A North Penn School District press release announced that “at the January 23, 2025 action meeting, the North Penn School District (NPSD) Board of School Directors voted to appoint Tara B.G. Houser as the new Chief Financial Officer.”
Houser will officially start her position with North Penn on June 2, 2025. Her current preparation for the role consists of conversations with North Penn’s current Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Steve Skrocki, whose role she will be taking over upon his retirement in April 2025, as well as North Penn superintendent Mr. Bauer, to “get some grounding before I actually get into the district,” Houser explained.
Up until that point, Houser will continue working with Central Bucks School District as Chief Operating Officer in a 90-day transitional period upon accepting the new position at North Penn.
“I have half of a foot in North Penn and ¾ of a foot in Central Bucks right now. It’s interesting, but it does help with transition on both sides. It’s mostly just maintaining open communication,” Houser said.
“Back at CB, we’re starting the search for my replacement so I’ll be helping them with that. They are just kicking off a $200-250 million construction project across eight elementary schools, so I want to get that off the starting line. I’m keeping a side eye on North Penn’s budget and making sure that it makes sense to me before it goes out the door, and trying to write the budget for CB before I leave,” Houser said on balancing between two school districts.
In addition to her current role at Central Bucks School District, Houser got her start in education finance when she worked with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit, which gives additional support in educational services and acts as one of the largest providers of support for PowerSchools, a student information system. Previous to that, Houser had been in the private sector for around 20 years in accounting and finance roles, dating all the way back to her summers in high school working for a business where her father served as Vice President of Sales. Houser also majored in accounting in her time at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
In the district’s external search for someone to fill the role of Skrocki following his plans of retirement, Houser was approached for an interview, to which she accepted. Parts of the interview process consisted of answering questions for around twenty board members and giving a presentation as if it was for “a new board member that doesn’t understand public finance as a way to see my presentation skills,” Houser said.
“At this level at any job- private or public- it’s a lot of relationships. You’ve got to know you have a good fit and that the conversations are comfortable, so you can be open and transparent when we have to make big decisions. You can’t be worried about if these people like you or not, you’ve just got to know that you can all roll together,” Houser explained.
Houser stresses the importance of transparency in her field of work, especially in a public school funded by taxpayer dollars. Houser invites “anyone, any taxpayer, to come into my office and have a conversation,” to talk through the budget and what actions are being taken. “These are taxpayer dollars that other people earned and are required by law to give to us. We have an obligation to make sure those dollars are properly spent, that they know where we’re spending them, and that we’re doing it in accordance with state law,” Houser said.
Houser describes herself as open and honest, and encourages the community to reach out to her with questions if they have any. Houser aims to make herself approachable and to make the information she presents digestible and understandable.
Aside from her transparency with the community she is serving, Houser also makes it a point to stay transparent with her colleagues and brings to the table a great respect for the people she is working with.
“The biggest thing for me is that in my style of leadership, I don’t like to micromanage my people. I like people to bring me solutions; bring me your problem but also bring me a suggested solution, and then we can work on that together. If you’re struggling, don’t spin your reels, come find me and tell me you’re struggling, tell me why you’re struggling, and let’s work together to figure it out. If you have a really cool idea that you think might be helpful to the district, share that. We’re all grown-ups, we’re all professionals, we’re all here to do a job and I respect their professional skills,” Houser said.
Houser also notes the convenience of being able to communicate between public schools, an opportunity not granted in her experience in private business. With competition being reduced and a desire to improve being stronger, districts are able to “bounce ideas off each other,” Houser explains, and learn from the experiences of others.
“You can all kind of work together. We’re all doing the same job for the 500+ school districts across the state of Pennsylvania and we don’t have to compete. It’s not like I’m sharing corporate secrets from Central Bucks that North Penn will steal and make a profit. Nobody’s keeping anything they do a secret, we’re all just trying to find better ways to do it,” Houser said.
As far as financial endeavors Houser will be tackling with the district, the upcoming renovation is by far the largest, and will be gleaning knowledge from Skrocki before his retirement. Houser also acknowledged taking on the financial responsibility of the district’s staff, describing school districts as “a people business.”
“The renovation is the spotlight, but just like every other district in the state of Pennsylvania staffing is definitely an issue. There’s a lot of wage pressure in the market right now, so keeping track of those salaries for all of the professionals across the district from bus drivers and custodians all the way up to senior administrators, just keeping an eye on that. Most of your cost is in your people,” Houser explained.
Overall, Houser brings to North Penn years of experience as well as clarity, communication, and transparency that is crucial to not only the field of public school business, but also major projects such as North Penn High School’s upcoming renovation.
