the 21st century school business office.

Technological advancements are helping school business officials more effectively manage the assets of their districts.

Technology has had a tremendous impact on schools. The number of students per computer is dropping year by year. Internet access is commonplace in school offices, media centers and classrooms. Greater amounts of money are being allocated to schools to expand computer work stations, software programs and online services. At the same time, we see school business officials regularly using this same technology to more efficiently conduct business. This article outlines how new technological advancements are helping school business officials more effectively manage the assets of the district.

Budget and finance

The Fountain Valley School District has moved ahead aggressively in the area of computer assisted management and instruction. The district's financial software package has been in place for several years. The personnel package that includes an integrated position control element is currently being piloted for more efficient budget purposes.

In the past, salaries were transferred manually from payroll, a personnel function, to budget control and development, a business division function. In preparing for the first and second period interim reports, current salary data required for the projected actuals depended on the clerical skills of the payroll technician. Chances for error were great and fiscal control was limited. Integration of the position salary information into the financial package simultaneously updates the salary and benefit accounts regularly and guarantees that each and every position is accounted for in the budget.

The road to effective budget control is not without its flaws. Staff training was required and changing the process of how data was input into the system required practice and tutorial assistance. New software is not always user friendly and glitches were often found in the system. The county's bi-tech package (our mainframe system) wasn't fully developed and time was needed to allow for technicians to fully analyze the problems and seek out remedies.

It makes sense to be tied into the county's payroll and fiscal mainframe, but it requires good and open communication between agencies. User groups were created and technology directors worked to support the personnel and business offices.

Videoconferencing 

Remote face-to-face communication across long distances with video and audio contact that may include graphics and data exchange is now being used by school districts on a more regular basis. This technology serves as a point-to-point conferencing mode between two sites, or even multi-point conferencing.

As school districts waited for the May Revise on the budget, a video conference was set up between Sacramento and the local agency. School business officials were able to access information coming out of budget committees and interact through monitors and microphones as if they were in the same location. The high cost of travel is reduced and time is saved. The interaction can involve many people who otherwise would not be able to hear the information first hand. A question-and-answer period is a common feature of the video conference as participants actively engage the information source.

Online purchasing and fund-raising

Another technology that has already had a major impact on the business office is our online purchasing package. The district's director of procurement regularly reviews and purchases supplies and equipment via the Internet. In the past, purchases were made through catalogues, in-person solicitation and store accounts. Comparison of products, cost analysis, reviews of past purchases and inventories were more difficult tasks, required greater time and often did not provide accurate and usable information.

Now, through the Internet, the purchasing agent can easily compare and contrast products and services and enter into purchasing agreements. There even has become quite a competitive market for online companies that hope to sell their wares to school districts. Teachers who may be unhappy with a particular brand of construction paper or a waterbase paint can now contact the business office and receive feedback more quickly than in the past.

Parents can access a new ACSA-endorsed online fund-raising company, www.schoolpop.com, to purchase a variety of products. A percentage of the product cost is rebated back to the school of choice. Products for sale are used regularly by consumers. The potential for large fund-raising dollars for PTAs and student body organizations is great.

Barcodes and portable scanners

For the last several years our district has been dealing with audit issues related to fixed assets and inventory. Though we told our board that most districts do not keep a strict accounting of fixed asset values, impending accounting requirements prompted us to look for ways of meeting the new standards. Again, technology played a significant role in the solution.

In addition to hiring a firm to do a complete inventory that has been loaded into our district computer system, we also placed a barcode that identified each item as belonging to our district and tied the item into our inventory system.

Now, inventory is a matter of using portable barcode scanners, which read the item barcode, verify the item to the operator and finally upload their contents to the inventory system. New items to our inventory have a barcode affixed prior to delivery to school sites. This has improved processing time and accuracy, fulfilled audit requirements and turned inventory into a less onerous task. Barcodes and scanners have made the transition possible, while having the additional benefit of preparing us for implementation of GASB 34, the new state audit guideline.

Forms and applications

The paperless office is fast becoming a reality. The many forms that school districts use and duplicate are now placed on the district's Web site. Intra- and inter-district transfer forms, menus, free and reduced lunch applications, claim requests, student insurance enrollment and many other forms are now accessible through the Web. Parents can complete and file these documents quickly and efficiently. School officials now download grant applications, budget forms and state reports and conduct other business over the Web.

