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AssociAtion of school Business officiAls – MArylAnd & the district of coluMBiA ■ spring | summer 2015

mattersnews journalwww.asbo.org

■ New Ways to Save Money on Health Benefits

■ Your Audit Doesn’t Have to Be Stressful!

■ Converting from Salary to Merit-Based Pay

■ Is School Lunch Better Than Packed Lunch?

ASBO – THe CONNeCTION TO YOur PrOfeSSION

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ASBO MATTERS NEWS JOURNAL • 3

ASBO MATTERS NEWS JOURNALis published for:

The Association of School Business Officials – Maryland & the District of ColumbiaPO Box 6602Lutherville, MD [email protected]

Executive Director:John Lang IIIAdministration:Regina Wonders

Published by:

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Publisher: Jack EllerEditor: Shani CalvoProject Manager: Amanda GoodwinAdvertising Director: Brian AgnesAdvertising Sales: Brian DonohoeMarketing: Kent AgramonteLayout & Design: Dan Proudley

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2015/ ASB-B0115/5233

©2015 Naylor, LLC. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Attention Members – If you would like to submit editorial ideas, contact ASBO MD&DC Executive Director John Lang at [email protected] or 410-608-0911.

Spring | Summer 2015

Departments 4 FROM THE PRESIDENT

5 ExECUTIvE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

26 ASSOCIATION NEWS

26 INDEx OF ADvERTISERS

Features06 HEALTHCARE COSTS

New Ways to Save Money on Health Benefits

08 MENTAL HEALTH Fostering a Mentally Healthy, High-Performance Work Environment

12 TAx TIME Your Audit Doesn’t Have to Be Stressful!

14 FINANCIAL CHANGES Converting from Salary Schedules to Merit Pay-Based Salary Formulas

20 HUMAN RESOURCES Caroline County Public Schools Leverages Administrative Software to Support Effective Business Practices

23 FOOD SERvICE Is School Lunch Better Than Packed Lunch?

24 TECHNOLOGY UPDATES Why More Schools Are Adopting Tablet Solutions

8

14

cONTENTS6

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4 • www.naylornetwork.com/asbo

F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T B Y G L E N N R . B E L M O R E

Today I can tell you that the Spirit of ASBO has continued in our strengths, versatility, technology, and our membership. As stated last year, the organization would continue to count on each member’s willingness to work with ASBO MD&DC to find acceptable solu-tions to the challenges in the year ahead. The membership and all those committed to mak-ing a difference have done just that, they have crossed the barriers achieving a higher level of management and professional develop-ment, achieving a higher level of significance for our membership. We have moved forward in our use of technology, we have welcomed a new working relationship with our colleagues in virginia and in Delaware, we are continuing to expand membership growth.

We continue to draw on the experiences from lessons learned in the implementation of Professional Development Programs, both in terms of results achieved and opportunities missed. I have seen firsthand the commitment to new initiatives, professional development, and teamwork. The objectives the 2004 stra-tegic plan have placed the organization in good standing today. In moving forward with the 2015 ASBO MD&DC strategic plan review, where do we want to be in 2025?

In these ever-changing times, we have continued to create a climate in which

people are motivated, engaged, and con-tribute to teamwork benefiting the educa-tional process.

Remember, it is not what we get, but who we become, what we contribute, that gives meaning to our lives. Albert Einstein stated, “All that is valuable in human soci-ety depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” That opportunity at ASBO is professional development.

We look forward to seeing all of you in May at the spring conference in Ocean City. One of our keynote speakers is Dr. Jeffrey McCausland, Founder and CEO of Diamond 6 Leadership, LLC and a retired Army Colonel with over 30 years of unique and challenging leadership experiences. As a retired military officer and veteran Jeff’s work has taken him all over the world serving in a variety of command and staff positions at the National Security Council, U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., and the Pentagon. Be sure to attend his edu-cational session, and his keynote presen-tation that is sure to inspire all.

It has been a challenging but enjoyable year as your president. As we work together, we will continue to be the difference and continue the spirit of ASBO. Thank you!

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

SAVE THE DATE: SPRING cONFERENcEThe month of May continues to be the epitome of ASBO professional development – the annual Spring Conference. The dates for 2015 are May 17-20 at the Ocean City Convention Center. Starting with the Welcome Gala on Sunday evening, you’ll be immersed in over 45 education sessions, afforded networking opportunities, exposed to information on new products and services, and involved in informal discussion groups. We are honored this year to have Sean McComb, National Teacher of the Year, as a Keynote Speaker. The full list of sessions will be available in February, but don’t wait until then to put the 63rd Annual Spring Conference on your calendar!


E=Mc2. a2+B2=c2. Everyone recognizes these formulas, but how often do you use them at work? How about SOW=SOR? Bet you didn’t have that in geometry or algebra. But it’s a formula that the school business official should take heed of every day. Same Old Way = Same Old Results.

In today’s world of school business, adaptability, ingenuity and effectiveness are the marks of a successful professional and leader. Sure, you have a lot of great ideas and have done exciting things in your school district. But what are others doing across Maryland, the District of Columbia and Delaware that you can learn from? What approaches are they taking to solv-ing the complexities of the Affordable Care Act? What are they doing to improve their teacher hiring practices? Are they mak-ing more effective use of cooperative pur-chasing? What are the Food and Nutrition Services directors doing to meet new fed-eral regulations on training?

Everyone has their own small, informal network to share ideas and problems with. But ASBO MD&DC provides the opportunity to greatly broaden that network to encom-pass 1,000 school system professionals and

hundreds of business partners, and to give you access to what is working in other districts and to what are the most current services and products that will help you provide the best support to the classroom, our ultimate customer. From our two annual conferences (with a total of 60 superb education sessions) and workshops, to the Foundations of School Business Management curriculum, B.I.G. forums, Phillips Best Practice award innova-tions, and soon to come member blogs, you’ll have access to a wealth of new ideas and inter-esting takes on older ones. Add in the topical articles in ASBO Matters and ASBO Connects, and the national education news briefing that you receive each weekday, and you will be current on what is going on in the chal-lenging world of school business. And you’ll make new professional friends to add to your own personal network.

There are exciting things going on across the state in energy savings, technology, sus-tainability, food services, and in every facet of school operations. There is no better way to stay informed and to make your own con-tributions to the field of school business than by being an active member of ASBO and shar-ing your success stories.

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R ’ S M E S S A G E B Y J O H N L A N G I I I

“It’s amazing what you accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit”– Harry S. Truman

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T I S O U R B U S I N E S S | W W W . A S B O . O R G

ASBO MARYLAND & D.C. CONNECTS YOU TO WHAT MATTERS

ASBO Maryland & D.C. is helping you stay connected.

In addition to the annual directory, our member communications now include ASBO

Connects eNewsletter and ASBO Matters News Journal.

INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING? CONTACT BRIAN AGNES | PUBLICATION DIRECTORAT (770) 810-6979 | EMAIL: [email protected]

Stay connected to what matters with our full complement ofASBO MD&DC member communications.

