school council
finance committee update
At the last School Council meeting in February this year, I was honoured to be co-opted by School Council to join this esteemed group for 2020 and to take on the responsibility of being the Treasurer for BNW. In taking over this role, I’ve definitely got my work cut out as these are big shoes that Sam Cohen has left for me to fill!
Sam has been Treasurer since circa 2009 – which makes this his 10th year anniversary!! Sam’s involvement with the school started when his son first enrolled here. At that time, there was only 180 students at the school, and since then have grown to over 400 students. Under Sam’s stewardship the school has not only increased in size, but also overcome numerous financial and operational challenges during this time.
Although Sam’s many achievements could fill an entire newsletter on its own, one of his biggest highlights would be securing the $6.23m funding for improving the school infrastructure in 2018! This was the culmination of 2 years of hard work involving many late nights (and strong coffees I’m sure!) with other members of the committee, of which Sam was one of the key driving forces.
Although Sam’s time as Treasurer has come to a close, I look forward to working with him in his new capacity as School Council President.
Some interesting facts about Sam that is not finance or school related – he recently bought himself a Harley Davidson last year for his 50th birthday and is planning to jump out of an airplane sometime in the next few weeks!
Thank you to Sam volunteering your time and dedication to helping the school – you are truly an embodiment of the school motto “Deeds not words”!
What does the Finance Committee do?
The Finance Committee meets around the middle of every month to monitor the school’s income and expenditure, including fundraising, OSHC, voluntary contributions and Department of Education payments. In addition to this oversight, our Committee develop annual budgets and track all receipts and payments against theses budgets. We also report to sub-committees and School Council on operating performance. The Committee also make recommendations for short and long term financial planning in-line with the strategic goals and priorities of the school.
The 2019 result for the operating accounts saw us hit the income and expenditure budgets almost spot on; there was around a 1% variance in both, working with around $1.2 million. Some of the programs mentioned above were over, some were under and others were about right on. We encourage anyone interested in hearing more about 2019 and the year before to join us at the BNW 2019 Year in Review session to be held on Wednesday, 22nd April
In 2020 we have the added responsibility of working with the BNW leadership team to address the debt owed to the Department from 2019. As previously discussed with the school community we wish we didn’t have this issue to deal with but alas it’s a reality we will work through, in a manner that does not reduce any programs or services on offer at our wonderful school.
We are also working closely with the BNW leadership team to consider what impact the Coronavirus may have on income and expenses in 2020. No doubt, it’s going to be a busy and interesting year for the school and all the sub committees
Our Committee consists of Hannah Reid, Ange Hopkins, Audrie Sexton, Sam Cohen and myself. If you are interested in finding out more about the Committee, what we do and how you can get involved in 2020, please contact one of us or via email at finance@brunswicknwps.gov.vic.au. We also encourage anyone interested in hearing more about 2019 and the year before to join us at the BNW 2019 Year in Review to be held on 22nd April.
Lilian