WSSDA OnBoard

Building skilled leaders and effective boards

OnBoard is an interactive learning experience designed for both individual school directors and board-superintendent teams. As a comprehensive learning system, OnBoard’s aim is to help school directors provide visionary leadership and perform effective governance and strategic advocacy.

Current Offerings

Deciphering District Budgets

Tackling Financial Soundness

  • Wed. March 17
    5:30-8:30 p.m. 
    (Registration closed)
  • Tue. March 30
    5:30-8:30 p.m.
    (Registration closed)

Vision-aligned Budgeting

  • Thur. March 25
    5:30-8:30 p.m.
    (Registration closed)
  • Mon. April 5
    5:30-8:30 p.m. 
    Register

See below for descriptions of each training currently offered.

5 Steps to Financial Fluency

One step leads to another in this virtual workshop series on public education funding and budgeting in Washington state. The first three steps can be taken as needed, but steps 4 and 5 have prerequisites.

Each training is currently offered virtually via Zoom as a live, interactive learning experience that takes about three hours and costs $50.

Click below to register for a workshop.

Untangle the complexity of state funding, which is the primary financial support for Washington’s K-12 schools. Explore the primary categories of general apportionment funding, expand your knowledge about funding of the six Basic Education programs, and gain an overview of the four Basic Education categorical programs. The knowledge you gain will be immediately applicable to your work in guiding, approving, and reviewing district budgets.

Prerequisites: None
Available: Not scheduled at this time

Expand your knowledge of local and federal funding for school districts; review the different types of levies and bonds and the state’s approach for determining levy limitations; learn about Local Effort Assistance; get familiar with aspects of federal funding provided through the Every Student Success Act (ESSA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This knowledge will help you plan for levies and bonds and guide the development and adoption of the district budget.

Prerequisites: None
Available: Not scheduled at this time

Get to know the structure and basic terminology used in the district budget. Become familiar with the five funds used in district accounting and learn about the system used to code district revenue and expenditures. Making sense of “Section A” of a district budget and unlocking the basics of the budget coding system will allow you to decipher many types of information. The knowledge you gain will help you ask key questions when the board is involved in developing and monitoring the district budget.

Prerequisites: None
Available: Wed. April 21, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register
Thur. April 29, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register

Learn about the key budget drivers for districts and the Financial Health Indicators developed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Examine the concepts underlying each indicator, identify how district profile scores are determined, and learn to navigate OSPI's website to access your district’s profile. All this information will help you provide board-appropriate guidance for financial soundness when developing and monitoring the district budget.

Prerequisites: Step 3 recommended but not required.
Available: Wed. March 17, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register
Tue. March 30, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register

See the significant connection between the allocation of resources and progress toward your district’s vision. Explore three board commitments that research shows to be essential in the development of budget guidelines that are aligned with the board’s vision. These guidelines, along with financial soundness guidelines, are central to developing, monitoring and when necessary, adjusting the district budget. Review legally required budget status reports and customized district budget supplements that specifically support the board’s responsibility for monthly monitoring. All this information will help you provide board-appropriate guidance in budget development, ask key questions during monthly budget monitoring, and maintain the district’s vision through the budget.

Prerequisites: Step 4 or instructor permission.
Available: Thur. March 25, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register
Mon. April 5, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Register

Testimonials

“I have been a part of several other virtual trainings where an hour seemed like three hours. This was the opposite, three hours seemed like one.”

“The combination of the training being interactive and having the opportunity to work with multiple people of different backgrounds and skill sets magnified the benefit of this curriculum.”

Staff Contacts

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