K–12 finance departments are facing numerous challenges with staff shortages, tighter audit scrutiny, and rising parent expectations. To simplify day-to-day tasks, many schools are choosing to modernize payments using a School Commerce Platform that enables unified online and in-person payment acceptance. A system like this also helps districts  centralize financial reporting, support SIS and ERP integrations, automate reconciliation, and enforce strong controls and compliance.

Each year schools are responsible for collecting, tracking, and reconciling thousands of student payments across multiple programs. From lunch money to exam fees and everything in between, managing payment collection district-wide is typically a complex and decentralized process. Districts will often find that their school sites and student programs use various methods and software platforms to help them manage payment collection. The athletic department may have a specific application for registration fees, while the before and aftercare program uses another for their enrollment payments. That doesn't even account for all the areas where staff may still be manually collecting physical payments and paper forms, forgoing a software platform altogether.