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Terms like “Health Reform,” “Obamacare,” “Insurance Exchanges,” and “Cadillac Tax” form part of a new vocabulary, but do not offer any help to employers in controlling the most

pressing problem in regard to health benefits – costs. While the current focus of regula-tory agencies, courts, state insurance depart-ments, and brokers and consultants has been on the compliance issues, fees, and penalties arising from legislated health reform, there is also a growing group of entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators who are tackling the cost challenge head on. The problem for most employers is that unless someone, who is generally outside the mainstream health-

care benefits industry, brings these ideas to them they won’t

know what savings can be achieved.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), an independent, nonprofit orga-nization that

provides advice to decision makers,

estimates that 31 per-cent of total healthcare

spending is “Waste.” Add to that the costs of illnesses that are preventable and lifestyle related, and the figure approaches 50 per-cent. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2012, “The savings potentially achievable from systematic, com-prehensive, and cooperative pursuit of even a fractional reduction in waste are far higher than from more direct and blunter cuts in care and cov-erage.” Traditional cost containment efforts just don’t focus on this savings potential.

During the last several years the common wisdom in health benefits has held that the employer has few options when trying to mit-igate costs. In fact, at the current time, the answer seems to be to push as much cost responsibility onto the shoulders of the cov-ered people as possible. The movement toward “Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHP),” which are based on high deductibles and large out-of-pocket limits, just camouflages the inability of the employer to manage costs in any other way. It might be said that CDHP has a different meaning – “Consumers Don’t Have a Prayer.” To believe that most people can intelligently shop for low cost and high quality care on their own within perhaps the most confusing and complicated facet of our economy, when at the same time they are worried or even scared about their health, is expecting too much. The “transparency tools” that have garnered so

much recent attention have a long way to go to be able to prove that enough people are being helped to justify their costs.

Fortunately there is another way. For those employers who have the willingness to imple-ment new and innovative programs, there are substantial savings to be enjoyed, while at the same time avoiding the need to place more cost burden onto the covered people.

The purpose of this article is to briefly outline a partial list of programs that meet three criteria:• Delivermeasurablesavings,• Improve the quality of the healthcare

delivered,• Protecttheemployeesfromfurthercosts

being shifted onto them.In addition, by following a recommended

cost savings strategy, most employers will incur no new cash burden during the imple-mentation of selected strategies.

COST SAVINGS STRATEGY STEP #1If the employer will look to how their self-

funded health plan is buying prescription drugs and compare their existing approach to a national employers’ coalition program that has extensive experience in the public sector, it is highly likely that they can save between 8 percent and 20 percent of that cost without changing benefits. That amount of savings equates to approximately $13 to $33 per cov-ered employee per month. Since the claims costs for prescription drugs are paid for by

New Ways to Save Money on Health Benefits

F E A T U R E : H E A L T H C A R E C O S T S B Y G E R A L D F . B L A U M


the employer very quickly after the patient purchases the drugs, the savings start almost immediately. These cash savings can be a fund-ing source that permits the employer to buy into other programs that have much larger potential savings capabilities but do include up-front costs per employee per month, with-out having to suffer any net, new, cash costs.

In addition to the savings available in regard to the cost of the drugs the coalition offers an additional optional program that encourages the patient’s attending physician to prescribe the most cost-effective drug as opposed to just the newest and most expen-sive version. The program has been very suc-cessful in reducing costs and since it requires the agreement of the attending physician before any changes can be made, the covered people are supportive of the change in pre-scription. The program offers a full 100 per-cent money back guarantee to the employer if savings do not exceed the program’s cost, which is $1.50 per member per month.

COST SAVINGS STRATEGY STEP #2Substantial documentation confirms that a

large percentage of hospital bills, on the order of 90 percent or higher, contain various types of errors, all of which tend to increase the cost to the self-funded employer. Most claims pay-ers i.e., insurance carriers or third party admin-istrators, audit a very small percentage of these bills, hence there is the likelihood that signifi-cant amounts of plan dollars could be saved. Audits should focus on multiple areas:• Clericalerrors,billingforthingsnotdone,• Qualityofcareissues,billingforthingsthat

should not have been done based on the patient’s diagnosis,

• Egregiousandexcessivechargedamounts.When all hospital bills are audited by a pro-

fessional firm that can address these three areas, and the firm operates on a contingency basis, so that unless there are savings the employer owes nothing, this becomes a sim-ple but effective cost containment tool. In many cases the overall savings will exceed 4 percent of total plan costs, or somewhere in the range of $30 per employee per month.

COST SAVINGS STRATEGY STEP #3Historically it has been very hard for cov-

ered people to be confident in their ability

to find the best quality physicians for their particular condition. At the same time the employer has been unable to offer tools that can help the employee identify those highest quality providers who are also cost efficient. Technology can now address both issues – quality and cost. New computer analytic pro-grams are available that use massive health claim databases to sort providers by these two standards. Put this technology in the hands of nurses who, via the telephone, can help patients identify those providers who are most likely to deliver the best quality of care in the most cost efficient manner and the potential is there to improve patient outcomes while at the same time generating savings for the employer. Studies have shown that this high powered patient support strategy can save as much as 20 percent of the plan’s total costs. The savings come about because it is gener-ally accepted that high quality providers are oftentimes the most cost efficient as well. They don’t waste resources with unneeded tests, they have fewer errors in judgment, tend to avoid unnecessary complications, etc. This kind of program will cost the employer in the range of $5 to $8 per covered employee per month, but a return on investment (ROI) of more than 5:1 is expected. This is an ideal place to leverage some of the savings from Strategy #1, the prescription drug coalition, to gener-ate much larger additional savings.

COST SAVINGS STRATEGY STEP #4Costs related to surgery are one of the lead-

ing drivers of a self-funded plan’s costs. Most health plans rely on the negotiating efforts of their insurance carrier or PPO network to limit the “allowed amount” on which the plan pays benefits. However, rarely do those networks identify the surgeons who provide the highest quality outcomes, so patients oftentimes have no idea if a particular surgeon is really the best

option for their procedure. A better way is to use a national narrow network of very high quality surgeons. When a patient is told they need surgery, a simple call to a trained coach will help them identify participating surgeons. The very stringent credentialing requirements for surgeons to be included in the network are such that the patient can be assured that the provider has the experi-ence, and successful body of work, that will give them the best chances possible for a great outcome. Because of how the sur-geons are paid the cost of each procedure is between 30 percent to 60 percent lower than the “discounted” fee negotiated by the health plan’s network. With such dramatic savings (knee joint replacement for example may average over $22,000 less per proce-dure) the employer can incent the employee to participate by relieving them of any cost sharing and still retain the lion’s share of the savings. The program does not require the employer to change their plans or vendors, it basically is a voluntary benefit offered to the covered people with appropriate finan-cial incentives to encourage participation.

CONCLUSIONWhile this list is not exhaustive it does

show how, with the introduction of new cost reduction programs, a self-funded employer can expect to save well over 10 percent of their total health plan cost, without increas-ing the burden on their employees or hav-ing to re-negotiate benefits. The traditional benefits marketplace is slow to adapt and slower to innovate, the employer needs to look to programs outside the traditional ben-efits industry to drive cost savings.

