Thursday, December 17, 2009
$2 million
You wanted to borrow two million dollars to do what? Put aluminum frame windows in several school buildings and install equipment that would increase the internet speed at most of the schools.
And this was a good idea because why? We were told by an engineering firm that if we borrowed the money today against our future collections of taxes we could turn around and lend it at a higher rate under a state program and earn the interest on the unspent funds until we used them thus earning money for the district.
The proposal sounded good and similar programs have been and are being adopted by other districts around the state. It also assured that the engineering company proposing the arrangement got the work. As a bonus, the fees were covered by the interest earned.
The plan carried with it the enticement of getting the work done NOW while the cash flow from taxes came in over a several year period. What the proposal did not include was a close look at the payout on the investment in the project. Which turned out to be several decades. Not a good use of funds. Not respectful of the taxpayer’s dollars. We declined.
What we did do with your money is use it for projects and equipment with shorter-term payoffs and more direct student impact. Textbook replacement saw an expenditure of $260,000 over the past two years. Technology and classroom equipment was $250,000. Paving upgrades at several buildings cost $126,000. Roof repairs an additional $66,000.
Maintaining your existing facilities in a safe and secure fashion has been high on the list of priorities. Toward that end we have invested $115,000 in security consisting of replacement or installation of locks on all interior doors and installation of additional security cameras at both the middle and high school.
The lock projects were required under government regulations that demand all interior doors be able to be locked from within. The cameras have served to reduce undesirable behavior in hallways and cafeterias and freed up staff time for more productive activity. It’s a sad commentary on our society that it takes the possibility of being watched to quell unacceptable behavior.
Over the past two years we have continued the practice of replacing one bus one year and two the next to keep our fleet in good operating condition. The state help in this expense is now zero. Regular buses cost $80,000, not to mention the extra costs incurred with the purchase of handicap accessible vehicles of which we have three.
Classroom furniture was a small item at just under $6,000 but custodial maintenance and transportation equipment saw an investment of nearly $36,000.
Window repairs needed at Washington School in particular were addressed by hiring local craftsmen to address many years of use and neglect rather than discard them and replace them with much smaller aluminum frame windows as suggested by the engineers. The net result is windows that again function as designed and the cost of $21,000 is a far cry from the estimated $300,000 for the replacements.
Not every dollar of your money finds its way into classrooms. County employees responsible for assisting the transaction between taxpayers and schools must be paid for their services. The fees associated with calculating and collecting the money added up to $54,000 over the past two years.
The funds from the permanent improvement levy granted nearly three years ago are being invested as promised. The present balance in the Permanent Improvement fund is $1,297,163.20. We will be studying further required security measures to assure student’s continued safety.
Posted by Jack Moberg at 7:24 AM 0 comments
Thanksgiving
Your schools serve a broad spectrum of students with a wide range of talents and needs. Last Tuesday showed me a contrast of some of the variety of services provided.
The first stop was at a breakfast celebration for two Commended Scholars at Marietta High School; Blair Gunovich and Ryan Bober.
Each year we have a number of students whose ACT test scores put them among the top high school scholars in the country as recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Foundation Organization. Marietta has quite a long list of those who have achieved such honors while in our schools. They have gone on to careers ranging from orchestra conductor to international banker to archeological experts in foreign lands and many other adventures, many beyond my understanding.
Principal Lee spoke briefly at the gathering thanking the parents in attendance for their support of the students. He pointed out that educators know that the one solid and predictable factor in student success is parental involvement. Of course that parental word can take many meanings in today’s world but it is generally an adult who takes a particular helping and supportive interest in a student’s success in school.
Also in attendance were many teachers who had played a role in these student’s careers thus far. They were proud. Smiling. Knowing that the part they played, however small, would carry on throughout these student’s lives and serve long into the future. They had earned their broad smiles.
The next stop was a late morning meal of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and a table of desserts that begged to be sampled. All of this home made. By students. Though one might reasonably suspect just a bit of parental help on a dish or two. This too brought many smiles to the faces of those in attendance. Some for having provided the feast, and the rest of us for having enjoyed it.
This was the annual Thanksgiving Feast served up by the members of the OWE class. These are students in the Occupational Work Experience class headed by Mr. Koons. Many of these students are self-supporting job holders employed in local businesses while at the same time attending classes at MHS. Some are helping support their families, and a few have begun families of their own. There were some in attendance far too young to register even for Kindergarten.
