Tired of Budget Surprises? Meet the Advisor Helping Oregon Districts Plan with Confidence 

Between shifting enrollment, evolving state guidance, and the always unpredictable State School Fund estimates, school finance leaders in Oregon are expected to plan precisely with incomplete information and justify every number along the way. 

That’s exactly why Lindsay Malinowski is here. 

As Frontline Education’s dedicated Analytics Advisor for Oregon, Lindsay supports school business officials with tools and guidance tailored to the realities of budgeting in this state. She’s not a vendor. She’s your strategic partner, someone who’s walked in your shoes and knows what you’re up against. 

From “Doing It All Yourself” to “Getting the Support You Deserve” 

If you’ve ever built your own spreadsheet to track revenue shifts or tried to explain unexpected funding changes to your superintendent or board, you are not alone. 

Lindsay has been there. She served as a business manager in an Oregon district and later at the Oregon Department of Education, where she helped oversee financial reporting, data analysis, and fiscal transparency efforts statewide. 

Now, she’s turning that expertise into hands-on support for districts across Oregon. “I want to help district leaders stop spending hours doing analysis in isolation,” Lindsay says. “You deserve tools that are accurate, easy to use, and designed specifically for your environment.” 

A Real Example: Turning a Known Pain Point into a Powerful Tool 

When Lindsay joined Frontline, one of the first things she tackled was a familiar source of frustration: reconciling the State School Fund. 

“Coming from the Oregon Department of Education, I spent a lot of time with the State School Fund – how it works and how it changes,” she said. “I thought: What if we could create a visual or deliverable that shows the movement of the fund?Something that helps districts project better, spot trends, and reduce manual calculations.” 

So she built it, a side-by-side view of the March estimate, the midyear payout, and the final reconciliation, with district-specific calculations built in. The result? A clear, visual timeline of how the numbers shift and where surprises tend to appear.  

The tool is now available inside Frontline’s Budget Management Analytics platform, where users can view it directly in the State School Fund May Revise section. 

“When I spotlighted it in a recent webinar, districts asked right away, ‘Can I download this?’” Lindsay said. “So now we’re building that out – Excel exports, graphs, visuals they can take to the board. The idea is to give leaders a way to understand where their funding projections stand and avoid surprises.” 

Budgeting in an Unpredictable Landscape 

Of course it’s not just reconciliations causing headaches. 

“This is a biennium year,” Lindsay explained. “The total State School Fund amount is still being decided and even once it’s set, there’s potential for changes. Add to that unpredictable enrollment, weighted ADM shifts, and rising staff costs…it’s a lot for districts to manage.” 

That’s where tools like Frontline Budget Management and Financial Planning Analytics come in.

“Our goal is to take work off the district’s plate. These tools let users build and compare scenarios – base case, best case, negotiation scenarios – and instantly see the impact. You can factor in the latest state data, apply your own assumptions, and avoid rebuilding spreadsheets every time something shifts.” 

Built in Oregon. For Oregon. 

What makes Lindsay different is her ability to translate complex state processes into tools and insights that actually work at the district level. 

Whether you’re tracking trends, preparing for negotiations, or planning for an unpredictable biennium, Lindsay helps you: 

• Eliminate guesswork from budget development 
• Forecast with up-to-date state data and district inputs 
• Create and compare multiple scenarios with ease 
• Build credibility with stakeholders through clear, transparent visuals 

And she’s just getting started. 

“I want to hear, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if this existed?’ – and go build it,” she said. “That’s how the calculator happened. My goal is to help leaders avoid surprises, spot trends early, and build trust with their communities by making their data more clear and accessible.” 

Ready to Spend Less Time Reacting and More Time Leading? 

If you’re a business official in Oregon, Lindsay is your direct line to expert support, custom tools, and a better way to handle funding uncertainty. 

Have a funding question? Want to see the calculator in action? Looking for support with your next budget cycle?