Resources are limited for public schools. With funding challenges and mandates coming from the state legislature, Florida’s public school budgets are under a tight squeeze to do more with less. Alachua County Public School provides some direct funds to teachers for purchasing classroom supplies. Previously this money was distributed to teachers and receipts were collected manually with staff time going towards logging and auditing receipts. The process was time- consuming, labor-intensive and a bookkeeping nightmare.

It was challenging for Alachua County Public Schools to distribute the state-sanctioned dollars to all 1,800 teachers through either direct checks or via payroll. In addition, administrative staff found they were wasting hours collecting receipts, while teachers were losing valuable time tracking and submitting their receipts. The district also needed a means for purchasing classroom supplies through multiple channels of approved vendors.

When the IRS began auditing neighboring districts, Alex Rella, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, knew Alachua County Public Schools needed to find a more efficient solution and to create a culture of accountability amongst its staff.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, teachers were forced to quickly transition to virtual and hybrid teaching. This had
a significant negative impact on morale. Educators now faced the additional challenge of creating a home office environment with supplies while pivoting and adapting to a new way of teaching.