It was great to see everyone in person last week! As part of the conference, the OASBO Legislative Committee collaborated to present three track sessions to assist members in understanding the ins and outs of drafting and giving testimony. Knowing we will need to advocate for the continued phase-in of the Fair School Funding Plan, we chose to focus the sessions on preparing testimony for the upcoming biennium budget.
The OASBO Legislative Committee worked together to develop these sessions in furtherance of OASBO’s strategic plan and its goals and objectives to increase training opportunities to prepare SBOs to advocate at the state and local level.
The first session provided the foundation for testifying, with a panel of SBOs giving advice based on their own experiences. The second session engaged members in actively writing testimony. The group took the opportunity to brainstorm the talking-points for the continued implementation of the Fair School Funding Plan, which we will use to develop the testimony template for the upcoming biennium budget and other reference materials. These materials will be shared with members in the coming weeks and months. We then had special guests – Rep. Patterson and Rep. Sherer – join us for the final session to serve as committee members in a mock hearing.
We would like to thank the following SBOs for participating in the development, facilitation, and delivery of these learning opportunities:
- Jared Bunting, Treasurer/CFO, Jackson City Schools
- Erik Roush, Executive Director, Financial Affairs, Columbus City Schools
- Stan Bahorek, Treasurer/CFO, Columbus City Schools
- Kristine Blind, Treasurer/CFO, London City Schools
- Nick Ciarniello, Treasurer/CFO, Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools
- Jeremie Hittle, Treasurer/CFO, Piqua City Schools
- Jenni Logan, Treasurer/CFO, Lakota Local School District
- Todd Puster Treasurer/CFO, Orange City Schools
- Ryan Pendleton, Treasurer/CFO, Akron City Schools
- Mike Sobul, Senior Analytics Advisor, Frontline Education
- Kent Zeman, Treasurer/CFO, Lakewood City Schools
We are thrilled to have this framework in place to build upon moving forward. Please keep an eye out for opportunities to participate in similar trainings hosted by OASBO or an OASBO Chapter.