Gazette news report

XENIA — Xenia Community Schools is taking part in two new initiatives designed to make district financial information readily accessible to the public.

On Thursday Xenia was among the first school districts in the state to have its financial data available through ​OhioCheckbook​, a transparency website hosted through Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s office. The district is also making more in-depth financial information available today through ​OpenGov​, a company that provides online financial reporting for more than 350 government agencies across 43 states. Xenia Community Schools is the first district in Ohio to adopt the extended financial reporting available through the OpenGov platform.

“The public should have access to easily view information about the district’s finances as they want,” said district Treasurer Tracy Jarvis. “While all our financial information is publicly available, these new online services will go a long way toward helping taxpayers understand how the district is managing their investment in Xenia Community Schools.”

OhioCheckbook.com will provide a broad overview of district expenditures. The site has easy-to-understand charts and other reports showing the amounts and percentages of the district’s budget spent on various expense categories, ranging from regular instruction to food services, from support services to debt repayment.

The OpenGov platform displays five years of Xenia Community Schools’ spending and revenue detail in a user-friendly portal. Users can view historical revenue and expenditure trends over time and explore multiple views of financial data, including by fund, building, expense or revenue type, etc. It offers the ability to generate a wide variety of reports, depending on the kind of information a user is seeking.

“​OpenGov​ is for those people who want a more in-depth look at district finances,” Jarvis said.