TPSD wins international finance award again

Schools teach students the importance of math, organization and accountability every day.

So it’s fitting that the Terrebonne Parish School District has once again won the Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officials.

The award, recognizing excellence in budget presentation for the school district’s 2014-15 annual operating budget, commends the school district for its commitment to sound fiscal management practices as well as its commitment to presenting a clear, effective, accurate and easy-to-understand budget.

“It’s a conformation of what I already knew that we manage our finances in a very business like and credible manner, and this is just a validation of that – a very visible one – and I’m proud of the work our district does as it relates to finance,” said Terrebonne Parish Superintendent of Schools Philip Martin. “It’s a very enormously complex operation, and it’s gratifying that it exceed standards in the industry and is being recognized as doing an excellent job.”

About 120 schools win the award every year, and Terrebonne joined the DeSoto Parish School System as the only Louisiana school districts to win the award for its 2014-15 bookkeeping.

“Our books and finances are kept in a manner and maintained in a manner and we conduct business in a manner that meets high standards and exceeds those standards, so I’m very pleased with that,” Martin added.

This is the eighth time the Terrebonne Parish School District has won the award presented to schools in both the United States and Canada, and it has won it every time in which it has applied. Terrebonne Parish Schools Chief Financial Officer Becky Breaux said the school district did not apply for the award a couple times at the end of the 2000s decade due to school district money being tight, however she said the department continued to measure its budget against the award’s criteria in those years.

Those criteria include budget accuracy, outlining clear short- and long-range budget goals and demonstrating the effective use of educational resources within the district.

Breaux called winning the award again a team effort.

“My entire staff works very hard, very conscious and pours their heart and soul into presenting a budget that they can be proud of, that the school board can be proud of,” Breaux said. “It’s about a five-month process, and so we pay attention to every bit of detail so that it is as accurate and concise as possibly can be.”