The document discusses strategies for maximizing district budgets to support student safety and distance learning amid the challenges posed by COVID-19. It features insights from various education experts on funding opportunities and management, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning, creative use of resources, and ensuring fiscal solvency during uncertain times. Additionally, it highlights the role of technology in enhancing student safety and the community's involvement in supporting educational resources.

1. Back to School 2020: Maximizing District Budgets to Support
Student Safety and Distance Learning
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Join the Education Funding community: www.edweb.net/educationfunding
Susan Gentz
Partner
K20Connect
Twitter @shoing
Arati Nagaraj
Senior Consultant
K20Connect
and School Board Trustee,
Saratoga Union School District, CA
Twitter @aratinagaraj
Kecia Ray, Ed.D.
(Moderator)
Owner and Principal
K20Connect
Twitter @keciaray
Dr. David H. Trautenberg
(Acting) Chief Financial Officer
Garfield Re-2 School District
CEO, AlignK12 Education
Finance Consulting
Twitter @AlignK12Finance
Dr. Lisa Gonzales
Chief Business Officer
Mt. Diablo Unified School
District, CA
Twitter @techietwinmom

2. Dr. Kecia Ray’s career includes designing technology within the Frist Art Museum and
directing technology research through Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Science
Outreach programs. She was appointed as a turnaround agent to work with
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools from 2003–2007 by the Tennessee Commissioner
of Education, and she continued working with the district as a district administrator. In
Nashville, Dr. Ray established award-winning instructional technology programs that
were recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and Harvard University. Dr. Ray
was named “20 to Watch” by the National School Board Association, Woman of the Year
by the National Association of Professional Women, a top 10 EdTech Leaders by Tech &
Learning, and most recently named a Top 100 EdTech Influencer by EdTech Digest.
Follow Dr. Ray on Twitter @keciaray.
Dr. Kecia
Ray

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7. Susan Gentz is a partner at K20Connect, a consulting consortium of experts focused on
education leadership, technology, and policy. Susan comes from a strong policy background as a
former staffer in the United States Senate and legislative aide in the Iowa House of
Representatives. Along with experience at both federal and state levels, she served as the
deputy executive director for the Center for Digital Education, worked for a government
relations firm in Arlington, Virginia, and worked on federal and state education policy at iNACOL,
where she wrote published reports to move the field forward with innovative learning models,
best practices, and policy recommendations.
Follow Susan on Twitter @shoing.
Susan Gentz

8. Federal Funding
Funds, Uses, and What’s Next
Susan Gentz, Policy Guru

9. Federal Funding Opportunities
What came down from the federal government:
● ESSER
● GEER
● ESF-REM

10. UsesofFunds
Funds Moving Fast
● Different nature of federal funds—nothing like this
● Strategic planning importance
● Identifying priorities
State Funds
● Governor funds/priorities
● State set-asides
● State budgets
Creative Uses
● Combining ESSER/GEER funds for competitive grants
● Partnering with other institutions (e.g. Institute of Museum & Library Sciences)
● Partnering with localities

11. What’s Next Out of DC?
The HEALS Act
● Still in negotiations
● $70B for K-12 ESF
● Another $5B for GEER Fund
● Planning until the
funding is certain

12. Dr. Lisa Gonzales was president of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), an
18,000 member organization. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Urban
Superintendent’s Academy and the Stanford University Executive Program for Education Leaders.
Lisa was one of 100 superintendents selected as #FutureReady by President Obama and Secretary
Arne Duncan. Dr. Gonzales is currently the chief business officer for the Mt. Diablo Unified School
District in the Silicon Valley. Her advocacy work has resulted in numerous awards, including ACSA
Leadership Matters Legislative Award, White House ConnectED Superintendent Award, National
“Women in Leadership” Award from the School Superintendents Association, and Commendation
for Public School Leadership from the City of San Jose. Committed to female leadership, she helped
resurrect ACSA’s Women’s Leadership Network and speaks statewide and nationally on a number of
topics around women’s issues in leadership, branding, networking, and technology. She has written
dozens of articles on topics related to leadership, safe schools, strategic planning, and leadership
support programs for principals and other educational leaders.
Follow Dr. Gonzales on Twitter @techietwinmom.
Dr. Lisa Gonzales

