Effective Financial Communication for School Districts: Best Practices for Levies

As the new school year approaches, many school districts find themselves facing the challenging task of communicating about finances and the potential impact on taxpayers. These communications typically involve topics such as the five-year forecast, the potential need for facilities or other capital improvements, and funding challenges in light of the expiration of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Programs (ESSER) funding, often resulting in a levy being placed on the ballot for taxpayer vote.

To navigate these complex topics effectively, districts must adhere to factual information while employing strategic communications best practices. But as a school district, where do you begin? 

Over the next three weeks, we will present a detailed guide for school districts to enhance their financial communication based on the strategic communications model. This post is the first in a series dedicated to helping districts tackle various aspects of financial communication, providing valuable insights and actionable steps along the way.

Developing a Strategic Communications Model

Strategic communication is the cornerstone of any successful communication, delivering the right message to the right stakeholders through the right platforms. 

In our work with schools, we approach financial communication with the same strategic approach that we take with general communication using our strategic communication model. This model involves a cyclical process of research, planning, execution, and evaluation, ensuring that each step is outcome-focused.

Just like a distinct character in every story, each school district has its own set of unique attributes – from diverse communities and educational philosophies to varied resources and priorities. We understand this, and that’s why our approach is tailored to fit your unique narrative.

When it comes to planning your communications, our model includes the following 6 guideposts:

Partner for Success

Our first step in any plan is to understand our clients and their goals. This works similarly in your own work, in that you need to understand your goals, the outcomes desired and the community you are working with. Some questions to prompt this conversation with yourself or with your administrative team could include: What do we hope to achieve as a school district? What is our mission and vision for students? What do we want our community to know and understand about us?

Identify Your Communication Platforms

The next step is to understand what methods you have to deliver your message. By spending time identifying primary communication platforms and recommending additional platforms to support communication when necessary, you ensure consistent and effective information dissemination to your stakeholders.

We define communication platforms as any means through which information is conveyed to an audience. This includes social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; print newsletters distributed to households; email communications sent to parents and community members; automated phone calls for urgent updates; and even local media outlets for broader coverage.

Understanding the need for broad coverage and repetitive messages is most important when reviewing your platforms. So, how are you reaching people in print who may not be tuned in to social media? What platforms do you have in place to reach community members who do not have students in school? How are you regularly and consistently communicating with families?

Prioritize Your Message

After bringing understanding to your goals and identifying the ways in which you communicate, the next step is to pinpoint your key communication priorities and craft strategic objectives and strategies to advance your organization's mission. Generally, narrowing your main messages to two to four priorities will help provide clarity to your audience and maintain a manageable amount of content to reinforce your messages. 

In this instance, one of your main messages would be fiscal responsibility and financial transparency. 

Define Communication Objectives

Once you prioritize all of your messages, it is time to define your communication objectives. We guide clients in establishing clear communication objectives using the following framework: 

1. Audience - Who is your target audience?
2. Outcome - What is your desired outcome? (Create/increase awareness, influence perception, change/influence behavior, take action, develop opinions/beliefs)
3. Goal - What is the desired attainment level?
4. Timeline - What is the timeline for receiving and understanding the information?

For financial stewardship, you might define the objective as follows after answering the above questions: As a district, we understand the importance of financial stewardship, transparency and literacy in our community as stewards of taxpayer dollars. Through regular and consistent communication, we will increase our stakeholders' understanding of school finance and the current challenges of our funding over the next 12 months so that they can speak accurately to others about our financial situation. 

Execute Communication Strategies

Following the development of objectives, it is time to develop communication strategies. For our clients, this translates to detailed timing and tactics to ensure that key messages are received and our objectives are achieved. We will detail some of our most recommended tactics for financial and levy communications in our next two blogs. 

*In Ohio, we recommend that you read the state auditor's recent guidance on communications around levies before developing your plan.

Review and Adjustment 

As a final step in developing a strategic communications plan, we encourage regular review and adjustment of your priorities, objectives, and strategies to ensure your communications consistently support your organizational goals and adapt to changes and challenges.

With a solid foundation in place, identifying your key message is the next step in developing a successful strategic communication plan to communicate about your school’s finances or levies. Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where we will explore crafting key communications using the 3-30-3 messaging model and effectively engaging your community with pass/fail information.