Welcome to the Elysian Charter School Business Administrators Blog. This blog is designed for the Teachers, Staff, Administrators, Board Members, Parents and Friends of Elysian Charter School in Hoboken, NJ. I hope that this blog will keep you informed of business matters that affect our school and serve as a source of information on the business related developments and changes that are going on, as well as keep you up to date on what is going on within the national and state charter school movements as well as proposed changes in state and federal legislation and regulations that affect us.
Payroll: Just to let the staff know, payroll is my number one priority! This reflects the core belief that staff satisfaction is paramount to the success of the school. Great employee morale makes for a great school. That is how we meet our mission to provide a great education for our children. The payroll submissions have been moved up a day to ensure that we meet all deadlines. We were very happy that we had made these plans when we were hit by the snowstorm that closed school for two days last week. As a result of our new system, all employees received their pay on time.
Fiscal Compliance: We are moving to be in compliance with all fiscal requirements of the State of New Jersey. We have begun the transfer over into the new State-mandated Fund Accounting Software, CDK. We have set up the accounts and posted the transactions from the old system into the new system. There is much work to do to establish all the subsidiary accounts but we are well on the way to having a more technologically up to date accounting system which is already giving us a better picture of our financial situation and more control over our budget.
Another area which we have moved to be in compliance is with the appointment to the State-mandated position of Treasurer/Custodian of School Monies, Tracey Calvanico. Tracey is a very well qualified and hard working person who served as PTSO president here at Elysian. She was also a bank Vice-President and a consultant for the Ethical Community Charter School. This is a part time position, and my position as Business Administrator will also be part time although I will be working more hours than before. (I will continue to work on NCLB, IDEA, NJSMART and other state reports, everything except Special Ed and Test Coordination, which will be taken over by our Director, Carol Stock), The challenges at Elysian necessitated that I resign my position at the Ethical Community Charter School. My replacement there begins in March, I will continue to work there daily from 7:45 to 9:45 until she is thoroughly trained, and after that I will be here until 2:15 p.m. daily (at least). You can always email me at kplm12000@yahoo.com if you need me, as you may know I read my email on my iphone constantly! Or you can call my cell at 201-960-2007, although I prefer email because the specifics can be worked out better in writing!
Procurement: We were visited by State Inspectors from the Department of Public Contracts on January 21st and as a result, we are moving to ensure that we follow state purchasing rules. We would be faced with fines of $1000 per day for each violation, so we want to make sure this does not happen. Fortunately, I obtained a Qualified Purchasing Agent certificate from the State, so the Board appointed me in that capacity as well as Public Agency Contracting Officer. The Board also approved my request to join two large purchasing cooperatives which will allow us to use their purchasing power to access very competitive prices on their contracts. You can find out more about them at www.hcesc.com/cooperative_pricing.html and http://www.mresc.k12.nj.us/
What this means for teachers is that I will be giving you a catalog from these contracted vendors. School Speciality, a very popular vendor among educators, will be our contractor for general school supplies. We receive between 5 and 10 percent of their list prices. I invite all teachers to view their website at http://www.schoolspecialty.com/ and let me know what you think. There are contracts for nursing supplies: http://www.mooremedical.com/ , science supplies: http://www.carolina.com/ and http://www.fisherscience.com/, sports: http://www.cannonsports.com/ . I will give you paper catalogs as well. We should not be using vendors that do not accept purchase orders according to state regulations.
Pensions and Health Benefits: The best way to get any information on pensions and state health benefits is by logging on their website at www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions. Everything you need to know can be found on the website, in fact, most transactions, including loans, can now only be done online. I have been calling them on the phone but keep getting the message that they cannot take any phone calls due to volume. As you may have read, there is a mass exodus going on because everyone knows that the pensions laws will change, and so everyone who can retire is rushing to do so.
By the way, the proposed changes will also mean that we will all probably be required to pay a portion of our health benefits. I refer you to the Star-Ledger article for more information: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/wide-reaching_pension_and_bene.html
State Aid Cuts: You have also probably heard that all school districts reserves have been seized by the state and a 15% cut is being enforced. This will eventually affect charter schools because our funding formula is based on district budgets. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/gov_chris_christie_plans_to_cu.html
Technology: Now for some good news! We have joined http://www.schoolpay.com/, a service offered by the National School Board Association for online payments of various school fees by parents using their checking account or credit cards. We will soon pilot this program with our afterschool program. My experience in using this program at Ethical Community Charter School has been that collections of funds owed is better and errors or loss of cash or checks are avoided.
Fundraising: In these times, charter schools will not survive without fundraising. We are all in this together, and we need to reach out to our friends and relatives to contribute to the Annual Appeal. Why not send an email to your friends and relatives with the link to our website: www.ecsnj.org? The DONATE link that accepts online donations is in the upper right hand corner. Even if you cannot attend the fundraiser March 6, please consider a small donation to show your support for the school. We cannot raise taxes like a district and we need more funds.
Please feel free to write me if there is anything else you would like to see on the blog. One charter school blog that is very interesting is written by Whitney Tilson, a hedge fund manager who supports charter schools. edreform.blogspot.com/ and I also like www.dfer.org (Democrats for Education Reform), run by Joe Williams who wrote "Cheating Our Kids", the best book I ever read in favor of charter schools.
Other favorites: www.publiccharters.org
www.njcharters.org
http://cesp.rutgers.edu/CSRC/CSRC.htm
Kathy Mone
School Business Administrator
Elysian Charter School of Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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