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Director of Finance and Operations
Title: Director, Financial and Operations
Union Affiliation: Not Represented by a Union
Salary Range: $90,166 - $117,445
Work Schedule: Hybrid
The School District of Philadelphia is committed to becoming the fastest improving District in the country and transforming the educational opportunities it offers to our city’s more than 200,000 students. The District seeks leaders who have a passion for working with schools and communities who are committed to ensuring all students achieve. Serving a population as diverse as ours requires creativity, commitment and vision. Will you join us?
Job Summary
Oversees, directs and implements initiatives that improve performance and achieve savings for the School District with focus on the departments reporting to the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Financial Services. Represents the Deputy Chief Financial Officer to internal and external constituents related to the designated initiatives as directed. Serves and supports the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer in the areas of performance improvement, budget to actual analysis, contracts, and other strategic initiatives. For the ACCESS Program, directs and executes efforts in the coordination and supervision of the programmatic activities of the District’s Medical Assistance Reimbursement program - ACCESS. Coordinates and provides direction for all processes related to the ACCESS Program within the Office of Financial Services. For Treasury Operations, executes and directs a sound program of cash management for the School District’s funds. Manages the day-to-day treasury operations and the receipt, disbursement and investment of all funds. Determines the optimal cash position for the District, makes recommendations for the establishment and/or revision of policies governing short and long-term investment options; monitors financial market conditions and consults with the Deputy CFO regarding the issuance of short and long-term bonds, ongoing compliance and maturity and planning the type, size and timing of capital bond issues.
Essential Functions
• Directs and coordinates the strategic work of identifying and implementing Chief Financial Office related projects and tasks.
• Represents and acts on the behalf of the Deputy Chief Financial Officer as directed.
• Acts as a liaison in the strategic planning and design of initiatives for the Chief Financial Office.
• Oversees the budget and financial management of strategic initiatives and operating expenses for the departments that comprise Financial Services.
• Revises existing policies and procedures to eliminate wasteful or duplicative work and speed transaction processing time.
• Directs the modernization of current financial systems to increase ease of use; enables integration with other District work systems; provides timely information and reduce time spent on administrative tasks.
• Enables school operators to purchase business services when this will improve quality and lower costs.
• Negotiates and manages outside vendor contracts to get the highest quality and lowest cost, and continuously monitors and evaluates vendor effectiveness in meeting the District’s educational and operational goals.
• Ensures that resources are allocated and used in a manner that advances the District’s critical objectives; performance is measured and improved, and good customer service is provided.
• Makes customer satisfaction a key element in appraising and rewarding performance for financial and operations managers and staff.
Continuously monitors actual year-to-date and projected full-year spending and compares to the budget.
• Identifies and corrects projected budget-to-actual variances in a manner that does not impair the District’s educational progress.
• Reports to the District’s funding governments and the public how the District’s resources are being used in ways that are clear, transparent, and informative; ensures equity in the distribution of financial resources.
• Gives principals and school leadership teams, meaningful opportunities to help shape school budgets to improve efficiency and effectiveness of school operations raising student achievement.
(Charter School Specialty)
• Informs the development and refinement of the Charter Schools Office’s (CSO) financial performance framework for assessing and evaluating the financial health and sustainability, and fiscal management of charter schools.
• Evaluates the financial health and sustainability of charter schools, calculating standard ratios and metrics as well as sector averages.
• Conducts ongoing research and regulatory reviews to ensure that established financial measures of performance and standards for performance are consistent with authorizing best practices, public finance requirements and non-profit generally accepted financial practices; makes recommendations to senior leadership on minimally an annual basis regarding industry trends.
• Assesses adherence of individual District-authorized charter schools to generally accepted standards of fiscal management, including internal controls, conflict of interest, and the appropriate exercise of fiduciary duties.
• Develops written, publicly available reports detailing financial outcomes of charter schools based on the CSO performance framework.
• Evaluates critical areas of charter school organizational compliance, including food, health, and safety, through assessment of various charter school reports, data and policies.
• Communicates regularly with charter leaders, auditors and business managers regarding financial and organizational outcomes and areas of concern; reviews, evaluates and calculates sector-level performance based on annual audited financial statements of individual charter schools and leads follow-up with schools regarding audit findings.
