Sunday, March 13, 2011

If you give it, they will spend it.

It seems whenever the school district wants something and don't have the money to pay for it they just hold a bond election.  Well a bond is a debt.  Is that really something we should be doing when our financial situation is so precarious?  We are still paying for the 2007 bond (debt)!  We don't know how much money we will have for the next couple of years (at least!) and the superintendent and school board want to take on an additional $70 million in debt?!!  I'd venture to say none of them handle their personal finances that way!

The list of what they want to use the money for might seem okay - if we were in a stable financial situation.  Yes, it would be nice to have and do all of those things but you simply cannot do them when you do not have the money.  As stated on that list one of the things payed for with the last bond was the marquee in front of the Education Center.  We went into debt for that?!  To have a fancy sign that tells us the date, time and temperature?!  Any information listed on it can also be found on the website.  That marquee was a complete and total waste of money.  Why wasn't that money used, instead, to repair some of these school buildings if they are really as bad as the superintendent says they are?

The new bond would supposedly be used for roof repairs, A/C repairs, flooring replacements, mower, replacements, mower replacements, etc.  That should all be paid with by maintenance and operations funds!  Hence the word "maintenance"!  If the equipment such as mowers, buses, roofs, band equipment, and the like are working fine now then I say we don't take on new debt to get new things. 

When you have no money you make do with the things you have.
When you have no money you do not remodel your "house" (school buildings).
When you have no money you do not upgrade equipment and technology.
When you have no money you do not purchase new musical instruments.
When you have no money you do not renovate dressing rooms.
When you just voted to spend $43,000 per year for three years on an unnecessary energy company you don't add energy efficient anything.  I would think they would cancel each other out!

When are the citizens of Grand Prairie ever going to say no to the school district's asking for more money, and incurring additional debt EVERY THREE YEARS?!  I say enough is enough and I will most definitely vote no to the new bond proposal.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Now THIS is planning!

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/03/01/hurst-euless-bedford-isd-officials-ready-to-handle-shortfall-without-layoffs/

Old but interesting

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2009/may/05/grand-prairie-isd-following-bad-pattern-other-loca/?refscroll=1596

Plan much?

According to the GPISD website the school board has been planning since the 2007-2008 school year for the "potential of a catastrophic occurence in school finance." (http://www.gpisd.org/Departments/Communications/AroundtheCampus/tabid/189/Default.aspx)  Really?  Then how come since that time money (and in no small quantities) has been spent on the following:

1)  Remodeling the new superintendent's office
2) There was already a $5 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 school year
3)  Hiring the Staubach Company to oversee 2007 bond when we have always handled it in-house
4)  Purchasing new curriculum, C-Scope, which most teachers have had to alter and/or add to
5)  Hiring unnecessary consultants - you want to find out how the district is being wasteful and what they can change?  Ask a teacher or a low-level employee - they are the ones that know what is really going on!
6)  Contracting with a variety of programs such as Lead Your School, PBS, Capturing Kid's Hearts, etc. that costs A LOT of money.  Regardless if the money is federal or not - it is still on the backs of taxpayer's and should be going towards direct education - not companies telling the schools not to put anything on their classroom walls!
7)  Wall calendars printed up and sent home with every child having homes with multiple copies - which would be fine if we had nothing but money to spend but not when we are supposedly planning for a "catastrophic occurrence in school finance!"
8)  Exemplary signs mimicking eye charts in every classroom in every school in the district.  See additional comment on #8 above.
9)  T-shirts for every district employee stating that GPISD is a recognized district. See additional comment on #8 above.
10)  Hiring additional administrators when the district ran perfectly well with fewer positions in the past (let's see, we have a deputy superintendent - okay this one is gone, finally!; a full time attorney; an entirely new department of Assessments and Research with 4 full time employees; an additional payroll clerk - always had 2 before, now there are three; additional secretaries, facilitators and/or directors in the curriculum and instruction, educational support, and energy management departments; an additional administrator for elementary education - one used to be able to handle it before, I know we haven't grown THAT much; a new department of instructional delivery, which used to be with instructional technology so now there are two administrators for that instead of one; and an assistant superintendent of student affairs position.  Whew!  See additional comment on #8 above.
10)  New marquee at the Education Center which kindly tells me the date and time of day.  See additional comment on #8 above.
11) GPISD postcards sitting in workrooms all across town and no one is using them and no one can tell me what they are used for.  See additional comment on #8 above...get my point yet?
12)  And this is just what this one citizen knows about - I could imagine what is being spent on things I don't know about!

It makes no difference to me if the money used for all these things came from federal grants, state funds, or private business - all of the money could have been used for better things that have a DIRECT impact on student performance and learning.  These are just a few examples of the complete waste that is going on in GPISD and the school board and superintendent want us to believe that our current situation is the State's fault and theirs alone?  I think not.

And if this is an example of the school board having began planning for this budget shortfall for the past three years - I'd hate to see what would happen if they were caught off guard!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Suggestions anyone?

