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Effective Governance Quarterly · Free Live Masterclass

Where did all the money go?

What every charter school Board should know about financial oversight, risk & sustainability—and the questions that protect your school before a crisis hits.

Save my free seat → What we’ll cover
Dr. Tom Miller Dana Vignale

Hosted by Dr. Tom Miller, Leaders Building Leaders
with special guest Dana Vignale, Charter Impact

Tuesday · October20
7:00–8:30 PM ET
Live online · Free

Can your Board answer these?

  • Are our financial systems actually working—or does the budget just balance?
  • What is “we’re on track” really based on?
  • What trends are hiding inside our audit?
  • Does today’s budget support tomorrow’s strategy?
The masterclass goes live in

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Register free

Save your seat & get the Treasurer’s Toolkit

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM ET · Live online

ComplimentaryCharter School Treasurer’s Toolkit

Included with every registration

Practical resources to help Board Treasurers and Finance Committees strengthen oversight, ask better questions, and build a healthier partnership with leadership and the finance team.

  • Bring the Toolkit to your next Finance Committee and Board meeting
  • Built for Board members, Treasurers, Heads of School and finance leads
  • 90 minutes, live and free to attend

Reserve your free seat

Takes less than a minute.

The reality for charter schools

Costs keep climbing.
Your mission hasn’t gotten smaller.

State budgets

Funding is increasingly unpredictable from one year to the next.

People costs

Personnel and benefit costs continue to rise.

Enrollment shifts

A change in enrollment can change revenue overnight.

Operating costs

Facilities, insurance, transportation and special education keep climbing.

Money is the oxygen that drives your school’s programs.

It funds your people, your classrooms, your facilities and your student opportunities—and ultimately your ability to deliver on the promises in your charter. That means your resources must be analyzed, cultivated, protected, and strategically used to grow your school.

The governance question

How does the Board know?

How does the Board know the school’s financial systems are actually working? Not simply…

Whether the budget balances
Whether the CFO says, “We’re on track”
Whether the audit came back without a major finding

Is your Finance Committee focused on the right work?

Many Boards and committees are full of talented people. Yet…

Meetings drift operationalUpdates crowd out the strategic conversations.
Roles blurBoard members aren’t sure where governance ends and management begins.
Committees stallThey exist, but don’t consistently move important work forward.
Reports overwhelmInformation overload replaces meaningful oversight.

Without clear governance systems, even great organizations lose momentum.

This is not a finance training

A governance conversation about your school’s financial future.

Dr. Tom Miller and Charter Impact unpack the financial information every Board, Finance Committee and leadership team should understand—and how the five players work together.

The Board

What should it know, monitor, question and approve?

The Finance Committee

How does it go deeper without becoming management?

The Finance Team

What should leadership provide so the Board can govern effectively?

The Audit

Beyond compliance, what data points and trends are hiding inside it?

The Budget

Does today’s budget support tomorrow’s strategy?

The most important question

What should your Board be seeing now that could prevent a financial crisis later?

Cancel the Board meeting.

Seriously. If your Board is scheduled to meet at the same time, make this the meeting. Financial sustainability isn’t the responsibility of one person.

Who to bring

01Your Board Chair
02Your Treasurer
03Your Finance Committee
04Your Head of School
05Your CFO or finance partner
Management executes. The Board ensures.We’ll show you what that looks like when real money, real risk and the future of your school are on the line.
Your hosts

Governance meets financial strategy.

Dr. Tom Miller
Leaders Building Leaders

Dr. Tom Miller

Decades of experience working with charter school boards and leaders to strengthen governance, accountability and organizational sustainability.

Dana Vignale
Charter Impact

Dana Vignale

Dana and the Charter Impact team work with charter schools nationally, pairing deep financial expertise with dashboards, budgeting and forecasting tools, and strategic guidance.

charterimpact.com →

Together, they’ll help you move beyond reviewing reports to understanding what the numbers are telling you, which questions to ask, and how governance and financial strategy work together to protect—and grow—your school.

Effective Governance Quarterly

Make this the meeting.

Bring your Board, your Finance Committee and your leadership team. Leave with the questions—and the Toolkit—that protect your school.

Save my free seat →

Tuesday, October 20, 2026 · 7:00–8:30 PM ET · Live online · Free

Is Your Board Seeing the Whole Financial Picture?

State budgets are increasingly unpredictable. Personnel and benefit costs keep rising. Enrollment shifts can change revenue overnight. Facilities, insurance, transportation, and special education costs keep climbing.

Yet your mission hasn’t gotten smaller.

Money is the oxygen that drives your school’s programs.

It funds your people, your classrooms, your facilities, and your student opportunities—and ultimately your ability to deliver on the promises in your charter. Your financial resources must be analyzed, cultivated, protected, and strategically used to grow your school.

So how does the Board know the school’s financial systems are actually working?

Not whether the budget balances.
Not whether the CFO says, “We’re on track.”
Not whether the audit came back without a major finding.

Many Boards and committees are full of talented people…

…yet meetings get consumed by operational updates instead of strategic conversations. Members aren’t always sure where governance ends and management begins. Reporting becomes information overload rather than meaningful oversight.

Without clear governance systems, even great organizations lose momentum.

REGISTER TODAY

This Is Not a Finance Training.

It’s a governance conversation about the financial future of your school. Dr. Tom Miller and Dana Vignale of Charter Impact will unpack the financial information every charter school Board, Finance Committee, and leadership team should understand—and how each player works together.

 

01  THE BOARD
What should it know, monitor, question, and approve?

02  THE FINANCE COMMITTEE
How does it go deeper without becoming management?

03  THE FINANCE TEAM
What information should leadership provide so the Board can govern effectively?

04  THE AUDIT
Beyond compliance, what key data points and trends are hiding inside it?

05  THE BUDGET
Does today’s budget actually support tomorrow’s strategy?

 

And the most important question of all: What should your Board be seeing now that could prevent a financial crisis later?

Cancel the Board Meeting.

Seriously. If your Board is scheduled to meet at the same time, make this the meeting.

Bring your team:

✓  Your Board Chair
✓  Your Treasurer
✓  Your Finance Committee
✓  Your Head of School
✓  Your CFO or finance partner

Financial sustainability isn’t the responsibility of one person.

Management executes. The Board ensures.

We’ll show you what that distinction looks like when real money, real risk, and the future of your school are on the line.

REGISTER TODAY

Your Governance & Finance Experts

Dr. Tom Miller of Leaders Building Leaders and Dana Vignale of Charter Impact bring two critical perspectives to this conversation: effective governance and sophisticated charter school financial strategy.

Tom brings decades of experience working with charter school boards and leaders to strengthen governance, accountability, and organizational sustainability.

Dana and the Charter Impact team work with charter schools nationally, pairing deep financial expertise with financial dashboards, budgeting and forecasting tools, and strategic guidance that turn complex data into better decisions.

Together, they’ll help you move beyond reviewing financial reports to understanding what the numbers are telling you, which questions to ask, and how governance and financial strategy work together to protect—and grow—your school.

SAVE YOUR SEAT