For Stacy Schmitt, keeping the Ottawa Elementary School District financially on track isn’t just a job—it’s a puzzle she pieces together every day. As the district’s bookkeeper, she’s responsible for paying the bills, managing expenses, and ensuring the financial side of education runs smoothly. It’s not always a job that gets the spotlight, but without it, the lights wouldn’t be on, the classrooms wouldn’t be stocked, and the doors wouldn’t stay open.

She’s almost a year into the role, having joined the district in April 2024 after spending 22 years working for a mechanical insulation contractor in Peru, Illinois. The transition from private sector accounting to school finance has been an adjustment, but she’s embraced the challenge.

“It’s a completely different type of accounting,” she says. “There’s a line item for everything, and you can’t just spend money how you want. It has to be categorized, budgeted, and approved the right way.”

Public school accounting operates under fund accounting, which means every expense must be tracked and justified under strict state and local guidelines. That means no cutting corners, no gray areas—just precision, structure, and careful planning.

“There are rules,” she says with a laugh. “You can’t just buy toilet paper out of any old budget.”

Despite the learning curve, Stacy enjoys the work. “I love that I’m always learning something new,” she says. “After more than two decades in one place, I didn’t realize how much I missed that.”

Though much of her job is behind the scenes, she appreciates the change of pace in working within a school environment.

For years, she worked almost entirely alone. “It was just me and my boss,” she says. “I didn’t mind it, but it’s nice to have people around now. I have my own space here, but I can step out, have a conversation, and be part of a team. That’s different, and I like it.”

Even though her role doesn’t involve interacting with students every day, she understands how vital her work is to keeping the district running efficiently. The public trusts the school to be responsible with taxpayer dollars, and she takes that responsibility seriously.

“People don’t really think about how much money flows through a school district,” she says. “But everything—from the electricity to the textbooks to the software teachers use—has to be paid for. If the financial side isn’t working, nothing works.”

Stacy grew up in Oglesby, a small town about 20 minutes from Ottawa. Though she doesn’t live in Ottawa, she recognizes the city’s vibrant downtown, strong sense of community, and unique identity as a river town that has stayed strong despite economic changes.

“You don’t see a lot of small towns with the kind of energy Ottawa has,” she says. “It’s a fun place, and you can tell people take pride in it.”

That same sense of pride carries into her personal life. Stacy is a mom to 15-year-old twin daughters, Adalyn and Mayla, who attend school in LaSalle-Peru. While neither is likely to follow in her accounting footsteps, she enjoys seeing them explore their own interests—one considering a career in healthcare and the other thinking about owning a business in the beauty industry.

As she looks ahead, Stacy is focused on continuing to learn, mastering the complexities of school finance, and becoming even more efficient in her role. The woman who trained her told her it takes five years to be a great school bookkeeper, but Stacy doesn’t plan to take that long.

“I’ve got 22 years of experience doing this,” she says. “It’s different, sure, but numbers are numbers. I’ll figure it out.”

Her role may not be the most visible in the district, but it’s one of the most essential. Because while teachers educate, coaches inspire, and administrators lead—none of it happens if the bills don’t get paid.