For the third consecutive year, the Washington School District has received the Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) for excellence in budget presentation.
The award, presented by the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), is conferred only to school entities that have met or exceeded the Meritorious Budget Award criteria.
To earn this award, the school district submitted its 2012-13 budget for a rigorous review based on stringent criteria, according to Shelley Kinder, district CFO.
Kinder announced the award at Wednesday night’s school board meeting. Board President Scott Byrne said the staff and district should be very proud. He also added how he personally likes the budget book because it’s so easy to read and follow.
Superintendent Dr. Lori VanLeer said she was thrilled to learn the district was being recognized again.
“A great deal of work goes into preparing the budget and the actual budget book for presentation and review,” VanLeer said. “We’re very happy to be recognized for those efforts and proud of our staff.”
The ASBO International said the Washington School District budget “contains excellent spreadsheets, charts and graphs.”
The organization also said the document “provides sufficient information for the lay person as well as the detail-oriented expert to understand the budgeting process used by the district and detailed information about the various funds and their uses. The district is to be complimented for its efforts.”
Kinder said it’s an honor to receive the award again.
“For three years we have achieved national recognition for our outstanding budget document. The district takes its responsibility to manage public dollars seriously and holds itself to the highest professional standards in the nation,” she said.
“This document allows the district to be transparent and forthcoming with the financial condition of the district in a professional manner,” she added.
Developed by ASBO for school districts, the MBA criteria guides school business officials toward a quality school budget presentation by enhancing the school business officials’ skills in developing, analyzing and presenting a school system budget.
ING, a provider of retirement and insurance products and services, is sponsoring the MBA program for the ninth consecutive year.
The Association of School Business Officials International, founded in 1910, is a professional association of more than 5,000 members that provides programs and services to promote the highest standards of school business management practices, professional growth, and the effective use of educational resources.