Gerald F. Blaum is with Innovation Programs, LLC and can be reached at [email protected] or 484-818-1006.

The movement toward “Consumer Driven Health Plans (cDHP),” which are based on high deductibles and large out-of-pocket limits, just camouflages the inability of the employer to manage costs in any other way.


Since we spend a significant chunk of our waking hours at work, employers are in a prime position to make a difference in America’s collective mental health. Because of the immense role they play

in employees’ lives, employers can be a first line of defense in keeping mental health issues from taking root, and can also play a pivotal role in helping individuals who suffer from depression and anxiety cope and recover.

I’m not placing the blame on employers for the current epidemic of mental health issues, but simply pointing out that illnesses like depression and anxiety are often exacerbated by environments that are stressful, demand-ing, and hectic (e.g., most workplaces).

Many employers can’t change the pace or workloads required of their employees, but they can cultivate a culture that fosters engagement and wellness. They can also take steps to reduce the unfortunate stigma around mental health issues, encourage employees to seek help, and actively support those who do. And while I hope that all busi-ness leaders genuinely care for the well-being of their staff members, the fact is that com-mitting to these changes won’t be a purely philanthropic endeavor, either – employers’

Work EnvironmentWhen employers step up and create a mentally healthy work culture, everyone benefits.

F E A T U R E : M E N T A L H E A L T H B Y G R A E M E C O W A N

bottom lines stand to benefit a great deal from improving their teams’ mental health.

In fact, a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that depressed workers experienced more health-related productivity losses than those without

depression – costing employers $44 billion. And despite the fact that depression and stress disorders are such a significant source of lost productivity, research shows that 86 percent of those afflicted would rather suf-fer in silence than speak up to their bosses.

Fostering a Mentally Healthy, High-Performance


Clearly, when employers step up and create a mentally healthy work culture, everyone wins. Here are several tips to help employers cre-ate programs that foster a mentally healthy and high-performing culture:

Link your efforts to purpose and values. First and foremost, understand that creating a culture of mental well-being isn’t something that can be changed simply by instituting new rules and policies. Employees’ wellbeing – particularly their mental health – is a very personal thing. And most people won’t be willing to speak up about their needs, pref-erences, struggles, and experiences unless they feel that your efforts are more than just another initiative handed down from the folks in the corner offices.

People are motivated and energized when they really believe that the changes being made will make a positive difference – not just to your company’s bottom line, but also to them as individuals. For example, Suncorp, an insurance company I work for, has identified “Creating brighter futures” as their overarch-ing purpose. It is easy to see the link between this goal, Suncorp’s future, and its employ-ees’ well-being.

Make sure leaders set the example. A global study of 19,000 employees by Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath showed that only 25 percent believed that their leader lived a balanced and sustainable lifestyle. The one in four employees who did believe that their leader lived a balanced and healthy life were shown to be 52 percent more engaged and 72 percent higher in health well-being (See the July 10, 2014 Harvard Business Review.)

The point? The most practical thing lead-ers can do to create a mentally healthy work culture is to lead healthy lives themselves. For instance, if you encourage employees to leave work at work so they can devote time to family, friends, hobbies, and exercise, you need to do the same. If your staff members see you sending frantic emails at 10:00 p.m., they’ll assume they should be connected after hours, too – and their stress levels will remain at unhealthy levels.

Don’t expect change to happen over-night – create a multi-year plan. Culture doesn’t change overnight, especially given the stigma associated with mental health

conditions. When you consider that almost 9 out of 10 of those afflicted would rather suffer in silence than share their condition with work colleagues, it becomes clear that a long-term plan is essential.

Overall, as they implement their plans, organizations should make sure to regularly assess the impact of stress on employees and how willing they are to share what is happen-ing to them with their colleagues at work. Some of the United States’ most successful organizations are including these questions in their annual engagement surveys.

Identify mental health champions. A mental health champion is someone who is familiar with the organization’s plan and goals, and who is willing to visibly lead change. While it’s important to designate champions at different levels throughout the organization, some should be leaders who have the power to shape organizational policy. And if possible, some should also be individuals who have coped with stress and anxiety, and who are willing to share their sto-ries. Seeing that speaking up about mental health issues isn’t met with stigma or disap-proval will be instrumental in ensuring long-term cultural change.

Given that one in four adults experience mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (www.nami.org), it’s likely that most of your employ-ees know someone suffering from a mental

F E A T U R E : M E N T A L H E A L T H B Y G R A E M E C O W A N

health issue, if they haven’t been dealing with one themselves. My point is, employees at all levels of your organization will have experi-ence helping someone (or themselves) cope with a mental health issue and may want to get involved – so finding champions might not be as difficult as you think. Soliciting their input for the design and communication of programs will be central to success.

Create a variety of programs and resources. Mental health is not one-size-fits-all. There should be programs and resources to help employees to stay in the “green zone,” as well as strategies to help those who have slipped into the “red zone.”

Because of the high level of stigma that still exists, it is essential that programs can be accessed anonymously, as well as in more traditional training settings. Also, be sure to identify processes and procedures within the organization that might be causing unnec-essary stress, and change them.

Target high-risk employees. Many organizations have observed that mental stress is highest where engagement levels are lowest. Central to improving health out-comes will be identifying the specific areas where employees are disengaged. There will undoubtedly be performance issues in these areas. Another key step in identifying high-risk employees is knowing what signs indi-cate they may be suffering from depression or anxiety. If a normally reliable employee

Many employers can’t change the pace or workloads required of their employees, but they can cultivate a culture that fosters engagement and wellness.

The best ice breaker? Simply ask, “Are you okay?”


starts calling in sick more than usual, missing deadlines or meetings, looks tired or over-whelmed, or has a decrease in overall per-formance, he or she could be suffering from a mental health issue.

Employers, managers, and coworkers should also keep an eye out for changes in temperament. For example, maybe an employee was well known for greeting you and other coworkers each morning or making friendly conversation during work breaks, but now goes straight to his desk or spends his breaks alone or surfing the Internet.

These could each be signs that depression has taken hold, and certainly indicate that it might be time to check in with this person to see how he’s doing.

Teach managers and team members how to ask, “Are you okay?” Fifty-one per-cent of employees believe that the most effective way to address harmful stress is “speaking to someone at work.” This creates a compelling case to increase the will and skill of managers and team members to ask, “Are you okay?” and encourage the stressed employee to take action. I recommend a

four-step process to building trust and help-ing someone you are concerned about. First, break the ice. The best ice breaker? Simply ask, “Are you okay?” Next, listen without judg-ment. Then, encourage action. And finally, follow up.

Many managers are paralyzed by the fear of saying the wrong thing and opt for say-ing nothing instead. I guarantee that if you approach the conversation with a genu-ine effort to “put yourself in their shoes,” your intent will be felt and appreciated. Compassion or emotional support plays an essential role in recovering from depression.

Employees say that when a supervisor or coworker shows they care about them as a person, it is the biggest predictor of recov-ery and return to productivity.

Monitor progress and share success stories.

It’s simple: What gets measured gets man-aged. That’s why your organization no doubt monitors absenteeism, employee turnover, and profitability – they are essential to success.

