As the 2019-20 school year winds down and state legislatures issue warnings of more budget cuts, it’s hard not to think about what that means for the financial picture for the next school year. We’ve curated four sessions for the Virtual National Charter Schools Conference—July 16, 23, and 30—to help you successfully lead your school through economic uncertainty.
Led by finance experts and charter school leaders, these sessions will prepare you with the knowledge and strategies you need to recession-proof your school:
Philanthropy, COVID-19, and Education
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact and re-shape the world, philanthropy has been keeping pace to mitigate the devastating consequences. Join Kristin Todd (Daniels Fund), Ash Solar (Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation), Dakarai Aarons (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), Melanie Brown (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), and Katherine Haley (Philanthropy Roundtable) for a session on the impact of the pandemic on philanthropy and adjustments funders have made to better support schools.
Charter School Finances During a Fiscal Downturn
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a tremendous amount of economic uncertainty around the world. The effect on school budgets is yet to be fully understood, but we know that a sizable reduction in revenues is likely over the next several years. In this session, Nathan Barrett, Ph.D., (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools) will help leaders understand fiscal risk indicators, prepare a flexible budget, and plan for uncertainty by taking what we know from the Great Recession and applying it to today’s crisis.
Budgeting and Procurement in the Time of COVID
Charter schools will face unprecedented challenges as they seek to procure products and services necessary to reopen schools safely. Leading this session is a panel of charter school and finance leaders—Ellen Lin (Green Dot Public Schools), Stephen Parmer (Uplift Education), Cameron Mascoll (Colorado Early Colleges), Catherine Sanwo (Friendship Public Charter School) and Marco Rafanelli (BuyQ)—sharing strategies and their school’s approach to meeting COVID-related operations challenges with significant budget cuts.
Planning for the Unplanned: Tools and Essential Questions for Strategic Leadership
Over the last several months, school leaders have worked to meet students’ needs through the challenges presented by the coronavirus. And with multiple scenarios possible in the 2020-2021 academic school year, they’ll likely need to continue to plan through uncertainty. In this session, Jessica Naioukas (Mott Haven Academy), Nnenna Ude (Match Education), and Tresha Ward (Bellwether Education Partners) will share best practices and tools for decision making when much is unknown.
NCSCvirtual is your chance to get ahead of the curve and protect your school against the recession fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to interacting with you during the first-ever virtual conference!
Sindy Pierre-Noel is the senior manager of programs at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
