Today, Jim Stowell emailed me and other bloggers around our area a very interesting piece in regards to the $10 million some say the District is hiding or didn't put properly into their budget. I'll post it here as he gave me permission to do so but I want to comment a bit on why I am so against some of these parents who march, retired teachers, who after years of silence all of a sudden have great insight into what should be done to our schools and how I feel about a retired teacher, ex-president of the teacher's union who basically rants at every school board meeting and Ms. Ross, 1st District rep on the school board who all of a sudden has found the wisdom of Solomon.
Over at the Peoria Pundit, Billy posted on the issue of the 10 million as if something criminal had happened and wanted to know why the Peoria Journal Star wasn't investigating this alleged crime more deeply. This is the same guy that wouldn't be happy unless the Journal Star burnt to the ground and he was the only news source left in Peoria. It is almost libel in the way he presented this whole issue, something he wouldn't tolerate from any commenter. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Here is Mr. Stowell's email in response to all those who think the District owns a black helicopter and is out to destroy the world. It is in response to Elaine Hopkins review, in her own eyes, of the budget and her perceived corruption. (I never had much respect for her either)
Elaine - Thank you again for sharing the full report from the anonymous "experts". It is entirely incorrect to state that the "district spent $10.5 million more than it budgeted as allege. The "on-behalf" payments are an intra-state transfer from the state treasury direct to TRS. Those funds were never received by the district nor spent by the district. In 2006 and 2007 a statutory amount was reflected, but in 2008 the state engaged in an actuarial computation which was necessary given the large and growing under funded pension system. I was told that past comptrollers always omitted the amount as it is not part of our working capital or restricted funds. The state, I am told, uses this figure in overall education funding to enhance their effort in showing how they "support" public education. These are not education dollars, but rather pension dollars for future retiree benefits. Page 62 of the audit reflects an amount of "revenue" of $10,410,849 while page 66 shows a like amount as an expenditure. By stating the larger gross figure than what we actually receive (and throughout the state), it inflates how much the state really spends on education. With respect to the deficit fund balances, the Medicaid operations fund and Mid-Central Assoc. fund are merely cash flow issues. We provide services (an expense) but are often not reimbursed in a timely manner, thereby resulting in a deficit fund balance. I am also told that the Municipal retirement/social security fund balance deficit has existed for some time and the district is "whittling away" at it so it doesn't have to levy for it, which, while within their rights, causes taxes to rise. The Self insured workman's comp reflects the extremely large number of comp claims filed and is why the Board voted to establish a Tort levy. I voted against the levy because the amount carried as a liability is an estimate provided by our third party administrator (TPA). I felt we should better manage and be more proactive in mitigating workman's comp claims and only levy once the outcome of all these pending claims are known. These anonymous supposed "experts" also make ridiculous assumptions that "if an expense was incurred the previous year, it is probable that it will occur again the next year". With all the work being done to balance a budget and the dynamics of various program changes, that is an ill-founded assumption, at best. The group does raise legitimate questions on certain line items that warrant clarification and I will be following up to address those. For example, our Board has been frugal in spending, yet page 69 shows budgeted salaries for "Board of Ed Services" of $71,085 and an actual amount spent of $395,008. I am told that salaries for "Board initiatives" are booked here. I am asking for clarification and a breakdown. I will follow-up with more when I receive answers. I encourage you to affirm or deny the source of this "report" being our auditors, as some are suggesting. Whoever the source, they are wrong to suggest that we "spent $10.5 million more than" we budgeted, as you state in your opening sentence. Thank you for your concern on behalf of our students and our community. Jim
Wow, that sounds pretty clear and without criminal intent. But before I comment further, another email surfaced from Martha Ross, a board member that frankly I have little respect for but, she did make some valid and POSITVE points on how we may come together and help solve the problems of our school District. Here is her comments:
Over the years I’ve served on the District 150 Board, when considering a vote, I have tried to make informed and sound decisions on all issues relating to the education and welfare of our children. What’s always foremost in my mind is that we hold the key to the future in how we treat, prepare and educate our students. I am of the belief that we pay now and use whatever resources we have to educate our students right or we pay later when we turn them out into the world unprepared to become productive citizens. I do realize that we cannot save all that come through our doors, but I feel that we are too quick to label, discard, discount, and or not give serious thought to what’s in their best interest.
My opinions are not intended to imply that any of you do not care and or are not interested in the children’s education, it is merely to voice my concerns, share my observations and offer my suggestions. That said, it is my opinion that some of the suggestions for “cutting” the budget bear a lot more thought to be able to avoid damaging the education and safety of our students.
