At Monday night’s school board meeting officials at Carroll Community Schools determined the purchase of software which can forecast the district’s financial budget, up to five years out, would prove to be an invaluable tool even though the price tag is a little spendy at a total cost of $11,542. CCSD School Board President Duane Horsley says the software, listed by the Iowa Association of School Board’s website, offers up a lot of value.
Superintendent Rob Cordes described the 5Cast8 budgeting forecast software, one half of the system, as being on steroids because of its power to simulate a limitless number of “what-if” scenarios.
Coupled with the second half of the system, the 5sight17M comparison software, the district will also be able to look at comparability groups of schools with similar enrollment numbers or athletic conferences to potentially identify budget efficiencies for CCSD. Director of Business Affairs Gary Bengston adds that both software systems will be highly utilized especially in specific circumstances.
The software will be used to analyze the current, and next year’s budgets, and with a 2-year user agreement the allotted time will give the district an adequate evaluation period of the software. The board approved the purchase of the 5Cast8 software at a cost of $8,000 and the 5sight17M software for $2,542 from Forecast5 Analytics with a subscription good until June 30, 2017. Since the software is non-instructional it will be paid for using monies from the Physical Plant Equipment Levy or sales tax revenue.