Attended the town hall meeting last night about Texas public school finance.  I'm sad to say there was a poor showing from the citizens of Grand Prairie.  We need to get serious about holding our elected officials and the superintendent accountable for their financial decisions made with money, in part, paid by us!  Anyway, there wasn't anything I haven't already heard throughout the whole mess which is it's all the State's fault, they are shorting us the funds we need, the minimal amount of taxes we are saving as Grand Prairie citizens could mean millions of dollars for the school district, yadda, yadda, yadda...we'll take suggestions.

Well, I have a few...

1)  Stop spending money on anything that is not entirely necessary for the direct education of children (new contract with energy company, and new Ed Center marquee anyone?)  And that is only two of the many, many, many wastes of money coming from that building!

2)  Get rid of all non-essential personnel at the Education Center.  The school district ran just fine for years without all the additional management personnel that this superintendent has hired or created positions for.  I'd be happy to name them all for you but I'd get arthritis from that much typing!

3)  Hire a superintendent that would be paid less than a quarter of a million dollars a year and probably do a better job!

4)  Do I need anymore?  Those three right there would save millions!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Exactly!

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/02/allen_vaught_wants_to_plant_grassroots_movement_thatll_save_disds_teachers.php

What's Other?

In Today's edition of the Dallas Morning News there is an article in the Metro section titled, "Educators find safe, simple uses for stimulus".  It is about how school districts used their stimulus money for a variety of programs, none particularly innovative.  At the end of the article it has a chart listing how the school districts spent the stimulus money.  It listed 57 districts with categories like teacher effectiveness, college and career readiness, data system, turn around low-performing school, and other. 

Ten districts listed only "other" as where they spent their money.  Of these ten school districts the one that received the most money and spent it on "other" was good old GPISD.  We received $22.1 million in stimulus money and we spent it on "other".  What is exactly is "other"?  The next highest district was Keller ISD and they received $14.7 million and also spent it on "other" - the rest of them were near the $1 million mark or less that chose "other".

Now I ask you, what on earth did GPISD spend $22.1 MILLION on that would not be teacher effectiveness, or college and career readiness?  Possibly to fund all the superintendent's pet projects - Capturing Kid's Hearts, Lead Your School and the like?  Or maybe not, maybe it was well spent - given the history of this administration and this school board I find that hard to believe but miracles do happen!

I just want to know, what's other?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

One Question

I really only have one question...how many employees at the GPISD Education Center are going to have their jobs eliminated BEFORE any teacher jobs are eliminated?

We all know administration could use a good slim down on personnel - especially the ones that do not have a direct affect on students.  How about we eliminate those jobs before the jobs of people that do directly affect children?

Now, I don't want ANYONE to lose their job, but our State is going through some tough financial times and unfortunately that is what it is going to come to - some people will lose their jobs.  Should it be teachers, librarians, and GT specialists or should it be the many, many facilitators, directors, executive directors, and assistant superintendents at the administration level?

Okay, maybe that was three questions!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Back in 2009...

I thought you guys would find this article interesting!

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2009/may/05/grand-prairie-isd-following-bad-pattern-other-loca/

Remember when...

I was reminded recently by a fellow concerned citizen that when this superintendent came to Grand Prairie she spent thousands (I would love to know the exact amount!) of taxpayer money installing a bathroom in her office - which every other superintendent managed to live without.  She hired the Staubach Group (yep, THAT Staubach) to oversee the last bond program and I'm sure that wasn't cheap!  There was a $5 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 school year, but the spending never seemed to stop.  And the list could go on....when will the school board open their eyes to what is really going on?  They don't even seem to question anything she does or if they do actually question her they eventually vote for it anyway.  No wonder we are broke!  Yes, part of it is because of what is going on with the State of Texas but part of it is also because of the spending spree this superintendent (and her administrators - some would say cronies - that she brought with her) has embarked on since she came to our fair city.

Friday, February 11, 2011

School Board Meeting 411

Well, I attended yet another Grand Prairie school board meeting last night (February 10, 2011)- hey, it's entertaining to say the least!  After that meeting I decided that I should share all of the information I am gaining while at these meetings with the public, so here goes:

As most of you know, there is an open forum at the beginning of every board meeting where the general citizenry is allowed to address the board for 5 minutes each.  During this time the board is not allowed to respond, just listen (hopefully that is what they are doing - I'll give them the benefit of the doubt).  One speaker discussed the need to get rid of the curriculum program, C-Scope, which the Superintendent brought with her when she came to Grand Prairie - and I'm sure the fact that her father is on the board of the company that wrote C-Scope and he had input into that program had nothing to do with it. (wink, wink) The speaker said that C-Scope is not complete and is costing the district money.  She also mentioned the cost of the district doing the many benchmark tests and six weeks tests that they do - possibly eliminating these could help the district save some money.  She also mentioned the new (very expensive) electronic marquee that was recently erected in front of the education center (a major sore spot for most taxpayers) and how spending money on things like that when the district is in dire financial straits is not exactly appropriate.  She mentioned the many Assistant-Superintendent-of-this and the Executive-Director-of-that positions in Administration aren't exactly necessary.  After her speech, Dr. Hull, the Superintendent basically shot her down and told her some information she mentioned was inaccurate and invited her to make an appointment with Linda Ellis, Director of Curriculum, to help her get the right information.  Another citizen stood up and discussed furlough days and if the State allows school districts to do that she requests that it apply to everyone in the district (meaning administration) and not just a select few.