Here too were smiles. Here too were proud parents and grandparents. And here too were teachers and administrators who have played a part in making these student’s dreams come true and laying the groundwork for a productive future.
But for this program, many of these students would no longer be in school owing to far too many circumstances beyond their control. But for the many adult influencers supporting this program it would not exist and life would take on a different direction for many of these students.
These are but two brief pictures of programs serving local students. There are far more covering a much wider range of student services. We are fortunate to live in a community that cares so much and provides so much that it is possible for many to get what they require to carry them on to a successful adult career. There are many dedicated students, teachers, volunteers, parents and family members who daily provide the support needed to help young people reach their goals.
This being the time of year set aside for such things, we should give thanks for what we have to those who make it possible. We are fortunate indeed. Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted by Jack Moberg at 7:23 AM 0 comments
Financial Chicanery
An educator named Robbi Shranz of Waupun, Wisconsin wrote a letter to the editor of USA Today that ran in Thursday’s edition. He pointed out the irony between two previous articles. One cited the soaring pay for college coaches and the other focused on fundraisers for education overall. One story told of a middle school principal selling grades to raise money for the school.
She said, “Being in education for nearly 30 years, I’m certainly not endorsing selling grades, but I understand the dilemma that we in education face daily about having enough money to educate our students.”
She then goes on to ask the questions much asked in many ways. “When was the last time you saw a Wall Street worker having a bake sale to raise money or a Bank of America employee selling candy bars to help out customers?” She points out that our government has given billions to financial institutions while educators spend hours to raise but a few hundred dollars.
I read this article on the heels of a discussion with our treasurer, Mr. Combs, about various lines of figures contained in the current five year forecast. The two concepts were not suited to be in one mind at the same time.
Admittedly the forecast is just that, a forecast. Not a budget. As such there are many assumptions built in to it that are based on past experience and observations about future events. Some might call it guessing or betting and perhaps justifiably so. But it is a requirement of the state that such a forecast be generated twice each year.
The much talked of monies coming from federal sources the past year have been a considerable help. We were able to pick up the salaries of six employees and ease demands on our general fund. However, when those funds dry up those dollars must come again from the general fund. So it really was just a temporary respite and a shuffling of money. Out of pot A, into pot B. And back. Financial chicanery enabled and encouraged by the government.
Then there is the cutback in state level funding to education necessitated by current economic conditions. We are expected to receive federal replacement funds of $521,000 in fiscal year 2010 and then $761,000 in fiscal year 2011. The assumption made is that by 2013 the state will be sufficiently healthy that those federal funds could disappear and the full measure of state funding will return. Anyone willing to take that bet?
One of the known future events is the expiration of current union contracts this coming June. The unknown factor is the costs of any negotiated raises. For each negotiated 1% raise in wages, the cost to the system is about $155,000. There are medical insurance costs which are always on the upswing and the best one can do is look at claims experiences and national trends and hope to come close in the estimate.
One of the finer pieces of guesswork has to do with the earnings on money collected and held until spent over the year. If you pay your property taxes in one lump sum, the district receives the income and can bank the unspent portion until needed. The interest on those funds makes a difference in the overall picture. That is strictly a guessed at number based on past experience.
Finally, if you are interested in seeing the entire forecast and the assumptions that lie behind the numbers you can go to http://www.mariettacityschools.k12.oh.us/assets/5yearreport.pdf and examine these for yourself. Have a look at where your money goes. Bake sale anyone?
Posted by Jack Moberg at 7:22 AM 0 comments
Oh, My Gawd.
Oh-my-gawd! With those words uttered by a band member a tear came to my eye. It still comes when I tell the story.
It was a lovely day in Miami some years ago. Our band was to march in the Orange Bowl parade and my bride and I had arrived ahead of the buses carrying the band. Upon arrival Mr. Kimball marshaled the parents who had arrived early to assist an orderly check-in at the hotel.
The hotel featured a tropical atrium area with lots of water and palm trees growing many stories up toward the glass ceiling 10 plus floors above. Quite a sight to behold by someone who had never ventured far from Marietta.
I was assigned to hold a door open as the students filed in. My door was the second one they passed through. Mine opened onto the atrium area. Many were stunned by the scene that lay before them. One of them exclaimed, “Oh-my-gawd” as she walked by me and saw what lay ahead. Her life had just changed.
