Quarterly Newsletters 2016/2017 3rd Quarter Newsletter | Page 4

Happy New Year! I hope you had a chance to spend some quality time with family and friends during the holiday season. As everything gets back into full swing with the start of the 2017 legislative session starting and the fiscal challenges ahead of us, I want to share some words of encouragement.

As the year begins, we start preparing financial plans and looking for ways to balance our budgets. The challenges seem overwhelming; however, I have always thought that challenges create moments of opportunity. As school business officials, we hold the knowledge to help our districts get through one of the most difficult budget situations we have seen in several years. This budget situation gives us the opportunity to demonstrate how our understanding of the budget is the key factor in overcoming this challenge. Most of the time, we are quietly handling our jobs behind the scenes - managing payroll, audits, budget, accounts payable, and much more. Now is the time to step up and face this challenge and come out of the back room to provide the analysis and data that can help your district.

NMASBO has been training, developing and encouraging its members for just this moment. I am excited, just as all of you should be, to take our skills, training and knowledge to guide our districts and our communities into this legislative session and financial challenge. As the legislative session begins, stay involved, be accessible and be a part of the process by making yourself available.

At our upcoming Winter Conference, we are pleased to have PED leading a session on budget development and budget challenges. This session will allow districts similar in size and type and charters to work together to brainstorm and share ideas. I strongly encourage all of you to come prepared to contribute to the discussion on budget at the Winter Conference. You have invaluable skills and if we pull together, I believe we will come out of this year stronger and better than ever. Again, I encourage you to step up and bring your "A" game. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Winter Conference in February next month.

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