For school districts
AI that does the project work, for a bond program run by a team of three
Your voters approved the bond. Now the board, the oversight committee, the auditors and the state all want to know where the money went. Kipso's AI checks every pay app, drafts and routes change orders, keeps fund balances straight and writes the reports they ask for. Your team approves.
Fig. 01 — Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels
If this sounds like your program
The CO log is a spreadsheet
Change orders live in a workbook and an email thread, and the fund balances live in another workbook that's a week behind.
Approvals stall
A $86,750 change order has been sitting with the director for ten days, and nobody's sure whose turn it is.
Pay apps get a quick look
The GC's pay app arrives on the 16th, prompt-pay is due on the 15th of next month, and there's no time to check every line against the SOV.
Board reports take a day
Every month someone rebuilds the budget-versus-committed table and writes the narrative by hand.
The bond page is out of date
The public page was last updated before the summer, and the oversight committee noticed.
The big systems don't fit
Enterprise tools want an implementation project, an admin retainer and a team you don't have.
What it handles for K-12 programs
Fund rules, contingency and oversight, handled
- Multiple funding sources. Bond series, state facilities matching funds and local reserves, each with its own rules. If state match can't pay for change orders, Kipso won't let it.
- Contingency you can see. Remaining contingency, open exposure and a forecast of when it runs out, by project.
- Policy-enforced approvals. Dollar tiers from your board policy, with board approval when a change order would exceed contingency.
- Prompt-pay deadlines. Every pay app shows how many days you have left.
- Board and oversight report. Monthly, by program or project, ready to print.
- Public bond page. Plain-language updates your staff approve.
Who uses it
- Capital program or facilities director
- Approves larger change orders, watches contingency, presents to the board.
- Project managers
- Capture field issues, review drafted change orders, certify pay apps.
- Finance and AP
- See certified amounts already split by fund and GL account.
- CFO and board
- Approve the largest changes and read the monthly report.
- Contractors
- Today they send pay apps as PDFs, which Kipso reads and checks. A contractor portal for submitting pay apps and change requests through a link is in development.
Already using a project system? Districts often switch at contract renewal. Kipso sets itself up from an export of your current system plus your workbooks, and the plan is that you'll be able to run one project in parallel before you decide.
Working with a program manager? Owner's reps can run Kipso on the district's behalf, with the district keeping its own data and its own bond page.
Common questions
Can it handle more than one funding source?
Yes. Bond series, state matching funds and local reserves are tracked separately, each with its own rules. If a fund can't pay for change orders, Kipso won't let it.
How many people can use it?
Users are unlimited, including contractors and consultants, so everyone who touches a project can be in it.
What does the board get?
A monthly board and bond-oversight report with budget, commitments, forecast, contingency and fund usage, plus a drafted plain-language summary for you to review.
We already use a project management system. Can we switch?
Districts often switch at contract renewal. Kipso sets itself up from an export of your current system plus your workbooks, and the plan is that you'll be able to run one project in parallel before you decide.
Do contractors need an account?
No. Today contractors send pay apps as PDFs, which Kipso reads and checks. A contractor portal that works through a link is in development.
What does it cost for a district our size?
It's free to try during the early preview. We expect to price it by annual capital spend, everything included: $2,000 a month for programs spending up to $10M a year, $3,000 for $10M–25M, and $4,000 for $25M–50M. That's our plan, not an offer.
Talk to us about running one project with us
It's an early preview: free to try with sample data, no sign-up. If you want to use it on your project, tell us.