The way I see it is that the following facts are apparent:
- We have far fewer students than we had 10 years ago
- We have far more staff than we had 10 years ago
- We need to balance our budget using sound strategies that can be duplicated
- We need to decrease this year’s proposed budget according to the financial information we have received
- We need to make those decreases without risking the quality of education and or the safety of the students
- We should value our staff, students, parents and community stakeholders
That said, I would like to offer some suggestions that have come from taking the time to think about this situation as well as listening to my community:
- Immediately affect a complete moratorium on all hiring, and freeze wages. It will soon be time for the March mid-year increases and this would protect the district from that additional outlay for salaries.
- Immediate and complete moratorium on all travel - except that paid for 100% by grants.
- Really close Blaine, place the property on the market and move those staff members back to the DLC. That makes more sense from a long-term cost savings standpoint.
- Keep all four high school sites but change the configuration to schools-within-schools
- Proposed vocational program could be located within Woodruff as a school-within-a-school.
- Current Fine Arts program could remain at Peoria High as a school-within-a-school.
- Since it’s been implied that Peoria High can accommodate a lot more students, leave the current 9th grade academy as a school-within-a-school.
- Create a 9th grade academy at Woodruff and Richwoods as a school-within-a-school with the separations needed to promote this concept.
- Create the “small” high school concept for the 10 through 12 in all four schools.
- Seek to qualify PHS and Woodruff as Title I schools to position them to receive more funded monies noted in President Obama’s economic stimulus proposal.
- Decrease transportation expenses by developing a plan to establish k-8 neighborhood schools so that most children can walk.
- List for sale or auction, real estate currently held by the district in inventory, including but not limited to the following parcels:
- Riverfront (if any is left)
- Prospect Road Property
- Blaine Sumner Campus
- Harrison - old campus and building site parcels
- Irving campus (Future)
- Kingman campus (Future)
- Washington Gifted campus (to be explained later)
This would also result in a cost savings in insurance premium expense and any custodial/maintenance and utilities expenses - if any - incurred by these sites. Additionally, the sale of these parcels would return them to the tax rolls and create a revenue-enhancing opportunity to the district for an increase in EAV.
- Look at savings related to the loss of the Medicaid Contract
- Close Washington Gifted, returning the kids (and their test scores) to their home schools. Offer a gifted component at each neighborhood school as Mr. Hinton mentioned will be included in the new Harrison model. Cost to run Washington Gifted is $1.325M. District no longer receives separate funds to operate the program — all costs now accrue to Ed Fund.
- The anticipated cost savings of a Peoria High/Woodruff merger are primarily derived from having larger classes (and hence fewer teachers). These savings can be achieved right now, in the current high schools without the disruption of these two schools which are located in the heart of the neighborhoods. Moreover, I am not suggesting that we do this in absence of a plan that includes working closely with the union groups, decreasing staff through attrition whenever possible and offering incentives.
- Right sizing is going to require time and planning so that we do it right the first time.
- The citizens of the Woodruff community and other supporters have expressed their willingness to pitch in to help us.
Finally, perhaps we should take advantage of the benefit of the HB0217 that is an act that amends the property tax code to allow a certain area to be named a special service area. - 35 ILCS 200/27-60 provides that the corporate authorities for a municipality that establishes a special services area may petition the circuit court to make the Woodruff community a special service area. This could bring in the immediate revenue needed to provide the time needed to address the right sizing of the District as well as time to develop a sustainable plan for District 150’s future health.
Personally, I don't think Ms. Ross wrote this. It doesn't sound like her to me but I don't know everything. I have been a fly on the wall in a few rooms where Ms. Ross was "talking" her opinion about school things and she thinks she is God's answer to the board. I wish I could have said something but I couldn't. It just gave me an insight on how she thinks. Still, if she wrote this, then I don't know everything about her also. Some of her ideas are good, it falls way short of getting the District out of it's current financial hole. Way short but still a positive, much better than carrying a protest sign and walking in front of the school board every week or screaming at the Board.
Then there is Terry Knapp who seems to have one thing on his agenda, Edison Schools. He wants them gone and he'll he stand outside school board meetings and rant at teachers that teach for Edison. Impressive...not. Tired...Yes. This is a teacher that sued our District and collected a big settlement in the end. Justified? I don't know, that was for a court to decide, not me. The fact of the matter is, he appears to have been always at odds with the school district and now he has an agenda I am not sure of but it isn't conducive with making things right in our schools. Only to tear them down. That's how it comes across to me. That makes me sad as I knew Mr. Knapp when he taught. He seemed to be a decent guy, but berating teachers as they leave a board meeting is well, just wrong.
