Chief Financial Officer

Aspire Public Schools Nor Cal — Chief Financial Officer

Job Description

About Aspire Nor Cal

Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. Following Aspire Los Angeles’s transition into an independent organization, Aspire’s Bay Area and Central Valley regions will come together to form Aspire Nor Cal.

Aspire Nor Cal will operate 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California, with schools located in Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres.

This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California’s funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire Nor Cal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes.

The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire Nor Cal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools.

Aspire Nor Cal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire Nor Cal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead.

The Chief Financial Officer builds and runs the budget and multi-year plan the President owns, and leads the finance side of the Aspire Los Angeles separation and the one support office. As Aspire Nor Cal's senior leader accountable for financial health, stewardship, and long-term sustainability, the CFO reports to the President, serves on the Executive team, and oversees Aspire Nor Cal's budget of more than $200 million across 22 schools, ensuring the organization has the financial strength to fulfill its mission for scholars today and for years to come.

The CFO leads finance, accounting, payroll, compliance, and real estate and partners with the CEO and the Board's Finance and Audit Committees. This leader translates organizational priorities into sustainable financial plans, makes resource trade-offs visible, and builds financial discipline and understanding across the organization.

As Aspire Nor Cal navigates enrollment shifts, changing state and federal funding, and significant facilities needs, the CFO will help the organization make sound long‑term decisions while maintaining financial discipline, strong controls, and the capacity to invest in schools and scholars.

• Lead annual and multi-year budgeting across schools and the one support office, aligning resources with Aspire Nor Cal's academic and organizational priorities.
• Lead monthly budget-to-actual and variance reviews with school and support office leaders, and maintain position controls that keep staffing and other major costs within budget.
• Build enrollment forecasts and track their financial impact, working with the Chief Schools Officer, who oversees enrollment owned by principals.
• Build multi-year, scenario-based financial models and forecasts that make trade‑offs and risks clear to the CEO, President, and Board.
• Provide the CEO, President, executive team, and Board with timely financial and operational dashboards to support informed decisions.
• Maximize and diversify revenue, including LCFF, ELO‑P, school meals, federal grants, charter‑school start‑up funds, and philanthropy, while…