• Develops recommendations on charter school outcomes and compliance.
• Briefs senior leadership on charter school financial performance and areas of concern regarding financial or organizational performance.
• Supports implementation and ongoing development of an intervention system including notices of concern, probationary status, etc.; identifies schools warranting escalation and develops preliminary Notices of Concern or Deficiency based on financial performance or certain aspects of organizational compliance.
• Tracks and reports on unmet PSERS obligations and works directly with Special Finance to ensure appropriate withholding from charter schools to support the District’s financial health and ensure timely recoupment of funds.
• Serves as the primary CSO liaison to the District’s Special Finance and Chief Financial Officer teams.
• Helps develop and disseminate best practices to educate internal and external stakeholders.
• Participates in efforts to promote equity and transparency in charter school operations.
• Provide key supports for general authorizing functions, including new charter applications, annual monitoring, turnaround, renewal evaluation, and charter amendments.
• Assumes the lead responsibility for financial and budget review and evaluation of all new charter applications and charter amendments, as necessary.
• Participates as a team member in charter school renewal and monitoring visits primarily to assess and evaluate organizational compliance and financial health and sustainability performance of a charter school.
• Serves as the CSO’s subject matter expert in charter school financial monitoring and keeps abreast of related current research, trends, methods and practices; when appropriate, provides internal training for authorizing staff related to financial performance metrics or the CSO performance framework and generally accepted standards of financial management.
• Performs other responsibilities within charter monitoring and oversight as required.
Minimum Requirements
(Charter School Specialty)
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, business, finance, or economics.
• Ten years of full-time, paid, professional experience in a financial management, budget analysis, internal auditing and/or government oversight function which has involved coordinating financial activities for a school, public sector, non-profit or financial organization
OR
• Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, business, finance, or economics.
• Six years of full-time, paid, professional experience in financial management, budget analysis, internal auditing and/or government oversight function which has involved coordinating financial activities for a school, public sector, non-profit or financial organization.
OR
• Any equivalent combination of training and experience determined to be acceptable by the Office of Talent
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Demonstrated knowledge of:
o strategic planning and coordination of large scale projects and initiatives.
o fiscal management, accounting, auditing and budgeting practices, procedures and techniques.
o principles, practices, methods and techniques of municipal financial administration.
o current practices, methods and techniques of financial and business operations, including those used in budgeting, business process improvement, and implementation of strategic initiatives.
o principles and practices of enterprise management.
o current challenges and associated strategies in urban K-12 public education.
o supervisory methods and techniques. o the uses and capabilities of personal computers and their software applications.
o managerial and leadership methods and techniques.
Demonstrated ability to:
o lead and implement strategic initiatives.
o oversee and direct, through subordinate managerial personnel, the operations of a multi-faceted business and financial enterprise.
o make public presentations.
o plan and administer technical operations involving the coordination of efforts of multiple specialized units.
o exercise sound judgment and discretion. o communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
o establish and maintain effective working relationships.
(Charter School Specialty)
• Demonstrated knowledge of:
o principals of fiscal and business practices.
o principals and practices of budget formulation, evaluation and administration. o office management methods and record keeping practices and procedures.
o standard indicators of financial health.
o generally accepted standards of fiscal management and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
o excel and/or other software applications to create financial spreadsheets.
• Demonstrated ability to:
o prepare accurate, succinct and complete narrative and statistical reports.
o work on multiple projects and issues concurrently.
o support administrators in the attainment of District goals and objectives.
o prioritize and manage competing assignments.
o write technical/analytical documents as well as translate these documents for layperson audience.
o analyze financial statements, including Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs).
o create new systems and processes with or without technology.
o exercise sound judgment and discretion in applying and interpreting policies and procedures.
o meaningfully interact with a variety of stakeholders, internal and external, with a range of knowledge regarding financial and organizational school performance.
o communicate effectively, both orally and in writing. o establish and maintain effective working relationships.
Disclaimer
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.
Nondiscrimination
The School District of Philadelphia provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, age, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, disability, pregnancy, marital status, gender identity, or genetic information. Please refer to Board Policy 348 for further information regarding the District's commitment to Nondiscrimination in Employment Practices.