Lead School Finance Analyst -Legislative Research Commission (Non-Merit)

Kentucky Personnel Cabinet•Frankfort, KY

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Legislative Research Commission is accepting applications for the position of Lead School Finance Analyst in the Office of Education Accountability. This position is nonpartisan and requires the ability to work with neutrality in a politically charged environment. The Legislative Research Commission provides staff support to the Kentucky General Assembly. The agency offers unique opportunities to people seeking fulfilling, challenging, and rewarding careers. LRC staff members provide diverse services and are united by the common purpose of supporting the branch of government closest to the people. This is a permanent, full-time position with benefits including health and life insurance; retirement plan; and paid holidays, vacation, and sick days. Compensatory time is awarded on an hour-for-hour basis with prior approval.

Requirements

Bachelor's or relevant degree in business, finance, public policy, or a related and relevant field.
Minimum of 5 years in budgeting, business, public policy, statistics, auditing, legislative activities, or a related field required.
Experience with Kentucky education finance data at the district or state level strongly preferred.
Supervisory experience including project leadership preferred.
Ability to manage training or staff projects by identifying goals and timelines
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Knowledge of education finance data as reported by districts to the Kentucky Department of Education
Knowledge of state and local finance data and accounting standards
Ability to interpret federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
Knowledge of research methods used in education finance and ability to prepare succinct written analysis of complex projects and issues.
Knowledge of education policy, school funding, and state budgeting
Experience with data collection, analysis, processing, interpretation, and reporting
Ability to correlate budgeting and expenditure to public policy outcomes
Knowledge of coding used in school district reporting of revenue and expenses
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and the MUNIS financial software; proficiency in additional programming software preferred
Knowledge of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) principles
Familiarity with state and local revenue streams and associated policy requirements
Ability to both work independently and to collaborate with others and work effectively in a team environment, maintaining sensitivity to political nuance and protocol while prioritizing workloads to meet deadlines

Nice To Haves

Supervisory experience including project leadership preferred.
Proficiency in additional programming software preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead and train analysts in understanding and analyzing education finance data including knowledge of data standards and programming codes used to produce aggregate data for revenue and expenditures
Oversee annual data requests and analysis of education finance data used to provide the general assembly with district finance data and additional analyses, upon request
Oversee office collaboration with agency staff in maintenance of finance data in the OEA database
Conduct in-depth analysis of school district budgets, revenue streams, and expenditure patterns as necessary to support research studies or other legislative requests
Prepare comprehensive reports with data visualizations and presentations to inform legislators about school funding issues.
Monitor implementation of school finance policies, identifying any implementation challenge
Monitor trends in revenue and expenditures at the state and district levels
Support investigate staff in understanding and carrying out complaints related to school finance
Fulfill duties required of education accountability research analyst III