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Chalkboard/OASBO announce four additional school districts to be reviewed
Beaverton was first of five to undergo outside assessment as part of project
Salem - March 19, 2008 - After completing a comprehensive review of the Beaverton School District last week, a team of auditors will apply their expertise in four more school districts across the state. The following diverse districts agreed to open their doors - to learn what they're doing right, and how they can improve:
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Eugene School District 4J
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Greater Albany Public Schools
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Harney County School District #3 (Burns)
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Yoncalla School District
Chalkboard provided an $85,000 grant to OASBO (The Oregon Association of School Business Officials) to review business practices in five Oregon school districts that volunteered for the audits. Through this process, school districts will learn more about "best practices" in everything from transportation and facilities, to human resources, food services and community relations.
Art Johns, Superintendent of the Yoncalla School District said "We're pleased to have OASBO join with us in reviewing our services to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement."
After completing these reviews, OASBO, working with the Oregon School Boards Association, will build a database -- or "tool kit" -- of best practices based on factors such as district size, location and socioeconomic factors. This resource will be shared with districts statewide, and will also include best practices from districts in other states through OASBO's affiliation with its national association.
"We learned a lot during the Beaverton review and look forward to sharing our experience - and building on it - through our work with Yoncalla and other districts," said Angie Peterman, OASBO executive director and OSBA administrative services director, noting the reviews will begin this spring and hopefully be completed by this fall.
"What makes this phase of the pilot project so exciting is the diversity of these districts," said Sue
Hildick, Chalkboard Project president. "We've got urban and rural districts spread among different regions of Oregon. This pilot project is all about making clear what districts are doing well and how they might improve."
Chalkboard's interest in this issue grew out of two research findings: an analysis of Oregon school spending that indicated statewide average spending on district business operations is higher than the national average, and public opinion surveys showing more than half of Oregonians believe schools can do more to eliminate unnecessary spending.
Eugene School District 4J
Students: 17,219
Teachers/staff: 1,759
Schools: 44
Contact: Barbara Bellamy
(541) 687-3980
bellamy@4j.lane.edu
Greater Albany Public Schools
Students: 9,200
Teachers/staff: 1,100
Schools: 20
Contact: Russ Allen, Business Director
541.967.4505
russ.allen@albany.k12.or.us
Harney County School District #3
Students: 1,003
Teachers/staff: 150
Schools: 3
Contact: David Courtney, Superintendent
(541) 573-6811
courtned@harneyesd.k12.or.us
Yoncalla School District
Students: 420
Teachers/staff: 25
Schools: 2
Contact: Art Johns, Superintendent
(541) 849-2782
art.johns@yoncalla.k12.or.us
About OASBO
The Oregon Association of School Business Officials (OASBO) is a professional organization affiliated with the Association of School Business Officials International. OASBO's mission is to support public education by providing resources, programs, activities and training for school business officials.
For more information, visit www.oasbo.com.
About OSBA
The Oregon School Boards Association serves 197 Oregon school boards, 17 community colleges, and 20 education service districts by providing legislative advocacy for public education at state and federal levels; leadership training, legal and policy services, financial, insurance, human resources, communications and other services. For more information, visit
www.osba.org.
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state's K-12 public schools among the nation's best, while strengthening our school system's financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state's K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site
(www.openbooksproject.org) to track school district spending.
Chalkboard - an initiative of Foundations for a Better Oregon - is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit
www.chalkboardproject.org.
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