JC Schools CFO merged love of numbers, public education

Liv Paggiarino/News TribuneJason Hoffman, the Jefferson City School District’s longtime chief financial officer and chief operations officer, will retire at the end of the 2020-21 school year. He started his role in the district in 2006.
Liv Paggiarino/News TribuneJason Hoffman, the Jefferson City School District’s longtime chief financial officer and chief operations officer, will retire at the end of the 2020-21 school year. He started his role in the district in 2006.

Jason Hoffman, the Jefferson City School District's longtime chief financial officer and chief operations officer, has had a fulfilling 15 years in the district.

His motivation, he said, comes from the 9,000 JC Schools students and his goal to do what's best for them.

"I'm a big believer in public education," he said. "It's our best chance to reach kids that maybe don't have what I had as a kid and to bring them up and get them to a better life."

Hoffman is retiring from JC Schools at the end of this school year. Looking back at his career, he said he'll remember and miss the people the most.

"I've worked with a great group of people, so I'm going to miss those relationships," he said.

Hoffman oversees the district's budget, payroll, accounts payable and audits. He also manages the operating departments, including food services, transportation, human resources and facilities.

His favorite part, he said, is creating the budget.

"I'm really a geek," he said. "The budget is fun for me because it's a giant puzzle so getting to work with numbers and make everything work, that's still my favorite part."

Hoffman has always loved numbers. When he was in high school, he had planned to go to pharmacy school - but after taking an AP chemistry class, he decided it wasn't for him.

He worked nights in high school and college at a small bank in Jackson, where he grew up and majored in finance at Southeast Missouri State University. He ended up in school finance after opening an Edward Jones office and realizing his long-time aspiration of being a stock broker was really just a lot of sales work.

He came across an advertisement in the newspaper for a school finance consultant job at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education - and although he had no idea what a school finance consultant was, he decided to apply and was offered the job.

For the year he was there, he worked with 120 school districts with their state finance reports. From there, he worked for the St. James School District for three years, and Hallsville and Centralia for another three years until the JC Schools job position opened in 2006.

He was considering a position in Columbia that opened at the same time, but JC Schools offered him the job first. Fifteen years later, he's happy he accepted the job, as it's been a perfect fit.

Hoffman, who is retiring from JC Schools at an early age and likes to stay busy, will start another full-time role at PMA, a financial services company based in the Chicago area that recently formed an investment fund in Missouri for schools to invest their surplus funds.

"I'm excited that I get to keep my contacts around the state and education, and stay in education a little bit but just in a different role," he said.

His new job will have more flexible hours, so he is excited to spend more time with his two sons and watch their activities, like his oldest son's golf tournaments.

Some of Hoffman's accomplishments as chief financial and operating officer include the construction of Pioneer Trail Elementary School, nearly $20 million in renovations at seven buildings between 2010-15 including the addition of secure vestibules in buildings district-wide, the expansion of full-day kindergarten and addition of a district pre-K program, and the construction of Capital City High School and renovation of Jefferson City High School and Nichols Career Center.

But his proudest accomplishment, he said, is playing a part in reopening the schools and keeping them open this year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While it's been challenging, he's proud the district has been able to successfully keep the buildings open, as many other school districts haven't been able to do so.

"Our team did a great job over the summer of coming up with a really good plan, and then our teachers and staff have done an amazing job of executing it," he said.

During his tenure with JC Schools, Hoffman has also served as board chairman for the Missouri Association of State Business Officers and as a member of the PSRS/PEERS Board of Trustees. In 2010, Hoffman was honored with the Missouri Association of State Business Officers School Business Official of the Year award, and in 2019, he received the Distinguished Eagle Award from the Association of School Business Officials International.