Said the school board president, "I think my takeaway would be these (numbers) look OK. But we wouldn't want them to go any lower. We'd really like to turn the direction around."
Now you might be thinking, give them a break, there are understandable one-offs now and then. After all, the article said the shortfall is partly the result of having to pay over $800,000 to implement and purchase textbooks for a new math program. If you're wondering, there was no word on whether giving everyone an iPad made a difference.
The thing of it is, besides the unanswered question of why that math stuff wasn't already budgeted for in the prior year, this is no one-off. This is the second time in the last 4 years the school district has exceeded its budget. And this is the group that's going to be in charge of building a brand new, multi-million dollar high school.
I guarantee that if something like this happened in the for-profit world, there would be VERY serious consequences. Budgets would be immediately slashed, as would jobs. Who knows, there might even be a going-out-of-business outcome.
But in the not-for-profit, governmental world, backed by the unlimited deep pockets of taxpayers, there is no panic. According to the article, the soon-to-be retired school superintendent offered no specific action. The district finance director said that, other than deferring the purchase of new social study textbooks, perhaps next year they'd have to maintain current staffing levels without increases.
Gosh, don't sacrifice too much.
As a taxpayer, I'm on the hook for this spending and mismanagement, but unfortunately, I have no choice nor power to invest my money elsewhere. Sure, I can vote for new school board members, but the problem is the governmental model, not the people running it.
Unless school districts, or other government entities, face consequences for overspending, it's just going to continue.
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