GIS job w/ Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Position Overview

The student transportation GIS analyst will have primary responsibility for administering the funding portion of the Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS).  This is a new position in resulting from the 2010 Washington State Legislature providing funding for the development STARS.  STARS will be a GIS and statistics based funding model (using regression analysis and linear programming) that will be responsible for determining the state allocation for the operation of each individual school district's student transportation service.  The total statewide allocation under the current model is approximately $250 Million per year.  With the implementation of STARS, the annual amount is expected to increase by more than $100 Million per year by the end of the transition period. 

The analyst will need to draw on knowledge and experience to work collaboratively with other section staff and regional transportation coordinators to provide technical support to school district staff to ensure that system data collecting requirements are clearly understood.  The position has responsibility for the oversight of the statistical processes involved in STARS and reports to the Director of Student Transportation.

The analyst position will assist the director in developing material in response to legislative requests and developing fiscal notes in response to agency or legislative proposals for modification of the funding model.

A key responsibility will be the analysis of the existing school district site characteristics to ensure continuing statistical significance.  Currently identified site characteristics include:  number of basic and special program students transported, the land area of each school district, the number of road miles within each school district and the average distance from each school bus stop to the associated destination (school or learning center).  Besides reviewing current site characteristics, the position will have responsibility for the statistical analysis required to identify additional differences between the 295 school districts in Washington State.  The analyst will use regression analysis to demonstrate the significance of any new site characteristics and assist the director in the development of any decision package necessary to justify the inclusion of the new terms in the STARS calculation. 

GIS related job requirements include responsibility for ensuring that school bus stop data provided by school districts is properly processed by the system and the resulting calculations are correct.  The analyst will develop systems to review data in order to maximize the effectiveness of audit resources, including processes for districts to ensure school bus stop location accuracy.

General Qualifications

• Advanced written and oral communication skills including formal document development, development of official correspondence to clients and stakeholders, utilization of electronic communication systems, development of presentations for a variety of audiences and purposes.
  
  
• Experience working in a leadership position with responsibilities for making key decisions with statewide impact.
  

• Ability to anticipate time and resource demands of individual activities and plan accordingly. 
  

Desirable Knowledge and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, mathematics, geographic information analysis or a related field, plus four years experience using a geographic information system and/or performing statistical analysis in a state agency environment.
  
  
• Operational knowledge of ArcGIS products is essential to the ability to evaluate school bus stop location data and the development of new or alternative geographic site characteristics. 
  
  
• Experience in fiscal analysis and calculation of financial impacts of proposed changes.  Ability to develop a cost/benefit analysis for collecting new data elements. (For example:  estimating the cost in time and effort expended in the collection of the data by school district staff compared to the potential impact on funding.)
  
  
• Experience in designing spreadsheets and the use of database applications, including related reporting systems.  Ability to quickly absorb essential elements of computer systems.
  
  
• Ability to work as a team member, under limited supervision as well as carrying out independent work assignments.  The ability to communicate the essential concepts of statistical analysis to non-technical individuals.
  

Compensation

The annual compensation for the position will depend upon experience, educational background, and qualifications.  Washington State has a generous benefit package including health, dental, and life insurance, retirement, and an optional deferred compensation program.

For additional information regarding health insurance please go to www.hca.wa.gov and for information regarding retirement option go to www.drs.wa.gov.

Application Process

Those interested in this position may apply by submitting a letter of interest specifically addressing the qualifications listed in this announcement, a current resume, a complete list of five or more personal and professional references, and the optional affirmative action information request below. 

Please send all the application materials to:

Kristin Collins, Human Resource Consultant
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
600 Washington Street Southeast/Post Office Box 47200
Olympia, Washington 98504-7200

Voice/Message:  (360) 725-6270; FAX: (360) 664-0567

E-mail: Kristin.Collins@k12.wa.us Internet:  http://www.k12.wa.us

 

Electronic application packages are encouraged and should be sent in MS Word format only.