13. Fiscal Insights From Mt. Diablo Unified
Silicon Valley, CA
29,200 students in TK-12
3,700 staff
$372M operating budget
● 50 school sites, 150 square miles,
10 cities/unincorporated areas
● 43% Latino, 30% white, 8% Asian, 7% Filipino,
3% African American, 9% other

14. Mt.DiabloUnified,CA Staffing
● Partner with bargaining groups
● Transportation, food service, counselors, community service support, mobile
service centers
● Instructional aides to support special education students in small groups
Connectivity
● Hotspots
● Wi-Fi on buses
● Parking lot connectivity
● Community partnerships
Federal & State Funds
● Cash is king!
● Interfund borrowing
● Consider short-term versus long-term expenses
● Think creatively about restricted, one-time funds
● Be cautious with negotiations

15. Advice for
Newbies?
● Network like crazy
● Find learning partners
(professional
organizations,
LinkedIn)
● Read, read, read
● Keep your external
auditor on speed dial

16. A nationally recognized expert in K12 finance, Dr. Trautenberg is the founder and CEO of AlignK12.
Align K12 specializes in assisting school districts in the alignment, allocation, and continuous
improvement of financial resources to the district’s strategic plan. Employing an entry planning
approach to “hit the ground learning,” AlignK12 identifies the relationships, processes, and tools, and
creates the conditions necessary to optimize resources at the district level to improve student
outcomes. Recent notable achievements include restructuring and rebuilding finance teams of the
Aurora (CO) and New Orleans public schools; forensic review of budget practices and procedures and
contributor to Omaha Public Schools’ 2025 strategic plan; and acting CFO for the Garfield RE-2 School
District to support the Board of Education’s takeover and restructuring of that rural district’s
finances. Trautenberg received his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) GSE
Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Organizational and Educational Leadership; an MBA from the
Stanford Graduate School of Business; master’s degrees in education from both Penn (Secondary Ed)
and Leeds University (Curriculum Theory); and a B.A. from Penn, where he was elected to Phi Beta
Kappa.
Follow Dr. Trautenberg on Twitter @AlignK12Finance.
Dr. David H.
Trautenberg

17. Budgeting During COVID-19
Leverage change with a systems’ approach
● Align-size 2020–21 expenditures to meet the instructional, health, and
learning needs of our students, regardless of educational model
● Conservation over a multi-year period
● Revenues – expenses ≥ zero
● Discourage funding multi-year expenses with one-time funding streams
● Maintain sufficient reserves to manage COVID-19 complexity, maintain
optionality, and preserve flexibility

18. Aligning Resources ($s) to Priorities
Leverage change with a systems approach
● Reconfirm district’s priorities (in the context of the strategic plan)
● Know your “binding constraints”
○ State and local funding, physical classroom space, COVID-19 state
guidelines, transportation, PPE, economic-socio-political landscape
● Identify and parse discrete funding sources
○ Fungible dollars (how healthy is your unassigned general fund balance?)
○ Categorical funding (Title, ELPA, Medicaid)
○ CARES Act funds (CRF and ESSER)
● Can district debt be refinanced?
● Stay connected to superintendent, district leadership, and the BOE
● Communicate and be transparent

19. Be Organized and Stay Creative
● Recognize areas that are ripe for change
● Stay connected to fellow CFOs, finance directors, and DOE professionals
● Everything is an “audit trail”
● Tinker (test and pilot) your way toward a “newtopia”
● Preserve all options whenever possible
● Sometimes just say “no”
● Maintaining the district’s financial health requires you to stay physically
and emotionally healthy
● It took almost 10 years to get back to pre-Great Recession
funding levels: This one may take longer.

