چکیده (انگلیسی):

The purpose of this study was to identify financial management strategies that school
business officials have found most successful in achieving school district financial
stability. To accomplish, 208 Illinois school business officials in six counties: Cook,
DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, excluding Chicago School District
299, were asked to complete a qualitative online survey. One hundred and thirty-five
completed responses were received, which resulted in a 65% response rate. In addition,
three survey participants, who had lead their school districts from financial difficulty to
solvency, were interviewed to further probe survey responses. The study identified 122
financial management strategies that school business officials should consider to
maintain financial solvency in school districts. Those mentioned most often included
communicating effectively with stakeholders and updating financial projections
regularly. Respondents also noted the importance of:
• Managing collective bargaining agreements/proposals and their implications;
• Creating and adhering to long range financial plan;
• Creating and maintaining balanced budgets;
• Staying current with economic information at the local, state, and federal levels;
• Meeting with their service providers to discuss possible cost reduction options;
• Becoming active in Illinois ASBO, which provides professional development and
networking opportunities to school business officials nationwide;
• Spending time gaining a more thorough understanding of their districts finances
before making any changes; and,
• Collaborating with stakeholders to ensure sound decision making occurs.