How is this possible given all the rhetoric we hear?
(These numbers are ACTUAL expenditures, not budgeted amounts)
Administration spending up.
2400 School Administration
2010: 1,522,910
2009: 1,465,937
Change: 3.9%
Classroom spending down.
Classroom Instruction
2010 13,695,528
2009 13,999,927
Change: -2.2%
And millions left over!
M&O
Carry Forward (782,652)
Revenue: 35,847,906
Other Revenue: 19,119
Budget: 34,542,543
Actual Expenses: 33,374,666
Surplus: 1,709,707
Unrestricted Capital
Carry Forward: 713,463
Revenue: 641,181
Budget: 1,511,552
Actual: 104,039
Surplus: 1,250,605
So they starve the schools by spending only $104,000, in capital so you can then complain we don't have money to fix the schools or buy text books. Of course we did have the money to spend 1.5 million on what, 10 administrators? And why are administrators benefits at 50% of their salary, while classroom staff are at 30%?
Asinine.
Where are your numbers from?
ReplyDeleteI would suggest the board look into this but we all know what that will amount to. Is this what we expect from our Schools...They will most likely explain that they are saving for the next budget crisis...There is no denying that this district is top heavy and Deb Burdick has said over and over again that they just can't make anymore cuts at the district level...so this is what we end up with...poor leadership that is not worth their compensation, over worked underpaid teachers, abandoned buildings. Great JOB CCUSD93...
ReplyDeleteOnce again, where are you pulling your numbers from? Are they coming from CCUSD website, Arizona Dept. of Ed website, etc? Could you please give a citation? It is very hard to determine if a) you have pulled your numbers correctly and b) if there were any mitigating factors (i.e. if costs in one particular area such as insurance) were responsible for the increases without a link to your source.
ReplyDeleteOctober 22 @ 9:52am - The district is not "top heavy" - at least CCUSD is saving money for when the State comes asking for it back (they've done it 2 years in a row - sometimes twice in 1 year) and we won't have to CUT TEACHERS and/or programs mid-year to pay the State - and yes, GREAT JOB CCUSD! Thank you for planning ahead.
ReplyDeleteReally not top heavy? Look at the amount of students then look at the number of schools... now lets compare that to Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Deer Valley. Scottsdale has 31 schools in their district and one Superintendent, do you think he makes 7 times what Deb Burdick makes? Not very likely...Look ate what it costs CCUSD to be it's own district another district could swallow us up and not add another single employee to its administration thus leaving 1,522,910 in the budget for things that matter like the text books Deb Burdick blames for the loss of the districts all excelling label
ReplyDeleteSo now we are complimenting the district for saving money? I thought they didn't have the money and that is why they so desperately needed an override. I thought they didn't have any money and that is why we closed DAMS, I thought they didn't have any money for text books and that was why our test scores dropped. I thought they didn't have any money and that was why all the schools started asking their PTO's to fund CK, Chinese, Spanish immersion, I thought they didn;t have any money and that is why we have pay for play sports, One thing I know for sure now is this district plays us all for fools when it comes to money! They are in everyones pocket and when they have nothing to show for it, once again it is because they don't have enough money
ReplyDeleteReference the Anonymous 12:29 PM questionings on CCUSD classroom spending and school administration comments, the numbers were derived from the 2010 AFR, which has been approved by the CCUSD governing board, certified by the President of the governing board and transmitted to the Arizona Department of Education. This annual report is easily available to the public on the CCUSD web site.
ReplyDeleteBeechcroft
I'm with Oct. 22 @6:56 pm. We are getting played, and I'm getting very tired of all the requests from the district, the schools, and the PTOs for money. They make these decisions to start new programs, like CK at BMES and STEM at LMES, but they don't have the money to implement them properly. The amount of money I have been asked to fork up by our school's PTO is just ridiculous, and they are so messsed up trying to figure out how they will cover all the holes the principal and district can't fill that I couldn't really tell you what they are going to do with the money anyway. I'm pretty much done with all of it. Just ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteMy PTO is paying for aides and Core Knowledge materials, yet the district has $3 million LEFT OVER. What the hell!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAmazing to watch you people post and swirl around mis-rerepresented and out of context information posted on this blog. Sometimes I wonder what your home life is like with all the spit and venom flying.
