On the defensive?

Released 30/06/2009

Suzannah Wright reacts to the Audit Comission report

Ever have a morning where everything seems to go wrong within minutes of arriving at your desk? Before you've even got the brew on, you've got queries and crises to fix and five extra items on your list for the day. Here at Ed Exec, today was one of those days.

So you can imagine my tea-starved, task-overloaded anger on reading that the Audit Commission report due out tomorrow is set to accuse schools of wasting billions of pounds of government money.

I was (and am) riled by the continuing lack of appreciation for the work done by business managers (whatever their title) in schools across the land. Every week I meet men and women who are working hard to make their school more efficient; to search out best value; to bring in funding where needed and to ask that difficult question: ‘can we do this more efficiently?'

The report also mentioned excess reserves - though at least it focused on the ‘excess' part rather than tarring all school surpluses (many of which are legitimate and carefully allocated) with the same brush.

But as my initial anger subsided, I realised the commission may well have a point. By virtue of my role, I tend to meet the better bursars and SBMS out there. In some schools, it may still be the case that there is no one to ask those questions, and with funding squeezing governors may feel (wrongly) that investing in a better business management structure is not worth it.

I can also see some truth in the suggestion that schools will not always seek best value for all contracts. How many schools out there stick with LA provision because it's the devil they know, rather than honestly appraising if they could get better services, more cost-effectively, elsewhere?

So while your reaction to this story may well be anger or a sense of underappreciation, I would urge you to use this opportunity to take a look at your own school and consider where you might find some extra efficiencies.

And, use this opportunity to raise the profile of SBMs in your area. Have you saved a large amount of money for your school? Call the local paper, and ask for the education correspondent. Ask them if they are planning to cover the Audit Commission story and tell them you have a different angle to add: tell them your success story. They may not run with it, but at least you've made contact and put your school in their mind as a forward thinking, efficient school.

All of this focus on school finances is bad news in that it is only there because finances are dwindling. But it's also good news if we can use it to make all schools more efficient, and to raise the profile of the school business management professional.

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