Surveys that identify employee engage-ment and stress levels should be added to this dashboard. And leaders should be very conscious of sharing mental health success stories – with the permission of the employee in question, of course.

Yes, transforming your company’s culture can seem like a daunting task, but if you want to continue to succeed in a rapidly chang-ing world, it is not optional. Just take this process one step at a time, making sure that rewards, processes, policies, and guidelines all reflect your commitment to improved mental health. The ROI your organization receives – in employee engagement, loyalty, and productivity – will be worth it

Graeme Cowan is the author of Back from the Brink: True Stories and Practical Help for Overcoming Depression and Bipolar Disorder (New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2014). www.IAmBackFromTheBrink.com.

This article originally appeared in the November 2014 School Business Affairs mag-azine and is reprinted with permission of the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO). The text herein does not necessarily represent the views or policies of ASBO International, and use of this imprint does not imply any endorsement or recog-nition by ASBO International and its officers or affiliates.

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The annual audit process can be stress-ful for financial executives at schools. As a former private school CFO and a current CPA, I have experienced the audit process from both perspectives

and had the opportunity to share my insights on preparing for financial statement audits at the ASBO Fall Conference in November. This article shares the major takeaways from my presentation, highlighting key things

F E A T U R E : T A X T I M E B Y J O H N C O P P O L A , C P A , M B A

Your Audit Doesn’t Have to Be Stressful!

you can do throughout the audit process in order to make it as successful and stress-free as possible.

Tip 1: Understand the ProcessA firm grasp of the audit process is critical

to successful preparation. Well in advance of the audit season, take some time both on your own and with your auditors, to research the audit requirements as they relate to Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) or Government Audit Standards (GAS) and OMB Circular A-133.

Tip 2: Get Involved in the Planning and Preliminary Work

The planning phase of an audit is a critical time for a CPA firm’s audit engagement team. It lays the groundwork for the upcoming audit and it’s where efficiencies are either gained or lost. The importance of the planning process should not be lost on you and your staff as the audit approaches. This is your opportunity to involve your in-house engagement team and make sure you are prepared. Set realis-tic timeframes and deadlines for completing preliminary work, fieldwork and deliverables based on major school initiatives and internal schedules. For example, if your organization is a June 30 year-end, and you are planning a vacation for two weeks in July, starting audit fieldwork the first week of August will likely set you up for failure.

Preliminary work serves as your opportu-nity to ask questions, express concerns and get the engagement off to a good start. There will be a lot of information flowing from both sides of the table during prelim work, and it’s

Your auditors will more than likely provide you with a Prepared

by client (PBc) List sometime before the audit begins. The

PBc List is your roadmap to audit success.


very important not to let auditor requests linger after your auditors have left the field. Prelim work is also a great opportunity to make sure the confirmation process gets started so missing confirmations don’t hold up the process later on down the road.

Your auditors will more than likely provide you with a Prepared by Client (PBC) List some-time before the audit begins. The PBC List is your roadmap to audit success. Take some time to understand your auditor’s requests and make sure you provide everything that they are asking for. If you aren’t sure why they are requesting something, feel free to ask them. This all goes back to understanding the audit process. It is also important to under-stand that this will certainly not be the last of your auditor’s requests!

Tip 3: Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

Trying to carry the load of a financial state-ment audit all on your own is cumbersome and likely a sure way to make mistakes. Make sure you are delegating tasks during the audit preparation process as needed. There are others within your organization that can and should be able to help you. Do not shoulder the burden alone!

Tip 4: Communicate Frequently“Auditors do not understand that I still have

day-to-day operational responsibilities while they are here.”

How many times have you said this to your-self during the audit process? It’s a familiar gripe that many financial managers have, but the good news is – you have the power to make them understand. It’s their job to audit your organization, but it’s your job to keep the ship running during the audit. So don’t be afraid to communicate your preferences to your engagement team. Do you want a daily organizational meeting with the auditors in the morning or the afternoon? Do you pre-fer an email at the end of each day with open items for you to tackle the following day? Do you prefer the pop-in? Whatever your prefer-ences are, your auditors can’t be expected to read your mind. Keep them apprised of when you will be tied up in meetings or out of the office. This will help them plan their approach for a specific audit area or a certain day.

It’s also important to make the audit team feel welcome. The audit process should be a team effort, not an “us” versus “them” men-tality. If you are ordering lunch for the office staff, include the auditors. If you usually put the auditors in the basement of the building, but you have an unoccupied conference room for the week, upgrade their accommodations. The resulting goodwill will go a long way.

Tip 5: Engagement Wrap-upJust when the audit appears to be nearing

a conclusion, you’re stuck waiting for a doc-ument, a confirmation, or a final review. You should anticipate follow up requests from your auditors, but you should also hold your CPA firm accountable to the previously estab-lished deadlines (see Tip 2). If you anticipate delays in the final product, be honest with your superiors (whether that is your immedi-ate supervisor, the audit committee or Board of Trustees) about the reason for the delay. Is it related to audit firm shortcomings, lack of cooperation from you and your staff, etc.? The truth will come out!

Tip 6: Maximize Your Relationship With Your CPA Firm

view your auditors as more than just “auditors” – they should be trusted business

advisors who are available for consultation throughout the year; will keep you abreast of new accounting pronouncements and how they may affect your organization; and can act as a great referral source for financial institutions (bankers, lenders and investment advisors) as well as attorneys, construction management firms and many other vendor relationships. In turn, it is in your best interest to keep your CPA firm aware of new school initiatives such as new debt instruments, capital campaigns or con-structions projects. Making your auditors aware of these non-recurring items on the front-end will facilitate efficiencies during the audit process.

No process is perfect, and no audit is the same from year to year. During your next financial statement audit, implement these strategies and see if your audit process becomes more efficient.

John Coppola, CPA, MBA, is a manager at Ellin & Tucker. With experience as both an accoun-tant and former CFO of a school, John is an expert in internal controls, budgeting and fore-casting, capital campaigns, risk management, facilities management, endowment manage-ment and related topics. He can be reached at [email protected].

F E A T U R E : T A X T I M E B Y J O H N C O P P O L A , C P A , M B A

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F I N A N C I A L C H A N G E S B Y J I M M E L O H N , M B A , C P A , S F O , C S B A , A N D B I L L H E B E R T , M S , C P A , C L S B A , C G F O

Louisiana public school districts solved a key piece of education reform: converting to merit pay-based systems.

converting from Salary Schedules to

Merit Pay-Based Salary Formulas

During the 2012 legislative session, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal suc-cessfully engineered the passage of two bills that radically altered “business as usual” for the state’s K-12 public education. Known as Act 1 and Act 2, the legislation sought to loosen teacher-tenure laws, reduce the powers of local school boards, and accomplish

other precepts of the national education reform movement, including the required introduction of a merit pay-based component into a teacher’s compensation package.

Both acts became effective on July 1, 2012, amid much fanfare about the positive effect they would eventually have on student achieve-ment. Unfortunately, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) proved ill-equipped to offer much in the way of tech-nical assistance to the local school districts regarding how to implement the provisions of the new legislation.