ReplyDeleteYou do realize this blogger only posts their agenda and it is all negative, right? What does that tell you sheeple?
Once again, you can all astroturf (i.e. beechcroft, high school in Columbus, Ohio, home of Ohio State, couldn't you be a little more creative with your moniker) this site, or somebody can ask questions of the board about these budget questions?
ReplyDeleteThe watchers struck home with this post as the ad hominem attacks are all the district apologists have left.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear what was out of context and misrepresented. It looks like these numbers were reported at the last board meeting. What did the board have to say about it?
District apologists because I have told you that you will be more productive asking your questions of the board than posting them here???
ReplyDeleteYou've raised certain issues, you have every right to ask questions. Just be prepared that they might actually give you legitimate explanations and that is a risk you take as it certainly takes your immediate declaration of the budget being asinine (without so much as showing up at a board meeting to ask the question). It is just plain fairness, not jumping the gun as your posts often do.
Do I honestly need to tell you to ask the board these questions in person instead of here? Or, let me guess, it is hard to act as an anonymous PAC and to try to influence elections if they know who you are?
Your inability to take it to the board is your own weakness and inability to "ask the tough questions." And, it is not only asinine, it is also quite twisted.
Oct 24 2010 5:41 am If the district would acknowledge the communities concerns and work to find resolution these issues would go away, but when they talk out of both sides of their mouth and LIE...this is what you get! Your home life is most likely a little sandy since your head always seems to be buried in it!
ReplyDelete5:41 This blogger has posted everything I have sent their way, the good, the bad and the ugly. You're just upset that the ugly outweighs the rest and the only tool that you have to counter the downward spiral of this district is denial. You keep denying and I will keep advocating for the children of this community, let's see who wins.
ReplyDelete3:42 maybe the board should do the job they were elected to do and ask the questions themselves so things do not get out of hand...just think how easy your "cleanup job" would be if you could quickly refrence the board meeting and say...The board acknowledged this financial abnormatlity and realizes some community members may be questioning how we have millions of dollars left over when we have been crying broke for so long--------(please fill in the blank now because I have no explanation to give for you)
ReplyDeleteThe approach that "the cleaners" take is asinine! Anything that is questioned is denied and then when the facts are presented that you asked for you personally attack the messenger.
I have e-mailed board members and spoken at board meetings. Nothing changes and my queries go unanswered more often than not.
ReplyDeleteWhile this blog leans to the negative (they are the wathchers not the cheerleaders), nothing wrong with a little free speech and some sunshine to disinfect. And what happened to CCUSDGB.ORG and the promise to video tape all the board meetings? I would guess that certain board members didn't like their actions exposed for all to see and they got it shut down.
CCUSDGB.ORG is a one person show. If that one person, who has so generously given time for this project, cannot make it, there isn't always a replacement.
ReplyDeleteThank you CCUSDGB.ORG for all of your hard work.
This blogger has not posted all of my comments. I liked it better when the comments were posted immediately, not like now when they first have to be approved by Watch.
ReplyDeleteMore excuses 7:48 am? One person show or not if you make a commitment keep it! This community is just not settling anymore!
ReplyDeleteNo 9:43A. I won't even bother talking to ungrateful astro turfers anymore. Goodbye. Hope the silence is deafening.
ReplyDeleteDo the anonymous blog contributors know that CCUSD had not spent about $1.9 million of its legally available capital in the 2009-10 school year? Revenues for the soft capital allocation and the unrestricted capital outlay funds total led nearly $2.5 million, with actual expenditures only about $600,000 (about 23% of available fund revenues).
ReplyDeleteAccording to state law (ARS 15-962, subsection D and ARS 15-903, subsection C), these two funds can only be used for technology, textbooks, library resources, instructional aids, pupil/non-pupil transportation vehicles, furniture/equipment and certain building improvements. These funds can also be used for school district administration capital needs, according to the state Department of Education and the state Auditor General (USFR memorandum 185).
