The Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) has awarded Prince William County Public Schools with the Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) for the 2023-24 fiscal year. This is the 28th consecutive year that PWCS has earned this award. The MBA award recognizes best practices for budget presentations in school districts. To be eligible for the award, participants must apply and submit their documents for the budget year to a review panel of school financial officials. The officials review the materials to ensure the application and budget documents meet their standards using the MBA “criteria checklist,” and provide helpful feedback to school districts on ways they can improve their budget presentations.

“PWCS has a long history of strong financial management as evidenced by receiving the Meritorious Budget Award for 28 consecutive years,” shared Shakeel Yusuf, chief financial officer.” This award demonstrates the commitment of PWCS budget department staff to present a budget that is clear not only to our internal audience, but also to the Prince William County community that we serve. It sets a tone for transparency and our earnest desire to communicate our budget plans to our school communities.”

To earn this award, the MBA checklist states the school budget should reflect, “a technically well-prepared [budget], clear and logical in its narration of facts and data, mathematically accurate and free of spelling and grammatical errors, and have consistent formatting throughout including writing style.”

Jim Rowan, ASBO International executive director shared, “ASBO International’s MBA program provides school districts with tools and resources to develop a high-quality, easy-to-understand budget to share the district’s goals and objectives internally and with the community. By participating in the programs, districts demonstrate their commitment to upholding nationally recognized budget presentation standards.”

To learn more about the ABSO and the MBA program, please visit their website.