Front & Center: Lourie Larcade

Lourie Larcade is a Business Services Specialist with the Tehama County Department of Education in northern California. With 10 years of experience in school business and still more experience before that in the private sector, we’re thrilled to highlight Lourie in this edition of “Front & Center”.

Tell us about yourself!

I have been married to my husband Jay for 28 years and between us we have 4 daughters: Lisa, a grocery store manager; Megan, a grocery store supervisor; Tara, Administrative Assistant at the California Highway Patrol; and Kalee, a restaurant area manager. They are all successful, wonderful women and between them we have 7 wonderful grandchildren. My husband and I love to travel with my sister and her husband, and we all love to cruise and love the beach. The Caribbean Islands are our favorite places to travel.

I love to go for long bike rides, run, and kayak. Spending time with my children and grandchildren always makes me happy. We would love to live on an island in the Caribbean if we could!

What was your first job in education? Tell us your journey to get to your current role.

In 2010, I was in the public sector doing payroll at the company that I had worked at for 24 years. This company was dissolving, and I was one of 2 employees on the last day, handling everything with the bank, accountants, and attorneys to close the doors.

My first job in education was as an Accounting Technician here at the Tehama COE. I was only in that job for 3 weeks when I was offered the opportunity to apply for a Payroll Specialist position, processing the payroll for the county office as well as overseeing the 17 district payrolls.

Just over 5 years ago I applied for my current position, which involves being the Business Manager for the two county-authorized Charter Schools, calculating and reporting the attendance for the entire county, and being the Frontline ERP Software Support Specialist. My plate is very full, but I enjoy my job very much.

If you could give any advice to yourself at the beginning of your career, what would it be?

Give yourself time to learn. Moving from the private sector to education is a big move and requires a lot of time to learn the processes, terminology, and legalities of working with public funds. Know that you are capable of doing a good job!

What is one skill everyone who works in school business should have?

It is very important to be able to think outside of the box and to know that everything we do touches so much more. You need the ability and skill to be very detailed oriented and organized.

What is the best creative idea you have had that has made a difference in your role?

Putting myself in the position of learning parts of this organization that do not fall into my job description. Knowing a little about the education side of the house makes it easier to understand what they need as far as budgeting goes.

What will change most in education over the next 10 years?

I think it will be the way we are funded. I believe we will move away from the Local Control Funding Formula to more restricted funding. I don’t necessarily agree this is best, but it seems to be the way we are going. I believe local control of our funds to be able to use them as we see fit will best benefit our students. I also think that the number of people working remotely as well as the number of students who are virtual could grow.

What are you most hopeful about for the future of education?

I am hopeful that we are teaching our children not only math, reading, and science but that we teach them how to be productive adults by teaching them everyday life skills.