Newsletter

School finances are in dire straits as we all know. No one expects energy costs to go down but there are significant opportunities to save, often with low or no cost.

MSBO is pleased to announce the release of the 2009 Student Transportation Benchmarking Survey. The report provides student transportation policy makers and managers with information on comparative performance indicators and best practices in pupil transportation.

Don’t miss out on these savings! If you register and pay for the 2010 MSBO Annual Conference & Exhibit Show by Monday, February 1, 2010 you will receive an Early Bird discount. Regular registration will be $275, but early bird registration is $240.

MSBO’s Certification is a voluntary program providing focused training. The following classes offer practical information that will help school business officials succeed and excel in their employment. All of these classes will be held at the MELG Building (MSBO offices) in Lansing.

The Office of Retirement Services (ORS) Payroll Advisory Team was formed in early 2007 and has been instrumental in guiding the ORS in piloting retirement reporting fixes.

In 2006, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm initiated Buy Michigan First to encourage Michigan businesses to register with the State as vendors and bid on state contract opportunities. Since that time, 90 percent of Michigan tax dollars spent on state contracts have gone to Michigan businesses.

What more can be said about the dire financial condition all of us face in our districts? All of us are grappling with per pupil reductions to our foundation allowances and trying to figure out how we will balance our budgets next year, and I do mean all of us.

Author David Cotts, in The Facility Management Handbook (1999) regarding benchmarking states, “Doing more and being more responsive with fewer resources means that facility managers need to be able to measure work realistically and have better evaluative tools.”

The last few weeks and months have certainly been crazy, what with all the issues surrounding the funding problems and trying to address a state budget has gone haywire.

More than 1,500 supporters of public education from across the state descended on Lansing to urge the Legislature to restore funding cuts and find a long-term solution to fix Michigan's school funding system last week on November 10.