Great Courant column today about the selfless act of Macdonough Elementary School teachers, volunteers and parents.
The BOE claims to have returned $50k to the city at the end of the fiscal year. Why weren't the summer schools funded? Why do the teachers have to volunteer? Why hasn't anyone from the school administration or BOE volunteered to help for a few hours?
9 comments:
There would have been funds had the board not approved the gifting of the biofuel bus to Datco too. Thanks for the post Ed.
Ed:
Congratulations on your nomination and good luck with the election.
As you move forward in the process I hope that you will strive to become more than just a critic. Although useful, a critic isn't going to solve the problems we face. You raise several questions in your post. What would you do if you were on the board/what should the board have done? If summer school should have been funded, what would you cut to find the funds, or how much would you suggest taxes should be raised to provide the money? Do you disagree with the board's decision to return the $50k? Would you have spent it? Since the law requires all funds left unspent at the end of the year have to be returned to the city should the board be willing to face the cry from the city that it is playing games with the budget by making last minute transfers of funds and violating the law? There are no easy decisions here, no black and white.
Sam Rayburn said "Any jacka** can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one." We have a lot of people who are able to tear things down. I hope you are willing to be a good carpenter because we surely need one. If it turns out that the only difference between you and the rest of the crowd is you are willing to throw stones at everyone instead of only the other party we are not going to move forward to solve the problems.
I don't mean this as criticism of you. Rather, I think that people are excited to see you run because they want change. I hope that you will give us something new by actually dealing with the tough choices and problems that we face. We have plenty of people who complain, make demands without telling us how they can be accomplished and paid for, or offer us meaningless feel good promises like they will cut wasteful spending or always put the children first. I hope you will be able to really give us some meaningful change. Will you deal with the reality that the education system today is a fixed sum game. If you are going to pay to do something, you are going to have to cut something else, and you are further constained by the fact that state and federal mandates greatly limit what you can cut. Will you tell us what you would do, what are the costs and how you deal with the consquences? I hope you will set an example that others might follow, and not just roll around in the mud with the pigs?
Again, good luck and raise high the roof beam.
They would have the monies had the Mayor not waged this war with them!!! Dan Drew would not have allowed this to happend,
Mayor Seb = No $ for schools
Mayor Dan = great education and peace on earth
which came first the chicken or the egg? the BOE doing wrong or the City suing them for doing wrong?? The answer is clear!
David:
Of course, the modern adage might be, any jackass with a blog can complain.
I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I could help make a difference.
Should the $50k have been applied to summer schools? No doubt in my mind about that. We carp and moan about achievement gaps, but a program which pushes real learning into the summer months is scrapped.
I am not in favor in returning education money to the city, but to applying any excess to real educational programs.
For the past several years sources indicate that the BOE has ended the fiscal year with far more than the $50k allegedly returned to the city coffers.
I am hopeful that if elected, I will have better success in learning where and how that money is spent, and why it isn't spent, when needed, during the school year.
I've got a thick skin, and I'm open to any reasonable idea or strategy.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Ed
Ed:
Thanks for the reply. Since you have a thick skin, let me risk being too critical. If I understand the law correctly, your proposal to use the 50,000 returned to the city to fund summer school is illegal. The board is not allowed to carry forward a surplus, or put another way, use funds allocated last year for the next year. If summer school was to be funded by the board, it would have to come out of the funds allocated for the 2011-2012 school year. Using funds allocated for 2010-2011 but left unspent would be a violation of the law.
In the past, the board has traditionally moved unspent funds around and essentially pre-paid expenses. For example they might buy extra diesel fuel or copy paper that is then stored until needed. However, you can't prepay the teacher's summer school expenses that way because the salary expenses aren't actually incurred until the current fiscal year. This means that if you are going to fund summer school, you would have to cut out something else from this year's budget. You could probably buy extra copy paper before the end of last fiscal year, then transfer money from the copy paper line item in this year's budget to summer school, and comply with the law, but then everyone is going to be screaming about how the BOE is playing games again.
Yawn. Boring bookkeeping nonsense, I know. However, as you have now become a candidate and not just a critic, I hope that you will not just criticize the actions/inactions of others, but will offer a better way forward that is possible, responsible, and legal. I do realize that doing so might make you truly unique among political candidates, but it would be a heck of a goal to strive for. With any luck others would follow you.
And remember, measure twice, cut once.
Wonk Alert....
I thought that CT PA 10-108 Sec. 32 might be an appropriate financial tool to deal with commitments that straddle a fiscal year or come up on a new fiscal year, much as July 4th fireworks, starts out the City's fiscal year with a bang.
I hope the Council and BOE work with each other to see if the Sec. 32 1% rule might smooth some of these transitional expenditures.
David:
I concede. You're absolutely correct about the carryover, and the cost of the summer school being in this fiscal year's budget.
I think the solution would have been to pay for summer school with the idea that the BOE would anticipate having the monies in surplus(as they have for the past four or five last years)that would have paid for the program.
David Bauer:
You not only out-wonked me, but by hoping the council and the BOE will work together you make me look like a pessimist. I like your optimism and hope you succeed.
Ed:
I almost hate to say this, but I think your second proposal is illegal as well. The board cannot spend money that is not in its budget and hope to make it up later in the year. They can move money around during the year to their heart's content, but it all has to balance for each of the 365 days of the year. So if they were going to pay for summer school they had to cut funding in some other area. They could hope to restore the funds later in the year, i.e., before they actually had to be expended, but the total amount that the board spends in the budget can never exceed the amount that has been given to them by the council. Your goal is admirable, but I still feel that candidates (and even current members of the board) should be careful about criticizing an action/inaction of the Board without being able to show that the alternative that they advocate is legal, within the board's control, feasible, and preferable. Every action the board takes means there is something else that can't be done and all the choices are tough ones.
I hope I don't come across as trying to persecute you. It is a very daunting task that you are undertaking, one that I would not be willing to do, and I do appreciate your willingness to serve. For what it is worth, there are several current members of the board who have an amazing grasp of the intricacies of the budget and who are also very helpful. For the price of a burger at Eli Cannons I am sure you could get some very valuable mentoring.
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