going in the mail: letter to ASBO on AI

 I sent the following handwritten letter to the ASBO International Executive Director today.

March 22, 2026

Dear Mr. Rowan,

I had every intention of responding to your invitation to “join the AI user community” via email, but I have hope that my taking the time and care to write by hand may make you take notice. I realize there is a certain irony to that hope, given the topic.

As an ASBO member who is not a school business official, who works with school boards on school finance issues here in Massachusetts, I have found these past years of increasing hype on AI use in school finance not only deeply distressing, but entirely contrary to the values the profession of school business officials are defined by.

In both my ten years on my local school board and the now eleven years I have served in my current role, it is the unimpeachable integrity of the school business official on which our school board members depend to make their decisions on school finances. I note “integrity” is even the first principle to which the ASBO Board holds itself, a principle which speaks of the “ethical responsibility” with which they “uphold trust.”

How then is it that ASBO has and continues to advocate for members to use a system founded in intellectual property theft? One cannot use generative AI systems without using the uncited works of millions, work they did not assent to the use of.

Where is the integrity in using work that is inaccurate? Every week brings another several stories of generative AI results being no better than guessing (in fact, we might guess better). This has in some cases deadly results. While we can hope this is not the case in school finance, results that are incorrect can, as we both know, be catastrophic.

Notably for school finance, it was recently brought to my attention that Microsoft itself recommends against using its Copilot function in Excel for any task “with legal, regulatory, or compliance implications.” (You can find that on the Copilot support page.) I think you and I would agree that this is everything within a school business office.

I do not know how school boards can trust what they are given by their school finance officers given such warnings within the very systems on which they operate, unless the board members know they are not being used.

I could go on at length about the the many other ways this push violates the core principles of school finance (that vast waste of resources; the horrific impacts on our students, particularly those most vulnerable; its use to kill schoolgirls in Iran; and the list goes on), but the loss of integrity in school finance, the undermining of the trust that is core to the function of the school business official, is the item to which I most wish to draw your attention.

Please end this undermining of this crucial trust.

Thank you for your attention,

Tracy A. Novick

Never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer

The above is variously ascribed to "lawyers," specified to "trial lawyers," is narrowed to "during cross-examinations," and dismissed as bad advice, but I will say this: 

if you are an elected official pursuing a certain end, and ask for a report that you believe will further that end, be very sure that the resulting report is going to show what you need to support your point.

While one could use several local issues to illustrate this point--the persistent demonstration that no, bike lanes and other road safety measures did not increase car crashes on Mill Street, no matter how many times the Worcester City Council asks is certainly one!--I would here direct your attention to the backup for this Thursday's Worcester School Committee, specifically pages 3 and 4, in response to a request for a report from Member Dianna Biancheria on district transportation.

It is absolutely crucial that whenever we discuss district operated transportation and the current Worcester School Committee, that we remember this August 21, 2021 Worcester Telegram & Gazette headline: 

Despite years of non-responsive terrible service and unfulfillment of the requirements of the contract, and despite repeated analysis that demonstrated that service would improve and would cost less--projected at $3.5M less--if brought in-house, when Maureen Binienda was superintendent, she recommended against bringing transportation in-house.

The Committee voted 6-1 (Monfredo opposed due to her opposition) to move in house in any case. 
Within the same article, the reasoning of one of those six votes in favor was given:

As any parent or student who experienced both would tell you, not only has service improved incredibly, service has also expanded, most notably to running--at no cost to families--buses for field trips and for school-related club activities. We also have much better working conditions for drivers and monitors, in part due to the transportation facility at 115 Northeast Cutoff, but also because working for the district means that the district deals with issues directly, and drivers and monitors aren't left to bear the brunt of poor service, as was the case with the contractor. 

It's also, of course, both state and nationally award winning, and from organizations that don't just take your word for it when you tell them that the numbers work. 

It thus was an odd choice when Biancheria spent part of the June 6 budget hearing--a hearing, let's remember, on a budget that has a $22M budget gap and does not meet required net school spending--asking a series of questions about the transportation line, finishing with a request for a report on all transportation spending.

That report is back for Thursday's meeting: 

Not only has the reason the district moved in house been met--we have buses that show up when they are supposed to in getting students to and from school--but the projections of $3.5M savings were lower.

The district is saving FIVE MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY by running their own transportation system.
$3.5M of that has gone back into the system--at a time when most transportation providers are still short drivers, Worcester will run the full 101 routes next year--and nearly $2M is being saved--at at time when transportation contract costs are skyrocketed at double digit percentages.

Aren't we glad we got this report, so we can celebrate even more success of this decision than anticipated?

FOR THE ELEVENTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

 Worcester Public Schools earns the Meritorious Budget Award!

ELEVEN TIMES IN A ROW!

Congratulations to Brian Allen, Sara Consalvo, Mohammed Siddiqui, Ivanna Then, Nancy Blomstrom, Akshay Guru Rajkumar, Liam Young, Stephanie Carrasco, Kate Ota, and Emma Kearney (that's the budget office). 

As I have said many times: it is a great pleasure to get to work with such a well-prepared document, and none of us in Worcester should ever take that for granted. 

And speaking of budgets...

...another round of congratulations is due over at the Finance and Operations offices...

Today we received word that for the 5th consecutive year the @worcesterpublic received the @ASBOIntl Meritorious Budget Award - the highest award for school budget presentation and transparency and commitment to sound fiscal management practices. Kudos to the Fin&Ops team! pic.twitter.com/q3xEsTRdsL

— Brian E. Allen (@Brian_E_Allen) February 28, 2018

Best Practices in School Budgeting (MASBO Annual Institute 2017)

Presentation is here
They're also referencing the Government Finance Officers Association Award for Best Practices in School Budgeting.
And, as would only be right, there's a reference to ASBO's Meritorious Budget Award.

WPS wins Meritorious Budget AGAIN!

Looking for some good news this Friday the 13th?
The Worcester Public Schools, for the second year in a row, has won the Association of School Business Officials' Meritorious Budget award! Thus, basically, this is the people who do budgets saying, "good job!" Or:

By working through the MBA Criteria Checklist, you will discover best practices in budgeting that will improve your budget's accuracy and transparency—building your stakeholders' confidence in your district's finance office.

The MBA Criteria Checklist provides a foundation for developing a reader-friendly budget document that:

Presents clear budget guidelines.

Promotes communication between departments and the community.

Encourages short- and long-range budget goals.

Supports effective use of educational resources.

Nice work by Mr. Allen, Ms. Consalvo, and all those who wrangle decimals and crunch numbers!