Mike Hagerty, CFO, MSBO President, Asst. Superintendent, Administrative Services, Kent ISD
Each month as President of MSBO I’m asked to write an article for eNews. And each month I’ve tried to include an interesting piece of data that you can use back in your district. Well this month I’m going to do something different. While I’m still going to provide you an interesting piece of data, I’m guessing it will be of little to no value to you back in your district!! But who cares, it promises to be interesting.
“Who Are We”, meaning what is the make-up of school business officials in Michigan. More specifically, what is the make-up of members of MSBO. This data was compiled from the membership survey that was completed last spring/summer. Below I’ve compiled three interesting facts about you, school business officials.
Interesting Fact #1: Over 67% of you are female. That’s right, the MSBO membership is 67% female and 33% male. And we are becoming “more female” each year. As you can see from the chart below, five years ago the split was 63/37, however females have gained about 1% a year. I’m guessing my female colleagues would remind me that this split is why MSBO is such a successful organization!!
Interesting Fact #2: The majority of you are age 50-59. That’s right, nearly 42% of you are in your 50’s. The next largest segment is age 40-49 at nearly 30%. So 72% of survey respondents are between age 40 – 59. Don’t worry Millennial’s we will be retiring soon, these jobs aren’t as fun as they used to be!!
While discussing generations, here is an interesting chart showing the difference in the three generations.
Interesting Fact #3: MSBO membership is comprised of a variety of school business positions. While many people think of MSBO as “business office”, it’s actually not the case. While finance/business office represent over 60% of membership, there are also over 300 facility members, and nearly 200 transportation and technology members, not to mention over 150 HR members. Below is a chart showing the breakdown.
In closing, many of you may find it interesting the first MSBO Conference was January 22 & 23, 1938. That’s right, the first conference was 81 years ago!! There were 159 attendees and 15 exhibitors. They discussed issues such as borrowing limitations, budget prep procedures, new state building laws, fuel costs, and proper lighting. Heck, I think some of those topics are being discussed at this year’s conference! Through the 81 years one thing has remained constant, which is this organization is made up of a tremendous group of hardworking individuals who give their best, day in and day out. Thanks for all you do!!