Better now than never
Last month Laurel Highlands School District was forced to go to court to obtain permission to borrow nearly $3 million to pay off debt it wracked up by not paying attention to its cash flow. Administrators and the school board speculated that changes in property values, a slump in investments and a lawsuit settlement might have contributed to the downturn in the district’s fortunes. The problem was and remains that the district doesn’t know exactly what happened because no one looked that closely at the relationship of revenue and expenses. A prime illustration is the district’s cafeteria fund that continually loses substantial sums of money and requires infusions from the general fund. In addition, the board trimmed staff and programs to form a balanced budget and then throughout the school term reinstated the programs without thinking how to pay the bills.
Finally it appears the school board and administrators are taking responsibility. A strategic planning committee has been formed and it is asking for people who reside in the district that have expertise in finances to volunteer to help. The announcement came this week during a meeting of the district’s finance committee where other new methods of conducting business were announced.
The school board each month will receive detailed, rather than broad-stroke, reports of accounts. It is imperative that each board member understands and scrutinizes these reports and then acts within the framework. This won’t be an easy task unless pushing through pet projects or creating positions on a whim have been relegated to bygone days.
This school term will prove challenging. Laurel Highlands in order to pass a balanced budget for the 2002-03 school term cut 11 teaching position, 12 teachers’ aides and an administrative post. It will be tempting to restore these jobs, especially if this results in crowded classrooms or curriculum cuts. Until the board comes to grips with its pattern of deficit spending it must resist adding positions unless shown compelling evidence that students are paying too steep a price for the spending cuts.
The board also discussed figuring out where it is overspending. This is something that it should have known all along, but it is never too late to start. The school board that met this week came dressed in sober attire ready to assume the cloak of responsibility. This new sense of taking control is more than welcome.