The Questar III Financial Services team including Julie Best, left, Barbara Boudreau, Meghan Heimroth, Claire Gustavson, Lauren Leahy and Harry Hadjioannou utilize a regional approach to help districts save resources.
During a time where school districts are forced to work with fewer and fewer resources, many districts are looking to the BOCES to provide effective and efficient ways to meet their needs. In an effort to provide for those needs, Questar III BOCES offers a number of non-instructional financial services that not only meet those needs, but go above and beyond what a district could provide on their own.
The basic principle behind the BOCES is the idea of economies of scale. When two or more districts have a similar need – often for specialized equipment, facilities or staff – the BOCES can offer services that ultimately save resources, allowing the district to focus on their main goal: student achievement.
One such service is Questar III’s Central Business Office (CBO). Formed in July 2012, the CBO offers all the services a standard CBO would offer – including accounts payable, general ledger accounting and payroll – but thanks to the expert staff at Questar III, the CBO offers enhancements to these services plus a number of additional services traditional CBOs do not provide.
The Questar III CBO’ general ledger service includes budgetary analysis, year-end close out procedures and maintenance of general journal entries, all in an effort to help the district create complete and accurate financial statements. Additional enhanced services include fixed asset management, claim audit, and grant management. All services are available á la carte.
The Questar III CBO staff has district business office experience, private industry experience and experts in grant writing. Plus, they have the added benefit of utilizing the knowledge and expertise of the other financial services staff such as Harry Hadjioannou, assistant superintendent for business and financial services, and the financial expertise of the entire Internal Audit and State Aid and Financial Planning staff.
Greenville CSD was one of the first districts to utilize the Questar III CBO. Superintendent Cheryl Dudley said it has been a positive endeavor. And because of the economies of scale principle, it has been a cost-effective option during a time when back office services are becoming increasingly difficult to operate.
“The CBO provides us more opportunities to direct our funds toward the instructional side of our services, and that’s what it’s all about,” said Dudley.
According to Questar III CBO Manager Meghan Heimroth, the CBO does not replace the role of the district’s business official and the treasurer, but it helps the district to build capacity with a deeper expertise at an affordable price.
“If there is only one payroll person in the district and they’re out sick on the day the payroll has to get done, then their business official has to struggle to process it,” said Heimroth. “With the Questar III CBO, they never have to worry about coverage because we always have multiple staff on hand to handle it.”
Dudley echoed that sentiment. “If an employee leaves, this may mean an interruption of important services such as payroll and expensive training for a replacement. The CBO provides us with stability.”
Handling the various financial and accounting procedures and all the paperwork that goes with it is what Questar III financial services strives to accomplish for school districts. By handling these tasks, districts can focus on their core missions such as reform initiatives and implementing the Common Core Learning Standards.
Questar III’s Model Schools Program helps districts leverage technology to help students meet the requirements of these standards and ultimately increase student achievement. However, initiatives like these require the integration of instructional technology and the ability to purchase this technology is a challenge for many school districts.
The goal of Questar III’s equipment leasing service is to help districts overcome this challenge. By facilitating the purchase of new technologies at a regional level, this service helps districts improve student learning and adhere to the new requirments.
Coxsackie-Athens Central School District Business Official Leslie Copleston says her district would not be able to keep up with this technology without Questar III’s equipment leasing service.
“The Questar III equipment leasing service enables us to keep up with this technology, otherwise we would have outdated equipment,” said Copleston. “Being able to access and purchase this technology really facilitates the whole educational process because it’s so technically driven now a days.”
With the equipment leasing service, Questar III handles the outright purchasing of the equipment and districts make payments to Questar III over time, allowing districts to have up-to-date model technology.
In addition to saving the district from having to take on the insurance as well as the financial risk, the Questar III equipment leasing service saves business officials from having to handle the time consuming task of preparing board resolutions, finance company proposals and order placements associated with these types of purchases.
“There is a steep learning curve to all the steps needed to purchase this equipment,” said Questar III Purchasing Agent Julie Best. “Each purchase can take a week just to get all the paperwork done.”
The Questar III equipment leasing service currently has eight participating districts.
With many districts making changes to their personnel, Heimroth said she expects more districts to start looking at these services as options, adding to the benefit of each district and enabling districts to focus on the students.
“We want the business official to come to us and ask for our help so we can then take the reins and they can focus on their core mission, educating our children.”
