Fiscal Irresponsibility

Well now is the time for the school board to circle the wagons, open up the coffers, and wait for the city to fill them with gold. Soon you will read about the “fiscal crisis”, the “money worries”, and oh yes “possible layoffs”. All these phrases are intended to scare the council and the public into giving them money. Hopefully these are some council members with kahunas that will not fall for this dog and pony show.
Since 2004 the fiscal irresponsibility of the district under the present leadership has skyrocketed. Even though the population of the district hovers around 6,000 (from the 2000 level of 8,200) yet the budget and number of employees continues to climb. The cost per pupil is at an all time high.
Recently it was pointed out in another blog that the IB program at Galileo is a farce. In 2009, there were two eligible students, and neither one received the diploma. In 2010, there were three eligible but only one received the diploma and he was a transfer from Martinsville after their program shut down. This is a $10,000 yearly cost for the program not counting the cost of the testing. DPS was never an organization that could evaluate itself. Perhaps it is time to cut their losses and get out of the program. But of course the powers to be would never admit they were wrong.
The district board needs to take a long hard look at their finances and get back to the core values of the system. The truly hard decisions will be closing schools, eliminating programs, and letting pet projects die. These are the type of decisions that a school board needs to make. If they can’t step up to the plate perhaps the council will do it for them.

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
Benjamin Franklin