Hudson School District adds financial manager

• Jerrud Rossing, Financial Services Manager

Jerrud Rossing, Financial Services Manager

Talk about it

The addition of a financial services manager to the Hudson School District Financial Services office is part of an effort to increase efficiency and streamline office operations.

The man hired to do that job is Jerrud Rossing. He began his job late last summer and works closely with Financial Services Director Tim Erickson. Rossing graduated from Purdue University with a degree in agricultural economics and policy. He has a master’s degree in school business and management from UW-Whitewater.

He previously worked as the bookkeeper for Prairie Farm School District, just north of Menomonie. He and his wife, who is a teacher in Prairie Farm, have three children under the age of 3 and still make their home there.

Rossing’s duties include managing and updating IRS information for the district, assisting in payroll and benefits processing and the monitoring and internal control of the district’s bills. His job also includes seeing to it that the district keeps up with state and federal mandates regarding funding and reporting.

“In a growing district like Hudson, keeping up with those mandates and the financing attached to them is one of the biggest challenges our office faces. We also need to be diligent about programming and the funding that goes with it to be sure that we are always getting the most value we can for our students,” said Rossing.

Rossing said a district like Hudson can lose funding other districts might get because of a smaller number of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch based on income.

“Just because we don’t qualify for those funds doesn’t mean our students couldn’t benefit from the programs they help pay for. We just have to look for other sources of income and be creative.”

Rossing said the state’s budget deficit could once again affect local school funding but he doesn’t expect that there will be the delay in state aids like the last time.

“There is increased talk about looking for different ways to fund education statewide other than through property tax. But even if the state government is pro-education, there is only so much they can do.”

Rossing said the increased number of referendums to exceed revenue limits statewide is evidence of the problems districts are facing in trying to fund their budgets and not cut staff or programming.

“Hudson’s reputation of excellence has always attracted good staff, and our ability to compete with good salary and benefits has been an important part of that,” said Rossing. He also notes that the district’s mill rate is consistently lower than other districts its size, even after opening a new school this year.

Rossing said his office is also working on ways to make the district’s finances more accessible to the taxpayers and expects that an increased number of documents will become electronically available in the future through the Web site.

Rossing can be reached at the district’s Financial Services Department at (715) 377-3704 or via e-mail through the district’s Web site, www.hudson.k12.wi.us, by clicking on district administration and staff e-mail.

Tags: education, hudson, school, financial, services, rossing