CCSD compliance monitor recommends automated position‑forecasting software; board accepts monitoring update

The Clark County School District Board of School Trustees accepted a compliance-monitoring update Thursday that recommended adopting an automated position‑budget forecasting tool to replace a large manual spreadsheet process.

Yolanda King, CCSD Compliance Monitor, told the board the district currently forecasts more than 40,000 individual positions using a complex Excel workbook, which limits scenario modeling and increases manual workload and reconciliation tasks. The monitoring report recommended a public-sector budgeting product marketed as UnaBudget (powered by Sherpa).

King said the District’s budget team completed due diligence, including a visit to another jurisdiction using the product, and unanimously selected UnaBudget because it interfaces with CCSD’s SAP financial system and PeopleSoft position-control and payroll systems. She described an implementation timetable with a planned project kickoff in June 2025 and a target go‑live in November 2025 so the tool can inform development of the FY 2027 budget.

Cost and funding: King said the five‑year cost is roughly $1.2 million. The initial year estimate is about $200,000 with fiscal‑year‑2026 implementation costs near $451,000; ongoing annual subscription costs were estimated at $160,000–$170,000. Funding for the software was identified from technology bond funds and the general fund.

Diane Bartholomew, interim chief financial officer, said the system is intended to improve accuracy for central budget development and to supply better data to the existing school-budget tool used by principals. The district plans an initial parallel run of the manual spreadsheet and the automated system for the first year to validate results. Bartholomew said upfront work to define bargaining-unit benefit characteristics and staffing models will require staff time, and Information Technology will automate data pulls from SAP and PeopleSoft to reduce manual uploads.

Board action and context: The compliance-monitor update was accepted 7-0. Trustees asked about support from the vendor, data security and whether other districts use the product; staff said the vendor is based in Austin, Texas, and Clark County local government had used the tool. King said Clark County implemented a similar system within a comparable time frame.

The board and staff said the software is seen as a near‑term step to improve position forecasting and scenario modeling while the district evaluates enterprise resource planning options over the next several years.