Financial Technology and Parental Choice in Education
Heritage Foundation Education Report
As a financial technology company focused on saving time and money for the school business office, we are excited to be featured as a pioneer in financial technology in a recent Heritage Foundation Education Report. In the report, Jonathan Butcher, Senior Policy Analyst for the Center for Education Policy, showcases trends in mobile money and digital wallets and explains how school districts can benefit from these new innovations. In regards to education savings accounts, these innovations can give effective oversight to protect public dollars while giving families quality education opportunities. We are encouraged that our work is being noticed and contributing to innovations in school districts.
In the report, Butcher sets the stage for how “fintech has quietly entered the K–12 education service sector in the U.S. and could revolutionize families’ access to public and private educational options.” Digital-wallet technology has many benefits to manage finances for school districts such as real-time access to spending and oversight.
Below are highlights taken from Butcher’s coverage on how one California school district uses the ClassWallet platform:
- Nancy Bui, principal at Cesar Chavez/Green Oaks Academy in California, school receives a grant to use ClassWallet to manage teacher and student purchases of educational items.
- Each teacher has a ClassWallet account and can make purchases for her classroom online in a closed system. ClassWallet limits the items teachers can purchase with school funds for classroom activities and teaching materials while also providing access to sites like Amazon.com.
- Teachers log in to their ClassWallet website and can shop using familiar online retailers to buy educational materials such as books (the most common item teachers purchase for the classroom in this district).
- The ClassWallet system makes sure taxpayer funds are only used for allowable expenses by blocking the purchase of items outside the education sector.
- Students participate in the decision-making process too. Principal Bui says, “We run a survey about once per month to ask for items that kids might want to see in the store and then add those items to ClassWallet.”
Read the full report here:
https://www.heritage.org/education/report/financial-technology-and-parental-choice-education
If you are interested in trying ClassWallet for your district, contact us for a free trial to see how it works.