Several Louisiana school districts banded together to solve a key piece of the reform boondoggle – converting to merit pay-based systems – and learned lessons during the process that other states should consider if forced to undergo a similar conversion.

WHAT THE LAW SAYSAct 1 “provides relative to teacher tenure, pay-for-performance, and

evaluations.” Tenure laws were changed to make it much easier to fire a teacher who had received a poor evaluation according to the new


state teacher evaluation system, known as Compass. The Compass evaluation system produces scores of teacher performance in two parts: (a) school principal evaluation scores and (b) student performance scores derived from student scores on spring high-stakes testing. Compass has four possible teacher ratings: Highly Effective, Proficient Effective, Emerging Effective, or Ineffective.

In addition, the rigor of teacher evaluation standards for student performance depends on classification as a value-added model teacher or a student learning target teacher. Under state guidelines, value-added model teachers (teachers in grades 4-12 whose stu-dents take state-developed standardized tests) face a more rigorous performance evalu-ation because the state calculates their perfor-mance scores from the cumulative increase (or lack thereof) of each student’s testing perfor-mance from year to year. At the same time, stu-dent learning target teachers are able to write their own student achievement growth tar-gets, and the students have multiple oppor-tunities to pass the targets.

Act 1 also requires that teacher salaries include a merit-pay component correlated to a teacher’s yearly Compass score. In regard to merit pay, Act 1 says the following:

B. 1. Salary schedules established for teach-ers, administrators, and other certified school personnel shall be based upon the following criteria, with no one criterion accounting for more than 50 percent of the formula used to compute such employees’ salaries:

(a) Effectiveness, as determined by the [Compass] performance evaluation program. . . .

(b) Demand inclusive of area of certifica-tion, particular school need, geographic area, and subject area, which may include advanced degree levels.

(c) Experience.Additionally, Act 1 states:B.2. No teacher or administrator who is

rated “Ineffective” pursuant to the perfor-mance evaluation program [the Compass sys-tem] . . . shall receive a higher salary in the year following the evaluation than he received in the year of the evaluation.

C.1. The amount of the annual salary paid to a teacher or other school employee in any school year shall not be reduced below the

amount of such salary paid during the previ-ous school year, nor shall the amount of the annual salary paid to such school person-nel be reduced at any time during an aca-demic year.

No Louisiana public school system had ever attempted to convert from the traditional two-dimensional salary schedule (years of experience, level of teacher certification/edu-cation) to what Act 1 now requires. The law clearly defines the mathematical relation-ship between Effectiveness, Demand, and Experience factors; however, what isn’t well defined is whether the formula should be applied to the entire teacher compensation package or some subset of it.

Furthermore, BESE had no one with the expertise to offer a solution or even techni-cal guidance to the local school districts as to how to comply with the new law. It did offer assistance in developing an Excel file designed to calculate the sustainability of a proposed formula, but otherwise, local school districts were left to their own devices to fig-ure out how to comply.

THE ARMADILLO TEAMWith no one from whom to get help but

each other, a group of 13 interested local dis-trict school officials, affectionately known as the Armadillo Team (whose motto is “If we’re going to get run over, we’re going to get run over together!”), began meeting on their own to discuss how to solve the Act 1 quandary.

The main sticking point was the wording in the law that established the legal mathe-matical relationship between the three per-formance criteria – Effectiveness, Demand, and Experience – with the stipulation that pay tied to any one particular criterion cannot exceed 50 percent of the pay of all three cri-teria combined. What exactly did that mean?

There were also other points of contention:• Howpredictable were the salary increases

that were based on the three criteria from the Compass model going to be from year to year? That issue was important for future budgeting considerations.

• Given four consecutive yearsof flat ordeclining state funding for local public

F I N A N C I A L C H A N G E S B Y J I M M E L O H N , M B A , C P A , S F O , C S B A , A N D B I L L H E B E R T , M S , C P A , C L S B A , C G F O

Act 1 also requires that teacher salaries include a merit-pay component correlated to a teacher’s yearly compass score.

The main sticking point was the wording in the law that established the legal mathematical relationship between the three performance criteria – Effectiveness, Demand, and Experience – with the stipulation that pay tied to any one particular criterion cannot exceed 50 percent of the pay of all three criteria combined.


school districts, the design of the salary formula had to be “expense neutral.”

• Towhomdidthelawapply?Legalcoun-sel employed by local school districts were inconsistent in interpreting which employees were subject to Act 1, with some saying it could apply to all school district personnel.Fortunately, the Armadillo Team meetings

attracted the attention of BESE, which sought to have private meetings with the group to discuss their concept of how an Act 1-com-pliant salary formula should take shape. The initial meeting between the Armadillo Team and BESE led to the breakthrough in under-standing Act 1 that allowed Louisiana school districts to proceed at a faster pace toward designing their own formulas. BESE’s legal counsel interpreted the wording of Act 1 as meaning that the mathematical relation-ship between the factors of Effectiveness, Demand, and Experience related only to annual salary increases earned by the teach-ers and not an employee’s base salary.

EXAMPLES OF LOUISIANA SCHOOL DISTRICT SALARY FORMULAS

The results of the Armadillo Team meet-ings were disseminated throughout the state through conferences and workshops. From that point, local school districts were encouraged to devise salary formulas for school-level certificated positions (school administrators, counselors, and teachers) that were Act 1-compliant and affordable, given each district’s capacity to reward its person-nel. What follows are examples of the differ-ent approaches that Louisiana school districts used to do just that.

St. Charles Parish School Board: The St. Charles Parish School Board assigned the same value, $750 per year, to each of the three Act 1 criteria (see Table 1). A positive Effectiveness score, defined as a Compass score of Emerging Effective or better, would permanently add $750 to a teacher’s base salary.

Should a teacher earn an evaluation of Highly Effective, the school board would dis-tribute a $750 stipend to the teacher as meet-ing the Effectiveness criterion. However, St. Charles declared that only value-added model teachers could meet the Demand criterion, as their evaluations were much more rigorous.

Jefferson Davis Parish School Board: Jefferson Davis Parish took a much different approach from St. Charles: it decided that all

Table 2.

Beginning salary, no experience = $41,025Maximum nine-month teacher salary = $58,525

1. For starting base salaries between $41,025 and $48,775, inclusive:

Successful achievement of each Compass criterion will earn an increase in next year’s base salary:

$250 $250 $250

2. For starting base salaries between $48,776 and $54,025, inclusive:

Successful achievement of each Compass criterion will earn an increase in next year’s base salary:

$175 $175 $175

3. For starting base salaries between $54,026 up $58,525, inclusive:

Successful achievement of each Compass criterion will earn an increase in next year’s base salary (not to exceed the maximum salary):

$150 $150 $150

Experience:

Demand: Possession of relevant graduate degree, designation as a value-added model teacher with a positive evaluation, teaching in an area of critical shortage

Table 1. St. Charles Parish School Board Teacher Salary Schedule

noitceS )yaP dnepitS( launnAnoitceS )yralaS esaB( tnenamreP

DemandProficient

VAM Only

DemandHighly

VAM OnlyStep*Certified

Teacher (BA)

Advance Degreein Subject AreaMA or Higher

Highly

(VAM or SLT)

0 $43,365 $44,115 $750 $500 $250

1 $44,115 $44,865 $750 $500 $250

2 $44,865 $45,615 $750 $500 $250

3 $45,615 $46,365 $750 $500 $250

4 $46,365 $47,115 $750 $500 $250

5 $47,115 $47,865 $750 $500 $250

......