Writable optical storage

While e-mail, the Internet and computer-based accounting systems have eliminated much of the paper flow in the business division, we have created a new problem -- data management. For some time, our data on the districtwide servers has been religiously backed up by the technology staff onto a high-speed tape system, but files on individual computers were vulnerable to loss by mechanical failure or operator error. As much as we advocate and admonish, every year someone loses vital information because they don't have a current backup of their data files.

Thus we have begun installing writable optical storage units on all new computers. The cost of these units has come down in price and we have found that users are more apt to archive data when it involves the simple technique of moving a copy of files to a CD. Multiple diskettes, unreliable internal tape drives or fussy zip drives have all proven less user-friendly than the CD-R.

The average CD stores 500 to 600 megabytes of information, which most of our users have found is large enough to store all their important data, if they don't bother with easily replaceable operating systems and programs. CD storage combines many benefits into one method that other mediums do not: 1) all CDs are readable on a variety of drives and operating systems; 2) durability is superb since only a beam of light touches the recording layer; 3) accessibility and response time is fast and continues to improve; 4) CDs are cost effective since they may be rewritten and reused; and 5) they are extremely portable and secure.

Personal digital assistants (PDAs)

Many have considered these small handheld computers as little more than status symbols of the "techie" generation. Truthfully, many of us were simply attracted to them because they were the latest gadget. What we found after a period of use is that these palm-sized computers were exceptionally good at helping us keep track of our work-home schedules and contact information.

Secretaries were able to link to our calendars, so we no longer needed our daily or weekly calendar meetings. An appointment made by a secretary would show up on our PDA the next time we linked to our computer. Secretaries enjoyed knowing where we were and it became more efficient for those desiring an appointment.

The PDA is equally proficient at enabling us to get e-mail messages, driving directions, maps and news clips. All of these items update each time we connect to our personal computer. The PDA's small size and capabilities soon had us leaving our hefty planners at the office. Though initial cost is higher than a deluxe planner and calculator, when measured over the long term costs are comparable.

The next step

Even though we go to great efforts to ensure our system is free from the effects of viruses and secure from outside tampering, we know that with the everincreasing flow of information over the Internet, our system integrity can be violated. While our virus protection sol, ware is constantly upgraded, we also plan to add encryption abilities to our system. With encryption (scrambling), privacy and security are increased for data such as e-mail, financial information and payroll/personnel information traveling over the Internet. While there is not an absolute assurance that these efforts will keep us safe from intrusion, we can make our district a less attractive target.

As we walk through our school business office, the daily operation as it existed just three to five years ago has changed dramatically. Interconnectivity is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception. Electronic communication and service is making the job of the school business official more efficient, yet more in-depth. Technology is an able assistant.

Districts would be wise to budget not only for the one-time purchase, but also for the ongoing costs of management and maintenance. Many districts used the supplemental grant program to fund educational technology on a regular basis. Others separate out their instructional material money to support their efforts. New technology-restricted money is included in the recent state budget, and technology grants are available.

The job of conducting the business of a school district has changed dramatically and now requires chief business officials who are adept at accessing countless new technologies to keep their districts productive and well informed in a competitive market.

BUSINESS MODELS

"As in corporate America, there are distinct cycles for the integration of technology into education," according to the CEO Forum's School Technology and Readiness Report, Year 3. Those cycles include:

1 Planing, investigation and experimentation

Schools go through an initial stage of planning and experimenting in which a few educators begin using technology in new ways and becoming technology proponents.

2 Initial capital investments

Once the school or district is convinced of the value of educational technology, initial investments are made to bring technology into the school.

3 Readjustment 

As educators become increasingly comfortable with technology and its potential, they expand the scope of activities that use technology. Schools must readjust investments, expectations and teaching methods to take advantage of the expansive resources technology makes available to improve performance and achieve concrete educational objectives.

4 The emergence of new work and organizational models

Technology becomes an essential tool for students and educators. It allows the flexibility to create new forms of collaborative and inquiry-based learning and, at the same time, improves academic performance.

The Year 3 STaR report is available online at www.ceoforum.org

Marc Ecker is superintendent of Fountain Valley School District, where Stephen McMahon is assistant superintendent for business/administration and Patricia Minnesang is director of technology/media.