Explore Wisconsin and federal laws guiding school finance. Learn compliance in budgeting, reporting, and fund stewardship. Key topics: open records, public meetings, procurement, audits, residency, and contract management with vendors and agencies.
Learn to forecast and manage cash flow, assess financial risk, and make informed short-term borrowing decisions. This course covers the role of fund balance in liquidity, the use of letters of credit, and strategies for identifying red flags early.
This course empowers education leaders to foster a culture of ethics, integrity, and transparency across their districts. Participants will explore real-world ethical dilemmas and develop the skills to navigate complex decisions with confidence.
Explore payment tools and timing strategies for efficient, accountable purchasing. Learn secure use of P-cards, checks, EFT, ACH, year-end cutoffs, e-commerce, and safe, compliant cash handling procedures.
Learn the first step in risk management: identifying exposures, hazards, and losses in property, people, liability, and finances. Explore tools like checklists, data, and reviews, and see how risk identification drives insurance and more.
Collaborate with tech leaders to ensure safe, efficient, and sustainable digital environments. Learn responsibilities for district technology infrastructure, including device programs, secure systems, and disaster recovery strategies.
Examine rules for investing debt proceeds, arbitrage, and managing annual debt service. Learn reporting requirements, refinancing strategies, and how debt obligations affect shared costs in school district finance.
Learn to build long-term capital plans that support facilities and district goals. Cover Fund 46, budgeting, lifecycle planning, referenda prep, RFPs, project oversight, and community engagement with strategies for budgets, vendors, and transparency.
Explore risk analysis in schools by assessing financial and non-financial impacts of incidents and hazards. Learn forecasting, root cause analysis, and key indicators to guide treatments, refine insurance, and communicate risks with data and reports.
Examines Wisconsin public schools from constitutional roots to today’s voucher era. Reviews key historical milestones, district roles, funding, budgets, and referenda to build understanding of governance and operations.
Learn to prepare, interpret, and manage balance sheets in school finance. Cover debits, credits, assets, liabilities, revenues, expenditures, and fund balance. Explore deposits, interfund activities, and controls for accurate year-end statements.
Master school payroll: tax withholding, wage classification, FLSA, W-2s, unemployment, WRS, FMLA, leave, garnishments, LTD, vacation payouts, and key differences between budgeting and payroll posting dates.
Learn procurement strategies balancing fiscal responsibility and education. Cover bidding rules, vendor management, RFP use, P-cards, online purchasing, and cooperative options through State, CESAs, and UW System agreements.
Gain a practical grasp of district budgets: enrollment counts, revenue limits, and funding streams like property taxes, categorical and equalization aids. Learn to plan for personnel, wages, benefits, non-personnel costs, and understand fund balance.
Learn internal controls for school business offices: what they are, why they matter, and how to keep them effective. Protect against theft, fraud, or misuse, ensure reliable financials, and build taxpayer trust in district resources.