......

......

20 $58,365 $59,115 $750 $500 $250

21 $59,115 $59,865 $750 $500 $250

22 $59,865 $60,615 $750 $500 $250

23 $60,615 $61,365 $750 $500 $250

24 $61,365 $62,115 $750 $500 $250

25 $62,115 $62,865 $750 $500 $250

Note: BA = bachelor of arts; MA = master of arts; SLT = student learning target ; VAM = value-added model.* Increase per step = $750.

Note: BA = bachelor of arts; MA = master of arts; SLT = student learning target ; vAM = value-added model. * Increase per step = $750.

Table 1. St. Charles Parish School Board Teacher Salary Schedule

salary increases earned under its teacher sal-ary formula would be increases in base salary rather than one-time stipend distributions. Its formula was designed as a reproduction of its old salary schedule, in which yearly teachers’ raises decreased within 10-year increments (Table 2).

Evangeline Parish School Board: The Evangeline Parish School Board used a dif-ferent methodology, whereby teachers earn “steps” when successfully achieving an Effectiveness rating of Proficient or Highly Effective, with each step representing a $400 base salary increase (Table 3). Earning an

advanced degree allows a teacher a one-time step increase as indicated in the schedule.

West Baton Rouge Parish School Board: The West Baton Rouge Parish School Board added an interesting twist to the base salary increase/annual stipend model that most school boards employed. They added the possibility of additional teacher stipend awards if the school to which the teacher was assigned met its annual growth tar-get under the Louisiana school account-ability rating system and for a teacher’s perfect attendance in the previous school year (Table 4).

Table 2. Jefferson Davis Parish School Board Nine-Month Teacher Salary Formula

Experience: Compass evaluation of Emerging Effective or betterDemand: Possession of relevant graduate degree, designation as a value-added model teacher with a positive evaluation, teaching in an area of critical shortageEffectiveness: Compass score of Proficient or Highly Effective


POSITIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SALARY FORMULA CONVERSION

Despite difficulties encountered during the design phase, the conversion to merit-based salary formulas did have some positive aspects. Long-standing inequities between pay grades that were embedded in existing salary schedules could finally be addressed by each respective school board if it so desired. In addition, teachers who perform at a higher level on the state’s Compass evaluation sys-tem receive higher annual increases or sti-pends, which was the main goal that the state sought to achieve: the injection of a merit-pay component into a teacher’s salary package.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN IMPLEMENTING THE SALARY FORMULAS

Many Louisiana school districts encoun-tered problems when implementing the new salary formula concept, the most pressing of which was the perception of the fairness of each district’s formula. The salary formulas were hard to explain to school-level employ-ees who had known nothing other than the traditional salary schedule. More important, the state’s Compass evaluation system had come under increasing criticism for unfairly assessing teacher effectiveness. Accordingly, if teachers perceive the state’s rating system as being unfair, then one can expect that the salary formula would also be viewed as unfair.

After many districts had designed their formulas, the state relaxed the rigor of the

Table 3. Evangeline Parish School Board Salary Schedule

Step Amount Criteria for Placement in Schedule

0 $38,311

1 $38,711 A. Experience

2 $39,111 Step will represent years of experience less two years due to a salary freeze3 $39,511

4 $39,911

5 $40,311 B. Education level

. . 2 steps for master’s degree

. . 3 steps for master’s degree + 30

. . 4 steps for education specialist degree

30 $50,311 5 steps for PhD

31 $50,711

33 $51,511

34 $51,911

35 $52,311

Table 4. West Baton Rouge Parish School Board Salary Schedule


SalaryLevel Bachelor’s Master’s MA+30 EDS PhD

School/Individual Stipends

Emerging Proficient HighlyMet Growth

TargetPerfect

Attendance

0 $42,733 $43,139 $43,139 $43,746 $44,557 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

1 $43,139 $43,542 $43,542 $44,149 $44,956 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

2 $43,542 $43,945 $43,945 $44,557 $45,366 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

3 $43,945 $44,352 $44,352 $44,956 $46,000 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

22 $51,625 $53,563 $54,955 $56,085 $56,963 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

23 $51,945 $53,933 $55,375 $56,555 $57,483 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

24 $52,265 $54,303 $55,795 $57,025 $58,003 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

25 $52,585 $54,673 $56,215 $57,495 $58,523 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

Note: EDS = education specialist degree; MA = master of arts


Step Amount Criteria for Placement in Schedule

0 $38,311

1 $38,711 A. Experience

2 $39,111 Step will represent years of experience less two years due to a salary freeze3 $39,511

4 $39,911

5 $40,311 B. Education level

. . 2 steps for master’s degree

. . 3 steps for master’s degree + 30

. . 4 steps for education specialist degree

30 $50,311 5 steps for PhD

31 $50,711

33 $51,511

34 $51,911

35 $52,311



SalaryLevel Bachelor’s Master’s MA+30 EDS PhD

School/Individual Stipends

Emerging Proficient HighlyMet Growth

TargetPerfect

Attendance

0 $42,733 $43,139 $43,139 $43,746 $44,557 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

1 $43,139 $43,542 $43,542 $44,149 $44,956 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

2 $43,542 $43,945 $43,945 $44,557 $45,366 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

3 $43,945 $44,352 $44,352 $44,956 $46,000 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

22 $51,625 $53,563 $54,955 $56,085 $56,963 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

23 $51,945 $53,933 $55,375 $56,555 $57,483 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

24 $52,265 $54,303 $55,795 $57,025 $58,003 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500

25 $52,585 $54,673 $56,215 $57,495 $58,523 $75 $125 $200 $250 $500





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Compass assessment model, making it easier for teachers to earn higher scores. That action imposed unwanted salary costs on the local school districts that had used previous con-servative state predictions of teacher effective-ness to try to stay “expense neutral.”

The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana wanted local school districts to accrue retire-ment contributions on performance stipends earned in the previous year that were to be distributed the following school year because of timing issues. However, local school districts can’t comply with that request, because the amount of stipends earned would be delayed beyond the date required to close the fiscal year books because of the late disclosure of the state’s final teacher evaluation score. (This issue has yet to be resolved.)

LESSONS TO BE LEARNEDLocal school districts should decide how to

pay their teachers. If they want to introduce a merit-pay component into their teacher pay scales, they ought to be free to do so at their discretion. In the absence of that common-sense mantra, here are some thoughts to pon-der should your local school district be faced with a similar situation:

• Ifatallpossible,beavailabletogiveinputinto the design of any legislation that dra-matically alters the method of compensa-tion for your employees. Also allow the employees who are affected by a new salary pay system to have their say in its design.

• Beattentivetothewordingofanyleg-islation. Seek the expertise of your state department of education’s legal counsel as well as your own local attorney.

