Case Study
From Cash Tables to Card Readers: How Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Is Modernizing In-Person Payments
More and more people are carrying less and less cash. RevTrak helped us keep up — and gave our schools a tool they actually want to use.
Jimmy Love, Chief Accountant for Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in Alaska, oversees a district that spans roughly 26,000 square miles — a geography that makes even routine logistics a challenge. Some schools are accessible only by boat or plane. Moving cash and checks between sites isn't just inconvenient. It's a real risk to revenue and accountability.
When his district began piloting RevTrak card readers at a school basketball tournament, Jimmy wasn't sure what to expect. What he got was a proof of concept that's now reshaping how the district thinks about in-person payments.
Challenge
Cash has always been a liability for Jimmy’s district — not just logistically, but financially.
"We are roughly 26,000 square miles... and we have schools that are only accessible by boat or plane," Jimmy explained. "Moving cash and checks around between boats and planes — sometimes they get lost. And there goes some missing revenue."
Beyond the transportation risk, cash handling increases the potential for fraud and creates extra reconciliation work for staff. As families across the district shifted toward card payments, the district’s reliance on cash was becoming a growing gap.
"More and more people are carrying less and less cash," Jimmy said. "It made sense for us to open up that avenue for folks who are card-carrying and not cash-carrying."
The district had evaluated card readers before, but earlier devices never gained traction. Staff found them cumbersome. That was about to change.
Why RevTrak
When Jimmy learned about RevTrak’s updated card reader, he decided to put it to a real-world test: a multi-day basketball tournament where families would be paying admission at the door, in line, on the go.
His main concern was practicality. Would a card reader actually hold up in that environment?
The answer was yes — and then some.
"The new upgraded version is hands-down far easier to maneuver," Jimmy said. "You don’t even have to plug it into a PC. For the end user, it’s perfect. It’s just like using your phone."
For a district where staff are often managing payments without dedicated finance support on-site, ease of use isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a requirement.
Results
The tournament gave the district a clear signal. The school’s administrator was sold immediately.
Revenue exceeded expectations, too. Jimmy shared that the school "felt like they were able to bring in a little bit more than what she had anticipated" — a meaningful outcome for a school that had previously relied entirely on cash at the door.
Word spread. When a neighboring school was planning a silent auction, Jimmy reached out to suggest they try the card reader. The feedback was immediate and decisive.
"This literally saved me hours of counting cash," the administrator reported.
That’s the kind of outcome that travels fast in a district where every staff hour counts.
The Bottom Line
What started as a single pilot at a basketball tournament has opened a larger conversation about how the district handles in-person payments district-wide.
The school that hosted the original tournament is already exploring ongoing use cases for the card reader at their site. Jimmy now proactively reaches out when he hears a school is planning an event — suggesting card readers as a practical alternative to a cash table.
For families, the shift is straightforward. "It’s a huge plus," Jimmy said.
For the district, the impact goes deeper: less cash to track, less risk in transit, and more confidence that every dollar collected makes it where it’s supposed to go.