I realized that for some of these students this was their first visit to a far off place. For some it was only the second time they had been in a hotel away from home. And for some it would be perhaps one of the only times in their lives that such wonders would play out before them except on TV and in movies. And then the tear came.
There is a reason for band. For choir. For all of the sports and other extra-curricular activities of our schools. They add experience. They build character. They provide for friendships and leadership opportunities. They show students a world beyond what they know at home. For some, they open a world of wonder that gets them to thinking about possibilities beyond the small or large screens.
Even books cannot truly give the meaning and feeling of actually competing, traveling, participating, developing a leadership skill. And even the best teachers will, when possible, augment the classroom with travel and experiences.
So what’s the point? Why have I drug you through this story and keep adding to it? It’s just this.
Try as we may, we have been unsuccessful at getting any parent or other community member to show up for an algebra test. Or a chemistry lab. Or a Spanish class. They just don’t seem to want to do it.
But you put 30 or 40 kids on a football field and you will have an audience. You march 100 or 200 kids on that field and you will have an audience. You send a thundering herd of kids off over hill and dale running cross country and you will have an audience.
Even crew where the hours of cold rainy bleak weather are punctuated with but a few moments of frantic cheering draws an amazing number of people willing to endure personal discomfort for those moments. There’s a crowd.
For many people the only face of schools they see is our sports or band or choir or other extra-curricular program. Schools are judged by those events. There is passion in those activities that algebra just does not generate. And there are life lessons for the students that no math formula can teach.
Therein lies the reason we must work just as hard at having viable programs to offer as we do at having successful academic offerings. For some students these programs will begin a lifelong adventure, perhaps a career. For others the programs will be their best memories of their academic years. We must do it well.
Posted by Jack Moberg at 7:21 AM 0 comments
Oh, My Gawd.
Oh-my-gawd! With those words uttered by a band member a tear came to my eye. It still comes when I tell the story.
It was a lovely day in Miami some years ago. Our band was to march in the Orange Bowl parade and my bride and I had arrived ahead of the buses carrying the band. Upon arrival Mr. Kimball marshaled the parents who had arrived early to assist an orderly check-in at the hotel.
The hotel featured a tropical atrium area with lots of water and palm trees growing many stories up toward the glass ceiling 10 plus floors above. Quite a sight to behold by someone who had never ventured far from Marietta.
I was assigned to hold a door open as the students filed in. My door was the second one they passed through. Mine opened onto the atrium area. Many were stunned by the scene that lay before them. One of them exclaimed, “Oh-my-gawd” as she walked by me and saw what lay ahead. Her life had just changed.
I realized that for some of these students this was their first visit to a far off place. For some it was only the second time they had been in a hotel away from home. And for some it would be perhaps one of the only times in their lives that such wonders would play out before them except on TV and in movies. And then the tear came.
There is a reason for band. For choir. For all of the sports and other extra-curricular activities of our schools. They add experience. They build character. They provide for friendships and leadership opportunities. They show students a world beyond what they know at home. For some, they open a world of wonder that gets them to thinking about possibilities beyond the small or large screens.
Even books cannot truly give the meaning and feeling of actually competing, traveling, participating, developing a leadership skill. And even the best teachers will, when possible, augment the classroom with travel and experiences.
So what’s the point? Why have I drug you through this story and keep adding to it? It’s just this.
Try as we may, we have been unsuccessful at getting any parent or other community member to show up for an algebra test. Or a chemistry lab. Or a Spanish class. They just don’t seem to want to do it.
But you put 30 or 40 kids on a football field and you will have an audience. You march 100 or 200 kids on that field and you will have an audience. You send a thundering herd of kids off over hill and dale running cross country and you will have an audience.
Even crew where the hours of cold rainy bleak weather are punctuated with but a few moments of frantic cheering draws an amazing number of people willing to endure personal discomfort for those moments. There’s a crowd.
For many people the only face of schools they see is our sports or band or choir or other extra-curricular program. Schools are judged by those events. There is passion in those activities that algebra just does not generate. And there are life lessons for the students that no math formula can teach.
Therein lies the reason we must work just as hard at having viable programs to offer as we do at having successful academic offerings. For some students these programs will begin a lifelong adventure, perhaps a career. For others the programs will be their best memories of their academic years. We must do it well.
Posted by Jack Moberg at 7:21 AM 0 comments