Sunday, March 05, 2006
Why Aren’t Businessmen in Charge of School Finances?
But, heaven forbid, that any laid-off businessmen should land a job in a school district doing something he knew how to do. That would keep the jobs from going to teachers.
So, the Illinois Education Association got Dick to sponsor the bill, which, in a Democratic Party-controlled state legislature with Democrat Dan Walker as governor, of course, passed into law.
I heard District 300’s finance person Cheryl Crates spend about 5 minutes explaining her background and education to the Algonquin Rotary Club in order (in my opinion) to establish herself as an authority. (No questions were allowed the day of her speech.) She said she had a doctorate, but failed to mention what in. My guess is that it is some variation of a doctorate in education.
The next Wednesday at Rotary, Huntley District 158 School Board member Larry Snow poked numerous holes in the District 300 5-year projections she, I suppose, created. She even admitted Snow was correct about low-balling State Aid to Education figures in the brief question and answer period after Snow offered his alternative perspective on District 300 finances.
She admitted that she had underestimated State Aid to Education (by about $2 million—more than enough to re-instate sports and extracurricular activities, I would add). Early the next week, the administration/board admitted leaving out all state subsidies for the new charter school. A few days later, Allison Smith of the Northwest Herald discovered that the charter school will not open next year, so the start of those subsidies will be delayed, but all still will be received during the five-year period.
But, that state subsidy was missing from the forecasts Crates passed out, as were all of the transition (lag) fees from the projected-to-boom Gilberts.
I wonder if an M.B.A. from anywhere would have underestimated such obvious revenues. Of course, we’ll not see M.B.A.’s running school finances until the Mulcahy law requiring such employees to have a master’s degree in education is repealed.
I do wonder why anyone would be held up to ridicule for thinking that District 300 financial projections with such obvious mistakes might not lead a prudent person to suspect there might be other mistakes…maybe even on the spending side of the ledger.
(While I don’t have a doctorate in anything, I did earn a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Michigan and served in the United State Bureau of the Budget as a civil service employee—a budget examiner—during the Johnson Administration. I also served as McHenry County Treasurer and on numerous appropriations committees during my 16 years in the Illinois General Assembly.)
So, the Illinois Education Association got Dick to sponsor the bill, which, in a Democratic Party-controlled state legislature with Democrat Dan Walker as governor, of course, passed into law.
I heard District 300’s finance person Cheryl Crates spend about 5 minutes explaining her background and education to the Algonquin Rotary Club in order (in my opinion) to establish herself as an authority. (No questions were allowed the day of her speech.) She said she had a doctorate, but failed to mention what in. My guess is that it is some variation of a doctorate in education.
The next Wednesday at Rotary, Huntley District 158 School Board member Larry Snow poked numerous holes in the District 300 5-year projections she, I suppose, created. She even admitted Snow was correct about low-balling State Aid to Education figures in the brief question and answer period after Snow offered his alternative perspective on District 300 finances.
She admitted that she had underestimated State Aid to Education (by about $2 million—more than enough to re-instate sports and extracurricular activities, I would add). Early the next week, the administration/board admitted leaving out all state subsidies for the new charter school. A few days later, Allison Smith of the Northwest Herald discovered that the charter school will not open next year, so the start of those subsidies will be delayed, but all still will be received during the five-year period.
But, that state subsidy was missing from the forecasts Crates passed out, as were all of the transition (lag) fees from the projected-to-boom Gilberts.
I wonder if an M.B.A. from anywhere would have underestimated such obvious revenues. Of course, we’ll not see M.B.A.’s running school finances until the Mulcahy law requiring such employees to have a master’s degree in education is repealed.
I do wonder why anyone would be held up to ridicule for thinking that District 300 financial projections with such obvious mistakes might not lead a prudent person to suspect there might be other mistakes…maybe even on the spending side of the ledger.
(While I don’t have a doctorate in anything, I did earn a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Michigan and served in the United State Bureau of the Budget as a civil service employee—a budget examiner—during the Johnson Administration. I also served as McHenry County Treasurer and on numerous appropriations committees during my 16 years in the Illinois General Assembly.)
# posted by Cal Skinner : 12:39 PM
