When it comes to real-world experience in an urban K-12 environment, not many can top Judy Marte.
With nearly 40 years of dedicated service to public schools, she rose through the ranks of some of the largest school districts in the nation, including Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where she was honored to serve as Chief Financial Officer and as Broward’s Deputy Superintendent of Finance and Operations in 2022.
With all that service and experience on her resume, Judy "retired" in June 2024. But not for long. In fact, soon after the retirement party, she was ready to give even more to the field she enjoyed for several decades. Now, she supports and advises ClassWallet, the nation’s leading digital wallet company for public funds, because of her continued commitment to education excellence and her fundamental belief in technology to have a positive impact on the nation’s education system.
She recently took a few minutes out of her busy day to share why she came out of retirement, and why she especially believes in the power of a digital wallet to help teachers and administrators manage public funds – including those pesky, but really important, student activity funds.
Judy, thank you for having this conversation. You have had such a storied career. Tell us about your robust experience and background in education.
I’ve spent nearly 40 years in education finance in various roles, ending my career as deputy superintendent for finance and operations for the Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Before that, I was at Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 17 years. Working in those wonderful schools for so long, I’ve just about seen it all.
I bet you’ve experienced a lot, for sure. That includes knowing about ClassWallet for quite some time. Before joining in 2024, what was your history with the company and the Founder, Jamie Rosenberg?
I met Jamie over a decade ago when ClassWallet was an idea in his head. I was the chief budget officer and deputy CFO in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Jamie came into my office because the teacher-supply money was not getting out to teachers expeditiously to help them prepare for school, and a lot was going on around accountability for those funds at the time.
Jamie asked me, "What do you think of setting up a digital wallet system?" He described to me what is now ClassWallet. I thought it was a great idea, and under the leadership of then Superintendent Alberto Carvalho,Miami-Dade County Public Schools was one of the innovators and first adopters of the ClassWallet platform many, many years ago, which is either the third or fourth-largest district in the nation serving over 365,000 student and adult learners.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of presenting with Jamie at some national conferences. I’m very committed to his mission and passion he has for helping school districts. We presented numerous times at the Council of the Great City Schools and the Florida Association of Schools, including on student activity funds.
What are student activity funds, and in your experience, how can school systems use digital wallet technology to help ensure compliance with those funds, and others?
Student activity funds are monies raised by students and families to support clubs, athletic teams and other student-led organizations – while allowing student advisors to access them to pay for those activities. All of those activities cost money to participate, which means those funds have to be tracked, monitored, and allocated appropriately, and it’s very challenging with most financial systems.
One of the many things that interested me in Jamie’s digital wallet idea was how it could help manage those types of funds. It can make it so much easier. For example, when the system administrator initially sets up the system, they can say what accounts can be used and what the money can and cannot be used for. All of those parameters can be built into the system.
The other fascinating thing about using a digital wallet is that all the money for student activities currently goes into a bank account. It might be a bank account at the school or, in some districts, a central bank account.
The opportunity for making a mistake is much larger without a digital wallet. When it’s all centralized, you have to go see a bookkeeper and say, "Show me where my money’s in my section of that account." There is no clear picture of what was spent as well as revenue coming in. Many places are still using a checkbook or they’re using their district procurement card and charging a portion of what they’re doing to student activity funds. So there are a lot of transactions that are muddying the water currently with a lot of delays because of paper-based systems.
With a digital wallet, that all goes away and the reporting capability in the ClassWallet platform far exceeds the ability and the reporting that exists out there now. When you have a digital wallet or a purse, you can see, "Yep, the deposit I thought that was going in went in." With a digital wallet, it’s really easy because you’re going to see when it gets posted right on your digital wallet.
What are some examples in which a secure digital wallet can support K-12 school administrators, including student activity funds?
There are several essential ways that ClassWallet can be used in K-12. It’s currently widely used in orders for the classroom, and it’s been very successful in that space, not only in Florida but also in other states where teachers get an allocation specifically for supplies. This is incredibly supportive of thousands of public school teachers and administrators across multiple states.
One of the pain points in the case of student activity funds is accessibility to the funds when the student and the student advisor need them. If the person who signs the check isn’t available, there’s a delay. However, with specific purses and digital wallets, the program administrator could set up those funds to allow much more flexibility.
As I noted previously, the other great attribute to note is the digital wallet’s ability for accurate and real-time reporting. School officials have access to a 24/7 reporting portal in their dashboard that offers on-demand access to a variety of "off-the-shelf" reports in real-time, including custom program and financial reports. It really helps when it comes to internal audits for these funds, which can be challenging with so much fund movement.
How are digital wallets changing the education market and bringing more transparency to the use of student activity funds?
Anyone who’s a chief financial officer in a school district deals fairly routinely with questions around student activity funds. These funds are not part of the budget that a CFO generally works with. Students and families raise the funds to support and enhance what the funds CFO and the district provide.
Ultimately, digital wallets are reshaping how education institutions handle student activity funds and other funds distribution by enhancing transparency, efficiency, and accountability. ClassWallet not only improves administrative processes for these institutions, but also promotes student engagement and inclusivity, ultimately leading to a more vibrant educational environment.
So for me, whenever technology can be an enabler for improving the education experience, it’s something I want to be a part of. That’s what ClassWallet is all about, and that’s why I’m proud to be part of the team.