By: Megan Rainbow, Senior Director of Product Marketing | LINQ
The 2026 ASBO International Annual Conference & Expo is in the books. Representing around 30,000 school business professionals worldwide, ASBO International brings together the leading minds in K-12 finance and administration each year. We’re always proud to take part in this event and check in with school and district leaders from across the U.S.
“School business professionals keep districts running, and ASBO gives them a community to do it alongside. We’re grateful for the work ASBO does to support them, and we were privileged to show up as a conference sponsor this year.” – Natasha Dolginsky Hau, SVP Marketing | LINQ
So when the event came to Pittsburgh, I arrived eager to hear from school business leaders about what’s happening in their districts. (And we all loved the amazing views of the Allegheny River right outside the Expo Hall!)
Innovation Hour: The name of the game is trade-offs
One of my favorite moments came at the Innovation Hour workshop, when we played Budget Hold’em, a game from Education Resource Strategies, with a table of district administrators. In the game, they worked through fictional budget scenarios, weighing trade-offs and aligning their choices to strategic goals.
I got to sit side by side with them and watch how they think through these decisions, a critical part of their work. Finance leaders operate within constraints, and every decision comes down to a trade-off: what to fund, what to delay, and what it means for students. The game was a reminder of what this work feels like and, in a very small way, what it’s like to walk in their shoes. That kind of experience is valuable to a team like ours, always thinking about how to be a stronger partner to the business office in helping them close budget gaps with tools that help them use every dollar. .
Your bottom line is more than just a number
If you stopped by our booth, you saw it on the back wall: Your bottom line is more than just a number. We wanted this phrase to be the starting point for every conversation, because it’s something we wholeheartedly believe.
“In a school district, all roads lead through finance. Every number carries the trade-offs and hopes behind it. Your bottom line is more than just a number. It’s a set of decisions, made with care, about how best to manage every dollar flowing through the system for students.” – Annalee Arbeitman, Senior Account Executive, ERP | LINQ
Many folks at the event know LINQ for school nutrition, and we’re so proud that districts trust us to help them feed every kid (that’s over 1 billion meals a year for more than 17 million students). LINQ ERP powers back offices from coast to coast, ensuring that every teacher and staff member gets paid on time and finance teams can track and stretch every dollar . That’s why we love this event: it lets us shine a well-deserved spotlight on districts running finance and HR on LINQ ERP. And nothing beats it when you stop by just to say hi and share the amazing work you’re doing!
School payments are also critical part of the bottom-line equation, and one of the ways the cafeteria and the back office meet: a family loading a lunch account on one end, a finance team accounting for every dollar on the other. To make life easier for district administrators, we believe every payment, from meals to activity fees, should be in one place. It was a highlight to talk with so many of you about LINQ’s unique approach to payments. These conversations matter because there’s a lot on the (bottom) line, from the hidden costs of handling cash to the experience of the families we serve.
Here’s a look at the 2026 ASBO International Annual Conference & Expo
We’re grateful to the teams who gave their time and resources to travel to Pittsburgh for the conference and engage in sessions throughout the conference. We know the magic happens in the peer-to-peer moments, and we’re proud to support the show that makes them possible. If you’d like to learn more about LINQ as a partner for ERP and payments, set aside some time with us here.
