How can schools make everyday payments easier to manage

As you recall, last spring’s school treasurer had tracked all the spring field trip payments in a notebook – a very physical notebook containing 214 students’ worth of payments. 3 pages were missing from the book, and as a result, 2 kids were left off the bus list because the treasurer had accounted for their payment, but their names were on the 2 missing pages of her book. She came close to quitting over that little issue.

While technology is not the problem, for many schools the lack of a proper system to track payments is a systemic problem that manifests itself in all sorts of ways every school year. Here’s how it can play out.

The payments don’t look like a big deal until they are

While payments for school activities and supplies appear to be a very minor administrative task, the reality is that there are so many payments, made for so many different activities throughout the school year, that they can amass to become a significant cash flow issue for the school. While it is typical for teachers to process these payments between lunch and the 1:15 p.m. bell, when the office is least busy, the reality is that the many activities in school take place at the same time and can prove to be a puzzle that no one has been able to solve yet.

The various school activities and programs can have classes and organizations charged for by parents in order to support their child’s participation. In many schools, while the various fees for school activities may seem to be for insignificant things, when combined together the total number of payments to be made by parents of students at the school can become a large, confusing and time-consuming task for school administrators to organize. In many cases, parents of students at a school are divided between helping to organize and keep track of the payments for their child’s activities and other volunteer work for the school. In some cases, the school staff are left to try and sort through a number of different spreadsheets that contain different and, in some cases, conflicting information. Teachers are also often forced to tell a student on more than one occasion that they are missing a form for a particular activity and that they need to bring it to class.

The calculus changes fast when you zoom out.

What schools are actually collecting money for

I never thought about all the different things that schools collect money for. But when I started looking into this, I realized that the list is pretty long. In fact, I was surprised by how long it actually is. But, here is a list to consider when thinking about school finance issues:

• Field trips, which often have tight deadlines and variable costs per grade level
• Club and activity fees for drama, robotics, student council, sports, and everything in between
• Uniform orders, sometimes with size options and multiple payment amounts
• PTA or booster donations that need to be tracked per donor
• End-of-year celebrations, class photos, yearbooks, and the inevitable pizza party that someone has to organize

Each activity within a school collects money from many families at different dollar amounts and on different times. Typically, the payments are collected and recorded using paper, creating many opportunities for items to “leak” from the system. In many cases, the school’s treasurer may not even realize an item has left the system until long after the fact.

A problem nobody talks about enough

Some schools use cash and checks for payments. Students and/or parents can pay for things such as permission slips with a payment in cash for example. A check can also be written out and have the child carry it to school in their backpack until it is deposited in the school office by the teacher or school volunteer. Typically checks are written out to “P.T.O.” of the school name and a treasurer may be present to handle money or the teacher/volunteer may keep track of payments in a notebook.

There are a lot of groups of money at school, and a lot of families and students, and lots of activities going on. It’s hard for schools to keep all of the money straight when it is organized in a number of different systems and then passed from person to person. Inevitably, the cash can get lost along the way, a check can bounce, and then someone has to go back and physically deposit the payment, enter it in the system, and then cross reference the list in the system with the hard copy list to verify the payment was entered accurately. And the list in the system is not 100% accurate to begin with. Meanwhile, the family is trying to juggle work and school and keep cash on hand for these various payments as they come up. The school is left playing catch up to find out who has or hasn’t paid and when.

Streamlining the process of school payments can save so much time and energy. Online school payment platforms for schools, such as Cheddar Up, are a game changer. Not only do they simplify the process for families pay for school activities, but they also save schools time and money. Schools will save money due to decreased missed payments and less time spent chasing after families for payments.

What actually works in practice

There is no one system that is going to work for every school, every group of parents, and every group of students. Every group is going to have to figure out what works best for them. However, there are several things that schools have found to be very useful in their payment systems. Many schools are already trying to  a) reduce the number of systems in place, b) reduce the number of handoffs between individuals or between systems, and c) make sure that all payments are kept in one place and are easy to track.

Useful practices for school payment collection. Many schools have found the following practices are very useful for their payment collection and streamlining process.

1. Centralizing collection under one system rather than having each club or teacher manage their own method
2. Offering multiple payment options so families who prefer digital can pay digitally, without excluding anyone
3. Setting up automatic reminders so staff aren’t personally chasing every unpaid family
4. Keeping clear records tied to each student or family, not just to a payment amount

And, as with anything, the simplest way to go about saving time and money and avoiding stress is to set aside a specific time and date each month to deal with school finances, to collect, record, and deposit funds for all activities at one time, and to keep and refer to a single master spreadsheet. It can be done in an hour or less a month if one is willing to put in the time to set up and coordinate the process.

A quick comparison: paper vs. digital collection

I am unsure why school payment processes are not as current as those of other organizations such as non-profits and for-profit businesses of all sizes. Each school is different, but, in general, if a school were to reduce the number of processes, transfers of money and of information, and of places where things go wrong, that would be a step in the right direction.

Solutions for the school payment systems will have to differ per school, because every school is different. However, reducing the amount of systems, of handovers, and of places where money can get lost is positive.

That next year’s treasurer could get school payment organized in a way that would allow her to have an extra hour of time each week, every week, of the school year to do whatever she would like, even school activities.