Tuesday night, Metro Nashville Public Schools made history as the first school system in the state to receive the prestigious Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) Meritorious Budget Award (MBA). The award was presented to Chief Financial Officer Chris Henson, Director of Business Services Glenda Gregory and Assistant Chief Accountant Nancy Working. Jamie Wewetzer, Client Relations Manager for ING (a sponsor of the program), had the honor of presenting the award.

In the fall of 2009, the MNPS Business Office submitted its annual budget book for consideration. It was the first time the district had submitted. In a letter to the district, ASBO wrote:

“It is the consensus of the Review Team to award the Meritorious Budget Award. The document contains excellent spreadsheets, charts and graphs. The document provides sufficient information for the lay person as well as the detail-oriented expert to understand the budgeting process used by the District and detailed information about the various funds and their uses. The District is to be complimented for its efforts.

"The team continued by saying, “The budget is a fine document, which includes a wealth of information in graphic and narrative form. The document is user-friendly for the average tax-payer with lots of data presented in different forms to meet the needs of varied users. Many components are suitable, stand alone documents.”

To view the 2009-10 award-winning budget book, click here. For more about ASBO and the Meritorious Budget Award, click here.