Why Hire an SBO?


Every decision made in a school district has a wide reaching impact: from administrators, to teachers to, ultimately, students! When surveyed, school business officials (SBOs)  reported saving an average of $604,795 in a typical school year, simply by doing their job.

Beyond the financial expertise, school business officials are multi-faceted leaders whose knowledge base reaches far beyond the budget. A school business official is a partner is strategic planning who coordinates with the superintendent, board and community to support the vision and mission of the district and make sure they understand the long-term ramifications of their decisions. 

Hiring an SBO to focus on the complexities of school finance not only helps save money, but brings the district the perspective needed to navigate the latest changes in school funding policy. The bottom line is that you can't afford NOT to bring a trained school business professional into your district. See below for examples of how school business professionals have achieved saving for their districts! 

Download the Superintendent's Guide to Recruitment, Hiring & Evaluation for more on the value of school business official and to resources to help you through every step of the hiring process! 

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Reported Savings of School Business Officials

I saved at least two times my salary by leaving no stone unturned.”
 I did the analysis and made a tough recommendation to close two schools, tighten overall supply and purchased services spending and eliminate some popular but ineffective programs at a savings of $2,500,000.”
In the last year, I saved the district around $900,000 by looking for inefficiencies or duplication of efforts and eliminating or changing procedures to save on personnel costs, as well as making a change in health benefits for employees that saved the district $750,000 in year one.”
I wrote two $500,000 grants to improve the district health clinics. I have written other grants for construction and curricular needs for the district in addition to my regular responsibilities. Prior to my joining the district, no grants were written by the business office.”
Three districts in our area banded together and bid transportation as a group. The annual savings to my district alone is around $400,000.”
By examining the district's financial situation, we were able to execute a pay-to-ride transportation program, bid out almost every contract we had, pull back over identified special education students and come away with big savings to stabilize the district, saving around $1.2 million or five percent of the operating budget.”

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