• ConsultyourstateASBOaffiliate.Thereissafety in numbers! When the wording of a law is ambiguous and its interpretation muddled at best, it will bolster your argu-ment to the powers that be if your solution is derived from your state ASBO affiliate once it has achieved a reasonable consensus as to how to implement a new law.

• Trytoremainasflexibleaspossibleintheformula design phase for as long as you can should there be a change in any estimates that support the basis of your merit-pay salary solution.

• Carefullyconsiderthepragmaticaspectsof designing a merit-pay system, such as – How will your payroll system handle changes in base pay that aren’t uniform for all affected employees?

— How will the timing of retirement con-tributions be affected, if at all?

— How will you inform employees of any change in their method of pay?

Authors’ note: We dedicate this article to the members of the Armadillo Team, in deep appre-ciation of their time and talents.

Jim Melohn, MBA, CPA, SFO, CSBA (jbmelohn@

stcharles.k12.la.us) is chief financial officer and

legislative liaison for the St. Charles Parish School

Board, Luling, Louisiana.

Bill Hebert, MS, CPA, CLSBA, CGFO (bill.

[email protected]) is director of finance for

the Jefferson Davis Parish School Board, Jennings,

Louisiana, and a 2013 Distinguished Eagle Award

recipient.

This article originally appeared in the December 2014 School Business Affairs mag-azine and is reprinted with permission of the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO). The text herein does not necessarily represent the views or policies of ASBO International, and use of this imprint does not imply any endorsement or recog-nition by ASBO International and its officers or affiliates.

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the deliberation.In contrast, Caroline County Public Schools, Md. — a rural school

district along Maryland’s eastern shore — supports excellent busi-ness operations with a focus on flexibility, communication and collaboration.

IDENTIFYING A SOFTWARE SOLUTION THAT MEETS YOUR NEEDS

When Caroline County was informed that its human resources system was being sunsetted, district staff launched

an effort to find an administrative solution that would support effec-tive financial and human resource management. Even before consid-ering its options, the district created a plan for success.

To identify the best solution for your district, Suzanne Jones, MIS coordinator for Caroline County, emphasizes that a thorough under-standing of the functionality of your current software, your needs, and your business processes is key to success.

“Particularly for small districts, choosing an administrative system is like shopping for a car. We knew what we already had. We knew

what enhancements we needed, which our current software couldn’t provide. And, we required and expected depend-ability 100 percent of the time,” she explains.

In its search, Caroline County looked for a flexible system that applied best practices. The staff also wanted to partner

with a vendor that provides excellent service before, during,

F E A T U R E : H U M A N R E S O U R C E S B Y S U N G A R D K - 1 2 E D U C A T I O N & C A R O L I N E C O U N T Y P U B L I C S C H O O L S

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and after implementation. And, the district desired to be able to rely on the base product without requiring a lot of customizations.

“Some districts have so much that is customized for their individual wants and needs that the off-the-shelf products can’t even answer up to their RFPs. They expect software to know what is inside their head,” she says. “Over the years, so many customs have been added to their systems that they’ve priced themselves out of finding software that can really meet their needs.”

Jones advises districts to be prepared to ask questions. “When you’re considering a new financial system, I think you really need to under-stand your business practices and ask how the vendor would handle your unique situations,” she says. “The better prepared you are and the more that you’ve talked among your own staff and understand the nuances of your account code structure, budgets, approval pro-cess, and all the things that are so important, the more confident that you will be in your selection.”

Jones also suggests that, since a single software solution can’t do everything for everybody, districts should choose a vendor that can “partner with key solutions providers. With seamless integrations these solutions will behave like a single solution.”

Through a comprehensive RFP process, Caroline County considered products from four reputable vendors—Tyler Technologies’ Munis, Lawson Enterprise Financial Management, Unifund (now owned by Tyler), and SunGard K-12 Education’s eFinancePLUS and BusinessPLUS. After thorough consideration, the district selected SunGard K-12’s eFi-nancePLUS as the solution that best met its requirements.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE INVESTMENTIn order to make the most of your investment, Jones recommends

that districts “jump right into planning” for implementation and look at the implementation period as a time to review and enhance the efficiency of your business processes.

“You’ve got to take on this task with determination and block out whatever time it takes to do the pre-implementation work you’ve got to do,” she says. “Review your business practices and know that, even though you’ve always done it that way, you now can consider change for the sake of improvement.”

She also advises taking advantage of resources within the software and collaborating with the vendor and other customers.

“As soon as we could get the password, we logged into the customer site and started using it regularly,” says Jones. As the team became famil-iar with the solution, they found that, in addition to the online Help, it offered access to an additional database with answers to customer questions, business process improvements, and troubleshooting tips.

“I use the database constantly. You can type in a keyword and find out anything,” Jones says. “When we were shopping for a substitute finder, I went online, typed in the vendor name, and found a lot of information about how that solution interfaces with our financial and human resources solution.”

Jones also values the connection with school districts that use the product. “There is so much to be learned from each other,” she explains.

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“We have an open line of communication with SunGard K-12’s other customers in Maryland. We feel like we can call these districts to find out how they are addressing new reporting requirements or other issues.”

LAUNCHING NEW INITIATIVESSince going live, Caroline Country Public Schools has

launched new initiatives to make the most of its investment. Recently, the district went paperless for payroll. “In my mind,

it’s invaluable for employees to be able to access their personal infor-mation in Employee Access Center,” she says. “They can go in at any time and see any paycheck stub, their W-2 for a particular year, or their benefits,” she says.

Well before the transition to paperless, Caroline County sent out a flier with paychecks. The district also emailed staff and sent a letter from the superintendent to their homes.

Jones cautions districts considering this change not to make the assumption that all employees have access to and know how to use a computer. “I had the expectation that everybody had been exposed to technology, had mobile phones, had access to computers, and had been on a computer at some point. I found out that wasn’t true,” she says, noting the district took immediate steps to support these employees. “We set up training days, opened up labs, and invited the different groups of staff within their peer groups to learn about Employee Access Center. We set up two trainings for each group of employees. And, if they couldn’t make those, we offered to arrange something different.”

Jones also advises flexibility. “A few employees do not have bank accounts, so we still write a few paper checks,” she says. “We do not want to lose a good and valued employee just because we are forcing them to have to go to a computer to enroll for benefits, print a W-2, or see what their wages are.”

And finally, Jones recommends providing strong customer service. “We don’t want them to sit there and struggle,” she says. “If they didn’t understand a process after the first time or have a new computer and need to reset their browser preference, we plead for them to continue to call us or come to our office and we’ll try it together. We want to work with them, not against them.”

As the district continues to explore more initiatives, it looks forward to taking the same flexible, collaborative approach.

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A study conducted by scientists from virginia Tech University in Blacksburg suggests that lunches brought from home may be less nutritionally sound than lunches provided in schools

through the National School Lunch Program. However, the study’s authors cautioned that more research would be necessary before a definitive conclusion could be drawn.

“School lunches [are] more likely to meet nutrition standards than packed lunches, especially for fat and saturated fat,” the researchers concluded. “The findings also suggested that packed lunches may contrib-ute to higher solid fat and added sugar intake among young children because of the higher prevalence of dessert items, savory snack items and sugar-sweetened beverages.”

