on finding additional revenue to fund school district priorities.

A focus on the long term financial future of the district also requires a solid process for creating financial forecasts. Looking out 3-5 years is always challenging given the changeable environment we operate within, but processes and tools can be put into place that enhances our ability to evaluate different potential financial scenarios and then make the best decisions we can with the information we have.

Maintaining fiscal integrity has many facets and the New Prague Area School District is committed to doing all we can to create an environment of fiscal integrity so the future of our students and the entire community are secure.