Michigan Benchmark LLC, the leading K12 analytics and financial planning professional services company dedicated to Michigan K12 school districts, announced the immediate availability of its latest analytics offering, Budget Modeling Service.
Michigan school districts benefit from Budget Modeling Service by being able to forecast five years of general fund revenues and expenses both flexibly and accurately.
Dozens of variables affect the outcomes of a Michigan school district’s financial operations. The Budget Modeling Service accounts for these variables and allows district fiduciaries to model the financial impact based on the ranges of these variables which are set by school district subscribers.
From Michigan Benchmark Founder, Brendan Walsh, “By using Michigan Benchmark’s Budget Modeling Service, school districts achieve the highest goals of any leadership team. By improving budget and forecast accuracy, school districts can assure students, parents, and taxpayers that precious resources are being directed where they can best help students and their families. Also, by publicly modeling the scores of variables that impact school budgets, stakeholders transparently display the financial realities of the district and demonstrate the long-term planning and care that enhances community trust.”
Collaboratively engaging with district administrators and Boards of Education, Michigan Benchmark guides all stakeholders through the process of identifying ranges of variable inputs that affect school district budgets. These inputs then help generate the likely financial outcomes for each scenario.
Collectively the parties decide upon three distinct scenarios that range from pessimism, to realism, to optimism. The scenarios bundle the variable options for each, which include (among more) enrollment, Foundation Allowance, employee bargaining unit contract changes, and cost changes in healthcare, purchased services, supplies, and retirement costs.
By aggregating the variable bundles and projecting outcomes over a five year horizon, stakeholders can easily and concisely review the range of financial options it may face. The Budget Modeling Service is not designed to make decisions for administrators or trustees, but rather to help them all see and therefore constructively discuss which scenario is most likely, how to best plan for it, and then achieve it. By doing so the community benefits from highly transparent and easily understood budget decision support materials.
Michigan Benchmark’s Budget Modeling Service is a forward looking financial planning offer that complements the historical context provided by the Michigan Benchmark Report and the current financial state of the district enabled by Michigan Benchmark’s Budget Navigator Service.
“Combining the Michigan Benchmark Report, Budget Navigator, and Budget Modeling Service Michigan Benchmark subscribers achieve an unparalleled 360 degree view of their school district operational finances from the past to the present and into the future. The complementary relationship of the three service offers and their back end digital integration serves as the critical financial foundation enabling the ultimate in transparency and collaboration.”
Learn more about Michigan Benchmark’s Budget Modeling Service at MichiganBenchmark.com or see a live version of Budget Modeling Service here on the Michigan Benchmark website.