In the study, school lunches had fewer cal-ories than packed lunches (512 vs. 608), more protein (26g vs. 18g), less fat (13g vs. 21g), and more fiber (7.2g vs. 4.8g). The study added that home-packed lunches were “less likely to contain fruits (54% vs. 67%), vegetables (17% vs. 61%), juice without sugar (10% vs. 22%) and milk (20% vs. 96%),” and more likely to include chips or crackers and sugar-sweetened drinks.

Surprisingly, one area in which school lunch didn’t measure up to packed lunches was sodium content. School lunches aver-aged 1,021milligrams of salt, while packed lunches came in at 883 milligrams, “even though packed lunches provided many pro-cessed foods,” the researchers noted. This was

Is School Lunch Better Than Packed Lunch?According to a study reported in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the answer is a resounding “maybe.”

F E A T U R E : F O O D S E R V I C E B Y P A U L K I N G

because schools still use processed foods of their own in preparing school meals. “specif-ically in entrée items.”

The research team, which included a psy-chologist from Ben-Gurion University in Israel, surveyed lunches brought from home and bought at school by kindergarten and pre-K students at three schools in Montgomery and Giles counties in virginia. Over a five-day period, nutrition students observed students in the cafeterias of the three schools and noted what children took from the serving lines and what students with home-packed lunches removed from their bags or lunchboxes.

The nutritional content of the school lunch items was provided by the schools’ foodservice managers. Nutrition info for the packed meals was calculated based on serv-ing sizes observed by the nutrition students. The researchers noted that any student who brought lunch from home and bought milk in the cafeteria was still classified as a packed lunch student.

There were several caveats to the study, the scientists noted.

“The sample was restricted to young elementary students in a rural area. . . and may not be applicable to urban, ethnically diverse or older students,” they pointed out. Other lim-its included the fact that only lunches were examined, and the meals were

analyzed “using observational techniques and not weighted samples.”

But perhaps the biggest drawback, the researchers suggested, “was that actual con-sumption of food items was not measured. Future studies should also consider gather-ing food waste data to compare consumption across various schools and between packed and school lunches.”

This is not the first research to tout the advantages of school lunch. A study con-ducted by Tufts University and reported ear-lier this year in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reached a similar conclusion. According to a statement from Jeanne Goldberg, the Tufts professor who led the study, “Almost a quarter of the [packed] lunches lacked what would be considered an entrée, such as a sandwich or leftovers, and were instead made up of a variety of pack-aged snack foods and desserts.”

This article was originally published in FSD K-12 Spotlight. Reprinted by permission of FoodService Director.


Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland wanted to deploy tablets, but they knew any new technol-ogy had to be familiar and easy to use. That’s why the district went

with Windows-based HP EliteBook Revolve 810 G2 devices for its one-to-one computing program.

“Just about everyone has used a Windows machine, so we wanted to stay with a system that people would be comfortable with,” says Lloyd Brown, the district’s executive director.

Because the EliteBook Revolve 810 is a con-vertible device that can be used as both a notebook and a tablet, students and teachers can easily choose the form factor that’s best for the learning situation at hand. Brown says

Why More Schools Are Adopting Tablet Solutions

students often use the device as a notebook in the classroom, but as a tablet at home. The computers run Windows 8.1, and students have access to Microsoft Office 365 and 1 terabyte of OneDrive storage.

As part of Baltimore County Public School’s Students and Teachers Accessing Tomorrow (STAT) program, the district will roll out 120,000 Elitebook Revolve 810 devices over the next four years. In a pilot deployment last fall, the IT staff provided 3,200 computers to 10 schools in grades one through three, plus it outfitted all 8,500 teachers with devices.

Brown says the district began by writing a digital curriculum focused on student-cen-tric learning for the first three grades. The

HP devices allow teachers to individualize instruction, give quizzes and obtain instant feedback. “While we expect to write digital curriculums for all grades in the next four years, the students who start out in first grade will certainly have the advantage of using this technology throughout their entire school careers,” he says. “It’s really exciting to see how this will develop.”

Chris Silva, a Gartner research director who focuses on mobility, says Windows compati-bility is driving interest among organizations that are considering replacing desktops and notebooks with tablets. “Organizations are much more willing to take the plunge and go with these devices because of their support for Windows applications,” he says.

MORE TECHNOLOGY, MORE LEARNING

Darren McCullough, technology coordi-nator at Doddridge County Schools in West Union, W.va., says the district deployed about 700 Samsung Galaxy Note II tablets to mid-dle school and high school students over the past year.

The district evaluated many devices but chose the Samsung tablets because they offer MultiWindow mode, which lets users complete multiple tasks on one screen. The district also likes Samsung School, a class-room management tool that gives teach-ers more control over the technology. For example, teachers can lock down and moni-tor the tablets so students only have access to apps the teacher allows in class. “We did a couple of training sessions, and the teachers

District IT managers say the devices let teachers personalize instruction and obtain instant feedback so they know how students are progressing.

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comprehended what the system could do right away,” McCullough says.

Terry Moss, technology integration spe-cialist for Doddridge County Schools, says students and teachers are putting the new devices to use with a wide range of applica-tions, such as the Samsung S Note app for managing photos and notes.

4 HIDDEN TABLET COSTSChris Silva, a Gartner research director who

focuses on mobility, says that while tablets can make schools more flexible and produc-tive, there are additional costs that IT depart-ments should make senior officials aware of before making the switch.

Incorporate mobile device management software. Some organizations try to use the MDM features in existing client or wireless management tools, but organizations should plan to spend $4 to $10 monthly per device on a dedicated MDM tool. These products can wipe lost or stolen devices and push apps out to new devices.

T E C H N O L O G Y U P D A T E S B Y S T E V E Z U R I E R

Budget for replacement devices. Tablets are more fragile than notebooks, and because of their inherently mobile nature, the devices are also prone to being left in taxis or airports. Set aside some funds to replace broken or lost devices.

Deploy middleware for document integra-tion. Whichever document management sys-tem is deployed, the organization will need middleware to tie the document manage-ment system to the tablet.

Determine an app development strategy. Most organizations begin using tablets for email and file sharing, but the highest value comes from role-specific mobile applica-tions. Budget for application development or decide if it makes more sense to outsource this function.

Steve Zurier has more than 30 years of journal-ism and publishing experience, most of the last 20 of which were spent covering technology. Reprinted with permission of EdTech: Focus on K–12, ©2014 CDW•G.

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Certification of school business officials is a critical tool for school systems across the state and in the District of Columbia as they scrutinize every expenditure and look to maximize value. Well trained profession-als are best equipped to accomplish that and the ASBO certification process provides that training, as well as the assurance that the certificated officials know their stuff.

The ASBO MD&DC Certification program is designed to measure professional compe-tence as defined by the ASBO International and ASBO MD&DC Core Competencies, a body of knowledge embracing school busi-ness. CSBA, CSBO, AND CSBS certification provides agency managers a degree of confidence in the ability and integrity of the people they have selected to do the

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