Melissa Rowe, Executive Director of Assessments and Research, presented the AEIS report, which is the academic excellent indicator report.  She compared 2007 TAKS scores with 2010 TAKS scores and according to her Grand Prairie is up in every single category, including leaps and bounds above the state average.  Gee, I would think if we were that good we should be getting some recognition outside out own community.  What was interesting is that she said at one point, "Because of our class sizes and unavailability of funds we are unable to do what we need to do during the regular instruction day so other avenues have been implemented, including Saturday school..."  I found that interesting because if the legislature does increase class size (oh heavens!) and we are unable to do what we need to do now with our current class sizes, how much worse would it be for possibly up to 10 more students per classroom.

It was announced that there are two positions on the school board up for election on May 14, 2011.  Those would be for Place 3 (currently held by Tim Johnson) and Place 4 (currently held by JD Stewart).  Here's your chance fellow citizens, who's going to run against them?

Thomas Dyer, the school district's on staff attorney, presented the board with a resolution for program changes which basically allows the Administration to implement a reduction in force in the following areas (apparently listed in no order of importance, hmmmm....) and listed differently by Mr. Dyar at the meeting than what was posted in the agenda packet on the school district website .  In no particular order (supposedly!)  Librarians, Gifted and Talented Teachers, Special Education Inclusion Teachers, General Administration, and Technology Facilitators.  Dr. Hull mentioned that they are expecting a $15-$16 million dollar cut in funding from the State of Texas and cuts are going to have to be made somewhere.  She said that eliminating people's jobs is a last resort but wants to restructure these departments to "better utilize our resources" in these areas.  Let's see if that really is the very last thing they do to save money!

Kit Mason, Executive Director of Facilities, requested the board approve entering into a contract with EnerNOC Total Energy Management.  This would be a 3-year contract and it would monitor the energy usage at 12 campuses with real time feedback on electricity usage, it would review our utility bills for ways to save.  He also mentioned how this company would monitor any rolling blackouts that might happen and the district could opt out of those blackouts if school was in session.  The contract would cost the district $43,000 per year for 3 years and we would see the savings of that in 5 years.  Bebe Bingham and Paul Martinez both asked him at one point, "Now what will this company be doing again."  All the board members seemed perplexed as to what this contract was really about - yet EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM voted to approve it!  Here are my thoughts - I figure since you are reading this blog that is really want you want...my thoughts!!  That contract at $43,000 per year is a teacher's salary for three years!  We won't see a return for 5 years (which this administration will be long gone from our fair district by that time) and according to the GPISD website we already have a full time employee that does that exact thing, his name is Jerry Palermo so are they eliminating his position?  Well, no.  Kit Mason focused on these "rolling blackouts" that just occurred because of the unusual winter weather we have been having.  I felt that this was a deliberate attempt to dupe the school board.  First of all, rolling blackouts have never occurred in the history of the State of Texas, and this is the ONE AND ONLY time it has happened and that was 7 days prior to this board meeting.  Am I supposed to believe that the administration did not come up with the idea of this contract until the blackouts happened one week prior?  I don't think so.  He used that fact to convince the board that we needed to contract with this company to "prevent" the blackouts at the schools and in essence duping the board into voting for the contract - and it worked!!  What was also interesting was he said they don't have all the information they need before entering into this contract yet still wanted the board to approve it - and they did!!  Now would you sign a contract that you didn't understand before you had all of the information?  I know I wouldn't.

Julie Spears, Assistant Superintendent Business Operations, discussed the need for (yet another) bond election to the tune of $70 million dollars.  This would not require a tax increase for the citizens of Grand Prairie but interestingly enough, it was mentioned that if they school district did NOT take out these new bonds then when the 2007 bonds are paid off they could reduce the taxes.  Hmmmm...a few extra dollars in my pocket?  I'm for it!  I simply think it is bad business to be in debt to the tune of $33 million dollar payments per year (for the 2007 bond) and then to take out more debt for $70 million on top of that.  Where is the money going to come from to pay back the 2010 bond?  We all know, debt is never a good thing no matter what it is used to purchase.  I'm thinking we already don't have enough money - why make it worse with more debt?  Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have.  Is it ideal?  No.  Do we all want better and brighter buildings, playgrounds and band equipment?  Yes.  But if you can't afford it.  You can't afford it.

Then the board went through all their closing comments which were basically telling the superintendent and her administration how wonderful they are - which pretty much happens every month.  Nothing new there.  I hope you found this information helpful and you are welcome to leave comments and questions.  Let's all get some dialogue going and work together to get through this budget crisis but at the same time hold our elected official accountable for their decisions.