Kentucky School Advocate
August 2024
In Conversation With features an interview between a leader or figure involved in public education and a representative of the Kentucky School Advocate.
Pam Goins is the new executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Business Officials (KASBO). The Kentucky native, who spent the first 10 years of her career working with KDE, talks about her goals for the association.
Q. You recently became the executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Business Officials (KASBO). Your background is in nonprofit management and government affairs. Why did you want to work for KASBO?
A. My passion is nonprofit association management. I started my career at the Kentucky Department of Education and spent 10 years there. I had several national-level positions after that, and when I saw the opportunity with KASBO, I thought, ‘This is perfect.’ As I told KASBO members at our spring conference, it was time to come back to Kentucky and my roots.
Q. Were these nonprofit associations tied to education?
A. I was policy director for 10 years at the Council of State Governments, then I became executive director of Women in Government, where I worked with female state legislators. From there, I worked for the National Association of State Chief Administrators and then to Microsoft, where I worked in state government affairs.
Q. As you take the helm at KASBO – understanding that you’ve been there all of about 30 days as we are talking – what are some of your plans for the organization?
A. We want to focus more on what’s happening at a regional level, and we hope to reinstate our summer regional programs so we can bring like-minded officials together to have that conversation about what’s happening not only in the state, but in their region. KASBO has done regional events in the past, but it’s been a while. In the summer they need some extra professional development, but it’s also a great time to come together to share concerns and think through how KASBO can be a better resource to them.
Also, we’ll be focusing on the opportunity to expand KASBO, because it serves a lot of audiences: chief financial officers and their teams, of course, but that can dip into human resources, food services, facilities. So, finding how we can serve as the voice for all of the members. And making sure our policy priorities are heard in Frankfort. We’ll collaborate with sister associations like KSBA and others to make sure we’re sharing the message with policymakers that there’s a lot that needs to happen in Kentucky school districts.
Q. People might think that only district finance officers are members, but apparently that is not the case. Who else is eligible?
A. As the title says, we’re looking at school business officials, which doesn’t mean only CFOs although they are primary. When it comes to professional development, we expand that because CFOs have teams that they work with. It’s a wide swath. And as I had mentioned earlier, CFOs in several districts cover HR, transportation, facilities, so they’re all open and welcome too. At our meeting in May, we had 450 members; with vendors, attendance was over 600.
Q. You did something different at the conference in May.
A. Yes, we had a day where school superintendents came in, and they and the CFOs were together while the rest of the teams attended other sessions. We opened with a keynote speech to get them thinking about why they are passionate about the work they do. From there we went through a series of content-based sessions – from very specific financial discussions to discussions around how we work with our local boards. It was a time for the school superintendents and the CFOs to sit together and have some conversations that are difficult when they’re in the district. We were helping them prepare their thoughts on how they will come together as a team when they’re thinking about going to the board or, if there is a board member who may be a little sticky, how we jointly approach some of those more difficult conversations. The superintendents stayed for an evening reception and networking.
Q. School finance has come under a lot of more scrutiny, especially because of the teacher shortage. Districts have pressure to increase salaries for classified and certified employees. Does this put more pressure on district finance officers?
Goins with comedian and motivational speaker Michael Jr. who spoke at KASBOs 2024 Spring Conference in Louisville. Michael Jr. is described as a comedic thought leader who uses comedy and dynamic storytelling, as he inspires audiences to discover and activate their purpose.
A. It’s a difficult time. After the pandemic, there was a flow of funding that is now drying up. There are no new pockets of money so now hard decisions are coming on. Do we have to start cutting? Can we continue operations at the level that we have over the last four years? Teacher salaries are always at the top of conversation. We want to make sure that they’re professionally seen as they should be, and that includes a salary, but it is all a big puzzle – the money that’s available and what the budget looks like. In collaboration with the school superintendent, CFOs must make sure that the puzzle fits. And it’s not like we get a budget and say, ‘Oh, we’re good to go over the next 12 months.’ There’s always jockeying and moving money and tweaking.
Each school has its own challenges: things may have cost more than they thought, revenue might not be what was expected. But the finance director has got to be lock, stock and barrel with the school superintendent to make sure that they’re all on the same page. They must know the direction of the board and that they can help fulfill that. It’s not an easy role.
Q. What advice do you have for the finance directors to help them work more effectively with school board members?
A. One thing I’m hoping we can expand is finding ways to be a resource. Making sure that those relationships are developed with the board because, ultimately, they’re the ones that are accountable. They’re accountable for that final budget, what the numbers look like at the end of the school year and where we’re going to start for the new school year. So, relationships are key. Of course, they come to the office with a lot of skills that are vital and critical, but once they get there, they’ve got to make sure that they’re fully ingrained in what the district goals are, what that strategic plan looks like and making sure that they can navigate those waters to make the funding available. It’s a lot of give and take too. It’s not an easy job. Sometimes folks think, you’re just processing payroll or you’re just paying the bills. It’s a much greater challenge than that. They truly are the ones accountable for the proceedings and the operational opportunities of the school district.
Q. So, to flip that question, what advice do you have for board members who are trying to better understand the complicated job that is school finance?
A. A school board member doesn’t typically come in with background in this area, so they need to have patience as they learn to understand the role of CFO. They need to make sure that there is give and take, ask appropriate questions, listen to what the CFO is reporting, talk about what strategic actions may need to change in order to make that budget balance. Again, back to what I was saying earlier about relationships, it is important to have a good relationship with all the district employees, but the CFO is pretty darn important when we’re talking about the effectiveness of the school district. So, patience is no.1, learning more about the role, the importance of the role, and then having that back-and-forth conversation, because they’re all working toward the same goal.
Q. You attended KASBO’s conference in early May. And there will be another at the end of the year?
A. Yes, we’re already planning our November meeting, which will be in Lexington at the Griffin Gate Marriott just before Thanksgiving.