This shortfall in actual CCUSD expenditures was also experienced in an earlier year. In the 2008-9 school year, these available fund revenues total led about $1.5 million and actual expenditures were only $700,000 (about 50% of available revenues). In the 2007-8 school year, available fund revenues were roughly equivalent to the actual expenditures.
Over a three-year period, unrestricted capital outlay revenues (fund 610) were about $1.49 million and the actual CCUSD expenditures were about $500,000 (about 34% of available three-year total revenues). Similarly, the three-year summary of the soft capital allocation revenues (fund 625) were $4.25 million, and the associated actual expenditures were about $2.5 million (about 60% of available three-year total revenues).
The above statistics were derived from annual financial reports issued by CCUSD administrators, approved by the governing board, certified by the president of the governing board and reported to the Arizona Department of Education.
Beechcroft
Beechcroft - Here is the problem as simply as I can put it. I'm not an accountant, have no financial background and am too confused by your explanation to know if you are right, wrong, or somewhere in between.
ReplyDeleteThat's why it would be most helpful for you to bring this up at a board meeting. Perhaps you can request public answers from Dr. Frison. If Frison doesn't give you answers that make sense, etc. I trust you will point it out.
Unfortunately, just reading the numbers here, without any input from the other side is like reading half a story.
If you privately asked Frison about it and were not answered, keep asking in public. That's the only way to know for sure that the questions are being asked and that he is answering them (or not).
I think the problem is, that we do not want a panel of Board members that will "yes" everything the Dr. Burdick and her team put in front of them. Have you been to Board meetings where "the team" does not ask one question? I have. Mark, David and Casey are nothing but "yes" members to the District Adminstration. We as parents, community members and family need to stop this. We are the only ones that can. We need an Adminstration that does not chase "the flavor of the month" thinking it will save the District from losing students. We need a specific plan, with implementable action items that will happen in a timely fashion. I am just so frustrated as a parent that I have to be monitoring this to this level. We need a trustworthy Adminstration so we can concentrate on our families and their well being. You an say what you will about Susan Clancy, she is at least asking questions that are what parents are talking about. It makes me just sad.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Beechcroft, other than initially questioning the bloggers, asked no questions of either the CCUSD governing board or its administrators. What appeared in its blog contribution was merely a summary of certain financial information provided by CCUSD to the state.
ReplyDeleteIf October 27, 2010, 10:27 AM, has any questions related to the accuracy and/or relevance of the financial information provided, direct contact should be made by this blogger with either Dr. Burdick or Dr. Frison. Incidentally, the governing board may not be a good source of additional information, as governing board policy BEDL states "The governing board shall refuse to acknowledge or reply to unsigned, anonymous or otherwise unidentifiable correspondence". Public questioning may also not be efficient, as governing board policy BEDH states "Questions asked by the public shall, on the agenda item, be answered by members of the board and/or administrators. On a non-agenda item, if necessary, it will be referred to administration"
10:27 here. Not in the district anymore. Just cannot understand why Beechcroft uses this forum to publish questions that should clearly be posed to the administration? No problem with asking the questions, just any answers provided on this board are clearly speculation, nothing more. Think that by going public, Beechcroft will be able to demonstrate clearly whether questions are answered or not - even if it is something that is referred to the administration. Beechcroft can then talk about how the matter was handled with a path that is transparent to all.
ReplyDeleteYour community needs to learn to work with its school board. I know that many of you don't believe it and won't unless you move to other districts and see other boards in action, but your board (from my experience when I dealt with them) is much more professional than given credit for and there is far less arrogance.
I disagree with 99% of what is in the SN re: CCUSD. However, Don got one thing right at the end of his my view column this week. Sitting on a school board is a thankless job.
Sitting on School Board may just be a thankless job but no one forces you to do it...it is a position you campaign for and accept fully knowing the + and - of the job...If you accept the appointment accept the responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteAs for people posting concerns here...it is out of frustration with the district...I can tell you that I have asked the board in person, via email, and have also emailed and discussed my concerns in person with Deb Burdick and Jana Miller all to be ignored.
Anonymous@7:48 it is obvious that the posts here hit a nerve with you...maybe you should address the board publicly about these concerns...ask the board and the district what you can do to help heal the community they have destroyed.