During the financial crisis of 2010-11, school districts in California had to make significant budget cuts. The financial system in place at SBUSD at the time was CECC with an annual cost of $170,000 that was set to increase by 14 percent annually. SBUSD had to find a less expensive alternative in a short period of time. On July 1, 2011, the district implemented the financial system from Quintessential School Systems (QSS), and by 2013-14, SBUSD will have saved approximately $750,000 as a result of the move.

However, the QSS system has not performed as expected and user satisfaction is at an unacceptable level. SBUSD conducted a survey of the staff at the district office, the site secretaries, business managers and principals regarding the system. The results show that the users continue to struggle with this system and have been frustrated with the lack of support from QSS.  In November 2012, SBUSD sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new financial system. Five responses were submitted by vendors that staff carefully reviewed and narrowed down to two. After demonstrations and site visits, staff feels that Munis system from Tyler Technologies, Inc. is the best product for SBUSD.

 

The district as a whole has various levels of users and roles that Munis accommodates through the “dashboard” (examples attached.) Not only does Munis support the principals, site staff and the district office staff with a full functioning financial system, but it has a powerful tool called Employee Self Service (ESS) which will be made available to all SBUSD employees to access from anywhere with an internet connection. ESS allows employees to make changes to their W-4, see their paystubs, enroll online for health and welfare benefits, reprint their W-2, and request sick and vacation time online. ESS also provides a paycheck simulator that calculates net pay if changes are made to on the W-4, change their 125 plan, 457 or 403b contribution. The Munis system also has online tools to integrate with other software from third party vendors such as Aesop, the sub calling system that the district is considering.

 

Finally, Tyler Technologies, Inc. has guaranteed its Munis system for an annual fee of $25,536 with caps on annual increases during the first five years of five percent and eight percent in years six through ten.  This is approximately $124,000 less than the other product considered. Tyler has waived the $25,536 annual cost for the first year. The district has funding from Microsoft money, other expense reductions and reserves to cover implementation costs of $328,405.

 

Screen shot pages are attached as examples of the Tyler Munis “dashboard” which can be customized for each user.