20. Arati Nagaraj is an education consultant, EdTech advisor, and school board trustee in the San
Francisco Bay Area. With 25+ years in education, Arati has used her curriculum design skills to
create unique learning experiences in education and nonprofit sectors at Pearson, EdSurge, and
Silicon Valley Education Foundation. She has also leveraged these skills to create employee
onboarding and training programs at Apple, Facebook, Google, and Uber. Arati is currently on the
EdTech advisory board for Central Square Foundation in New Delhi, India. In November 2020, she
will complete 10 years as a trustee of the Saratoga Union School District Board in California. Arati
has an M.Ed. in media and technology from Boston University and a bachelor’s in early childhood
education from India.
Follow Arati on Twitter @aratinagaraj.
Arati Nagaraj

21. District Leadership
Alignment. Fiscal Solvency. Partnerships.
Arati Nagaraj, School Board Member and Former
Board Chair, Saratoga Union School District, CA

22. ALIGNMENT

23. ALIGNMENT
The board must have:
● A common understanding of the guiding principles established by the board,
especially around fiscal responsibility
● Knowledge of the various sources of funding during this time of crisis—seek
to understand from your superintendent and CBO
● An understanding of the needs of the community it serves: teachers, staff,
parents, and students

24. FISCAL
SOLVENCY

25. FISCAL SOLVENCY
● Consider what is ONE TIME versus RECURRING influx of money (what
Susan outlined)
○ Use one time for exactly that (one-time use) not recurring (such as
salaries)
● Think not just about this year, the real impact to budget will be in the coming
years—plan for it
● If there are open positions in your district, revisit the role and see if they are
relevant in the current situation. If not, don’t fill them!

26. PARTNERSHIPS

27. PARTNERSHIPS
● Repurpose: Look within your school community for organizations that may
have raised $$ for programs that can no longer be implemented
● Outreach: Look outside your school community and to your extended
community for resources and support for families

28. 2020Report Investing in Student Safety: The Costs, the Benefits, and the ROI
Authored by Dr. Kecia Ray
The ROI for school
districts using Gaggle
How schools can take a
comprehensive approach to
student safety
How climate and
culture contribute to
school safety
Legal aspects of
student safety
and privacy
https://news.gaggle.net/investing-in-student-safety

29. Questions & Answers
Join the Education Funding community: www.edweb.net/educationfunding
Paget Hetherington
Vice President, Marketing
Gaggle
Twitter @pageth
@Gaggle_K12
Susan Gentz
Partner
K20Connect
Twitter @shoing
Arati Nagaraj
Senior Consultant
K20Connect
and School Board Trustee,
Saratoga Union School
District, CA
Twitter @aratinagaraj
Kecia Ray, Ed.D.
Owner and Principal
K20Connect
Twitter @keciaray
Dr. David H. Trautenberg
(Acting) Chief Financial Officer
Garfield Re-2 School District
CEO, AlignK12 Education
Finance Consulting
Twitter @AlignK12Finance
Dr. Lisa Gonzales
Chief Business Officer
Mt. Diablo Unified School
District, CA
Twitter @techietwinmom

30. Get your CE Certificate for this presentation
Join edWeb to get your CE certificate—it’s free!
Your CE certificate can be downloaded from your
edWebinar transcript on your homepage by the end
of the next business day.
The CE quiz will also be posted on your edWebinar
transcript if you need to take the quiz.
Join the community for free access to the resources!
Community members can get all the resources for
this edWeb presentation and access to recordings
and resources for past presentations:
edweb.net/educationfunding

31. Thank you for attending!
Learn more about Gaggle at gaggle.net or email marketingteam@gaggle.net
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Susan Gentz
Partner
K20Connect
Twitter @shoing
Arati Nagaraj
Senior Consultant
K20Connect
and School Board Trustee,
Saratoga Union School
District, CA
Twitter @aratinagaraj
Kecia Ray, Ed.D.
Owner and Principal
K20Connect
Twitter @keciaray
Dr. David H. Trautenberg
(Acting) Chief Financial Officer
Garfield Re-2 School District
CEO, AlignK12 Education
Finance Consulting
Twitter @AlignK12Finance
Dr. Lisa Gonzales
Chief Business Officer
Mt. Diablo Unified School
District, CA
Twitter @techietwinmom
Paget Hetherington
Vice President, Marketing
Gaggle
Twitter @pageth
@Gaggle_K12

32. GaggleIsSavingLives
PREVENT
Gaggle uses a powerful
combination of technology
and trained safety experts to
provide real-time analysis and
review of students’ use of
school-issued devices
ANTICIPATE
Gaggle helps districts see the
early warning signs so they
can take action to protect
students from harming
themselves or others—before it’s
too late
GUIDE
Schools using Gaggle intervened
in more than 5,600 cases of
possible suicide or self-harm
during the 2019–20 school year,
saving 927 lives