Ok, you can take this for what's worth or not worth but there is something some of you might consider. Airing our school Districts laundry out for everyone to see and the constant bombardment of negative takes it's toll on the Board, the Administration, and the citizens including the children. They listen and they learn by watching. It does nothing but make the perception even worse that our schools are nothing but failures. That is not true. The schools have fine teachers and hard working staff at all levels. Children do graduate and do move on to college and there are many success stories to be told. My own kids got a wonderful education at District 150 in some of the "roughest" schools in the District. They went on to college, one with scholarships that paid for 2 years of college. Both Magna cum Laude At ISU and at Bradley. Many other students went on to be successful in their lives from their classes. I wonder if some of those parents that lead the charge with the protest have the balls to show up at some of these inner city schools and spend the day or even spend some time at a night activity. Hell some of them come and bitch at a Board Meeting and then return to the comfort of their tri-level custom built home out in the burbs.
Our District does have it's problems. Money is the biggest and yes, I am not in love with Hinton either but then we haven't had a decent Administrator in years so to blame Hinton for all those woes is not right. I truly believe that Mr. Hinton is doing the best job he can in the interest of our children yet reading some posters on blogs and listening to some at the school board, they want to hang the guy. Talk about mentality.
School Board members are not paid and they have to run for the seat. They have to be caring individuals and want our schools to succeed, so why do some people make them out to be idiots? Yes, some Board members may need to be replaced, but in America, we vote to do that. These people have their own kids in our schools and have full time jobs on top of the shit they have to take from people you love to hear themselves speak. Why would any human put up with that shit? Yet, they too want our schools to be the best. Why wouldn't they? You think they are there just for the cameras and free food?
Yet, people come out of the woodwork and think our school board just doesn't care. You know, you can get a horse to deal cards with a cattle prod. It's a matter of voltage. You can make signs, buy t-shirts, and then march outside for your cause. People will join you like sheep and most don't have a grasp on what exactly is going on but it looks good. Like the horse, it all a matter of voltage and the energy coming from someone who thinks they know what they are talking about is enough to get blind followers. The cattle prod. The perception the public gets from news coverage is that something is wrong and when you say something over and over, people begin to believe it. You'll play hell getting people to change their minds about something after that. Don't believe it? How about; "We are safe because of George Bush"?
So, instead of the marching, the signs, the weekly Knapp rants, why don't we get together and tell this Board and the Administration that we do care about our schools, that we want to change the perception that District 150 is corrupt, that we understand that like other District's in the country, they are cash strapped, that enrollment is down and we have to do something about schools that aren't being used to their fullest potential. We give the image that we, as citizens and parents do care and we want to help.
We can do that by being positive and stop pointing fingers and blaming everyone for past woes. Mistakes were made to be sure but we are only human. We don't hear Pekin or East Peoria schools airing their problems and we all know they have them too. You also won't hear the Catholic Schools air their problems. They have money issues also. Yes, it is a public school and the business should be in public but damn if we keep this bickering shit up over 45 minute reduction in classes, closing of a high school (it has to happen unless Peoria somehow grows in the inner city next year) , Edison which seems to be working, people will never believe it when we do come together and fix the schools.
You can't please everyone. There is just no way but we have to change the way people view our schools as they really do a heck of a job considering what we have to work with. The Black community needs to step up as well as the City Council and pitch in because most of our inner city schools are black. Young kids are being raised by young kids and some raising themselves. There is no way we can get a majority of success out of that mix. There is ample opportunity in Peoria for parents to start their young children out on the right foot with Head Start, V. Hinton Early Childhood Program, and others. Churches need to step up also. We need to hold parents of young children responsible, just like we would if their child committed a crime. That their child is in school, that they have the proper necessities at home to make them able to be alert in school. Proper clothing and hygiene. Visit Tyng Primary some morning and watch how some of these little kids show up. They are hungry (sadly, school is where they see most of their meals) some have no coats or aren't even dressed properly and some are dirty. I have been there and seen it with my own eyes. How can these kids even get started in the right direction? How can teacher be expected to teach these children when their home life sucks everything right back out of them? These parents need to be held to higher standards and I hope our City Council can do something in that light.
Sorry this is so long. I am trying to convey that I understand why parents get up in arms. Been there and done that but we shouldn't follow like sheep either. We don't always know all sides of everything. I want nothing more than success for our kids but I think it should be done on a different level than the protesters want. We have some drastic problems that will take drastic and unpopular choices to fix. It will not please everyone but one thing is for sure, if we don't put our laundry away, at least in the backyard out of sight, we are going to destroy schools completely, and people with the skills we need to help us through this will disappear. I don't want to count on some soccer mom to fix our budget and align the curriculum. We will become a ghost town of empty strip malls and empty abandon school houses. No one will give a shit. This is how I see it but then I don't know everything.
