In these times of tight school district budgets it seems like every school in Arizona is considering cutting athletics, raising sports participation fees, or restricting athletic travel. But not Cave Creek Unified. According to our leaders, these sports are self-sufficient through fees and tax credit donations are therefore should not be on the chopping block.
But is this really the case. To us it appears that the district is draining tax credit funds from the other schools primarily to finance high school athletics. Look at this data obtained from the governing board packet of 2/23/10 (click to enlarge):
To us it looks like over $72,000 was redirected from the other schools (except LMES) and spent at the high school. For every dollar collected at BMES, they only got to spend 77 cents. At Cactus Shadows, for every dollar collected, $1.28 was spent.
In fact over $277,000 of the $561,000 collected went directly to high school athletics for calendar year 2009 according to the expenditure report found in that board packet. Of course when the administration presents it to the board and the board sits there in silence (see here), you can’t blame them for hiding it.
Guess it show you where the district’s priorities are, but of course we don’t dare lose those kids to Pinnacle. And don’t give us garbage about how this can only be spent on blah blah blah. The district always has the option to supplant where it sees fit. In fact one school and its site council decided to use its tax credit money for a Smartboard.
As always if we have it wrong, let us know. ccusdwatch@hotmail.com
Watch,
ReplyDeleteWe don't understand how you can sleep at night publishing this HOOEY.
Clearly, you do not seek to understand, but only to obfuscate and destroy the credibility of our wonderful school district, and YES, IT IS WONDERFUL to those of us who enjoy AND appreciate being a part of it.
Did you even bother running your 'THEORY' by ANY school business official before publishing this, let alone our own Kent Frison?
All you are showing is tax credit collections vs. expenditures FOR ONE FISCAL YEAR!
If an elementary school collected more than it spent in ONE fiscal year, that simply means they carry over the balance to the NEXT fiscal year. All you are showing is one page of a continuous checkbook, the conclusions you draw are... like we said before... a bunch of HOOEY!
The high school in particular had a ton of "one time" funds pulled from their athletic program as part of the last round of budget cuts, at least 40K that we know of, so it makes complete sense that they would have spent more than an average year's worth of tax credit funds to make up some of the difference.
Stop publishing HOOEY. If you have something genuinely productive to contribute, by all means, forge on. So far, we certainly haven't seen it.
Cynthia Weiss on behalf of:
Cave Creek Support Our Students (CCSOS)
"All you are showing is tax credit collections vs. expenditures FOR ONE FISCAL YEAR!"
ReplyDeleteIt says calendar year right on it.
"All you are showing is one page of a continuous checkbook, the conclusions you draw are... like we said before... a bunch of HOOEY!"
So why doesn't Kent Frison show the board the carry over balances? Does he keep track of that on a per school basis. Where is that report? This seems like vital information that the board should have.
"Stop publishing HOOEY."
You call it hooey, but you present no facts to show that it is hooey. All company's books work this way, you have revenue and expenses for fixed time periods. The IRS and the SEC do not care what your checkbook says.
Nonetheless, close to 60% of tax credits spent in 2009 went to the high school.
Yes, the majority of tax credit funds get spent at the high school because most of the credits are collected at the high school level... tax credits are pretty much all CCUSD has left to fund athletics... and high school is when most students participate in... you guessed it... athletics. CSHS also has the highest rate of participation, over 35% of parents contribute via tax credits.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't rocket science and it certainly isn't a conspiracy, the district reports money coming in and money going out exactly as they should. It comes in during calendar years for tax purposes and goes out during fiscal years for reporting purposes... why is this even an issue and why are you crying foul other than to stir a useless pot of HOOEY!
Don't miss part 2
ReplyDeletehttp://ccusdwatch.blogspot.com/2010/04/cave-creek-unified-tax-credits-part-2.html
Pot, kettle, black.
ReplyDeleteCCSOS attacked Susan Clancy and Janet Busbee at its blog.
No, CCSOS did not attack Clancy and Busbee. CCSOS ran an opinion of one of its members with the following disclaimer attached:
ReplyDelete"This summary includes commentary that reflects the opinion of the author and is not a consensus of CCSOS members."
The author used her name and did not stay anonymous. I am sure that if Clancy and Busbee have any problem with what she wrote or if any members of the public do, that she would gladly discuss it directly with them. She did not shield herself from taking any criticism for what she wrote.
A distinction without a difference.
ReplyDeleteA thought to cut the budget would be to cut transportation costs and eliminate some bus routes that are close to the schools. We are able to drop kids off at 8:30 at the school and the bus comes at this time as well. I would much rather participate in a carpool then lose music, PE, Art or a librarian. Most of the moms at my bus stop are stay home and chat for about 30 minutes after the bus leaves. Just a suggestion and wonder if it has been looked at as a way to keep some money in our schools.
ReplyDelete