A "Perfect Storm" of a budget process this year for the Charleston County School District, at least according to its superintendent? How about a Perfect Opportunity?In coming weeks we will begin to hear about what must be cut from CCSD's operating budget. No one will like it. Superintendent McGinley has already prepared the way with her budget "forums" in various parts of the district.
Needless to say, this process has been long on promising an "excellent" education for every child in the district, and short on details of how this miracle will be accomplished next year for the first time ever! The video of McGinley and the Power Point presentation on the CCSD website have little detail beyond stating that we will have less to spend and more bills to pay in 2009. These public "forums" appear to have been designed to be as nonspecific as possible while meeting the minimum requirements for public hearings. Why hasn't the School Board pointed out to McGinley how misleading and ultimately undermining of public confidence such a process is?
No one in the community will trust the budget process until CCSD's expenditures are transparent. Here is CCSD's opportunity to begin regaining trust by starting, as a reader has suggested, with a truly independent forensic audit of the entire financial operation. Not only does the District have the need, it's the perfect time with a new Chief Financial Officer just come on board.
Several years ago the last one, limited just to cell-phone usage, saved about a million dollars in the first year by plugging the holes in the system allowing expensive and duplicate contracts while being unable to prevent abuse of the equipment by some CCSD employees.
Here's the opportunity to take the same approach with the bus system, food services, concessions, facilities management, copy equipment, etc. CCSD could save many times annually what it recovered on the cell-phone system.
A good forensic auditor wouldn't cost CCSD a dime. The auditor's work can be paid for by a reasonable and relatively small percentage of whatever money it actually recovers for CCSD and whatever is documented as saving the district in the first year after it identifies measurable waste and how to stop it.
Okay, so that won't solve this year's problems. It's a start.
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4 comments:
Wonder how the budget for Buist will be cut? Will they still have the 4 foreign language teachers, full time art, music and P.E. while the other 5 downtown schools beg for just one of these "perks" in their limited budgets? Why does Buist have an assistent principal, a resource teacher and a full time guidance counsler?
While we are at it, why does Buist have SAIL? If it is such an advanced school (including IB!) why do they need SAIL? Isn't that for gifted children whose needs are not met in the "regular" schools.
Children at Buist aren't required to be classified as "gifted and talented" so why does CCSD give them the moon? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Buist has been the school for the relatives of Toya Greene, Gregg Meyers, Robert New and Mark Sanford? How else can they justify this system in such a tight year for the budget?
I have been catching up on past postings of this blog and I am shocked that this has all been made public in the last year and nothing has been done. This is criminal. Does the public have any idea of what is happening to Fraser, Mitchell, Charleston Progressive, Sanders Clyde and Memminger? Even Burke (a high school and middle school) receives only the crumbs of Buist's feast funded by our tax dollars.
Buist has 4 foreign language teachers?? Are you sure? How do you know this?
You make some interesting points. Why DOES Buist have SAIL?
I have 52 posts about Buist Academy. You might find them educational reading.
The Office of Civil Rights has been informed and several complaints have been filed regarding Buist. It's been more than 180 days since several of these complaints were filed and the cases are still open according to word on the street. If there were no foundation for the complaints they would have been closed by now, so there must be fire where there has been so much smoke.
Most of the inequities between Buist's very favorable funding and the disparities among the other downtown schools have been widely discussed and exposed. CCSD continues to do nothing except spin excuses. This is possibly because it believes its critics are unorganized and represent a minority.
Follow the money. This is an election year. Besides, these public forums don't even meet the minimum for a legal public hearing to discuss the budget. Hell, a copy of the budget wasn't even distributed to county board members until AFTER the last "public forum" was held. But unless someone makes a formal complaint...or says otherwise..."Gee, I guess, the Emperor's new clothes certainly look nice." (But until we complain, or get honest leadership for our schools, no one should be guessing about who's picking up the bill for this Emperor's tailor...for new clothes or no clothes at all.)
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