School Spending - Truth, Lies or Spin?

School Spending - Truth, Lies or Spin?
Print this page Ronald Reagan, at the National PTA meeting in 1983, said “I believe common sense tells us we don't have an education problem because we are not spending enough, we have an education problem because we're not getting our money's worth for what we spend. Now there are some areas such as teachers' salaries where new incentives are clearly needed for better pay. This can be done at the State and local level. But there are many more areas where the agenda for excellence is not spelled 'more spending' but 'better learning'.” It is interesting to note that for the past twenty three years we have always known that the problem with declining education performance is not due to the dollar amount we are spending but how it's being spent. Just like every other school district in Texas, Cleburne taxpayers have been forced to pay an unconstitutional property tax to support wasteful educrat spending practices and over-bloated school administration salaries. Taxpayers, there's a bully in the Cleburne school yard who believes that just because seven people unanimously approved extending his contract for one year he will be here for the next three years. You would be an absolute fool to think that our current school board would bite the hand that feeds them. Three board positions are up for grabs in May and if voters replace them with responsible taxpayers that put our children's education and good teacher salaries first and administration positions, salaries and perks last, we can even unanimously get rid of the bully. School bond elections aren't the only thing that can be recalled. A 2005 study commissioned by Texas Business for Educational Excellence has found that school district administrative costs have risen three times faster than student enrollment over the past eight years. Another 2005 study by the Educational Resource Group indicates that school operating expenses increased by 57% between 1997 and 2004, while student enrollment increased by only 13%. During this same period, the number of teachers increased 17%, campus administrators increased 32% and central office administrators increased 35%. This same study reported that if districts operating at above average, per student costs were as efficient as the average district in Texas, last year over $1 billion in state and local funds could have been saved. ??? Don't understand the meaning of this. Can you state it differently????? At our last school board meeting, Alden Nellis and I we're accused of putting a spin on the truth about the $908 meal at Ruth Chris Steak House. I think that the actual receipt provided to us by CISD and printed in the paper and at www.cleburnepolitics.com proves undeniably that in fact there was a $908 meal. Mr. Damron, our school superintendent, stated that he reimbursed the school district $300 dollars, but we have no check to support that claim. CISD, if a check was received please give us a copy of the check as evidence. If a copy of the check supporting the $300 reimbursement is validated, one must still make the point that the per diem for meals is $22.50 per member. Only $10 is permitted for supper for each member, and so with the six board members attending (one said she was in Greece) and the superintendent, maximum allowable is $70 for all. And so the reimbursement should actually be $838.61. Now lets say for the sake of argument in their behalf they did not eat breakfast or dinner and blew the whole per diem on supper then the seven board members and our superintendent would be allowed $157.50. The total reimbursement should now be $751.11. So taxpayers, I think that we are at the minimum still short $451.11. One board member who was in Greece at the time and was not in attendance for this meal said at the CISD meeting January 9 that she felt that the board members "earned" it. School board members do not receive pay for their duty and it is solely their choice to accept the position when elected. The expenses of spouses are strictly forbidden in school board policy and nowhere do I find in school board policy that school board members deserve $52, $62, $68, or $97 dollar per plate meals regardless of the years served. Another example that we might also be later accused of spinning is the $2,224 worth of mahogany office furniture purchased from the Pottery Barn on Mr. Damron's American Express school district credit card. We have no actual invoice, only the credit card statement showing the amounts spent. A call to the Pottery Barn in Olive Branch Mississippi told us what it was, how much it cost and where it was shipped from. Don't we sell office furniture in Cleburne? It was also surprising to find my open records request included complete district credit card numbers and expiration dates. Talk about living dangerously. So to those of you considering running for school board in May, the application does not say anything about Free Vacations, Luxury Lodging and Expensive Meals. This is a free, thankless job with long hours and no promises of $219 per night rooms and $97 per plate meals. You are doing this as a free public service to the community. You should not expect that anything will be named after you so that your family name can be forever enshrined in the annals of Cleburne school history and no bronze statue of you will be erected anywhere within the city. The position accepted is not for personal gain but solely for the purpose of demonstrating your undying love…”For the Children.” Harold Gentry

Ronald Reagan, at the National PTA meeting in 1983, said “I believe common sense tells us we don't have an education problem because we are not spending enough, we have an education problem because we're not getting our money's worth for what we spend. Now there are some areas such as teachers' salaries where new incentives are clearly needed for better pay. This can be done at the State and local level. But there are many more areas where the agenda for excellence is not spelled 'more spending' but 'better learning'.”

It is interesting to note that for the past twenty three years we have always known that the problem with declining education performance is not due to the dollar amount we are spending but how it's being spent. Just like every other school district in Texas, Cleburne taxpayers have been forced to pay an unconstitutional property tax to support wasteful educrat spending practices and over-bloated school administration salaries.

Taxpayers, there's a bully in the Cleburne school yard who believes that just because seven people unanimously approved extending his contract for one year he will be here for the next three years. You would be an absolute fool to think that our current school board would bite the hand that feeds them. Three board positions are up for grabs in May and if voters replace them with responsible taxpayers that put our children's education and good teacher salaries first and administration positions, salaries and perks last, we can even unanimously get rid of the bully. School bond elections aren't the only thing that can be recalled.

A 2005 study commissioned by Texas Business for Educational Excellence has found that school district administrative costs have risen three times faster than student enrollment over the past eight years.

Another 2005 study by the Educational Resource Group indicates that school operating expenses increased by 57% between 1997 and 2004, while student enrollment increased by only 13%.

During this same period, the number of teachers increased 17%, campus administrators increased 32% and central office administrators increased 35%.

This same study reported that if districts operating at above average, per student costs were as efficient as the average district in Texas, last year over $1 billion in state and local funds could have been saved. ??? Don't understand the meaning of this. Can you state it differently?????

At our last school board meeting, Alden Nellis and I we're accused of putting a spin on the truth about the $908 meal at Ruth Chris Steak House. I think that the actual receipt provided to us by CISD and printed in the paper and at www.cleburnepolitics.com proves undeniably that in fact there was a $908 meal. Mr. Damron, our school superintendent, stated that he reimbursed the school district $300 dollars, but we have no check to support that claim. CISD, if a check was received please give us a copy of the check as evidence.

If a copy of the check supporting the $300 reimbursement is validated, one must still make the point that the per diem for meals is $22.50 per member. Only $10 is permitted for supper for each member, and so with the six board members attending (one said she was in Greece) and the superintendent, maximum allowable is $70 for all. And so the reimbursement should actually be $838.61. Now lets say for the sake of argument in their behalf they did not eat breakfast or dinner and blew the whole per diem on supper then the seven board members and our superintendent would be allowed $157.50. The total reimbursement should now be $751.11. So taxpayers, I think that we are at the minimum still short $451.11.

One board member who was in Greece at the time and was not in attendance for this meal said at the CISD meeting January 9 that she felt that the board members "earned" it. School board members do not receive pay for their duty and it is solely their choice to accept the position when elected. The expenses of spouses are strictly forbidden in school board policy and nowhere do I find in school board policy that school board members deserve $52, $62, $68, or $97 dollar per plate meals regardless of the years served.

Another example that we might also be later accused of spinning is the $2,224 worth of mahogany office furniture purchased from the Pottery Barn on Mr. Damron's American Express school district credit card. We have no actual invoice, only the credit card statement showing the amounts spent. A call to the Pottery Barn in Olive Branch Mississippi told us what it was, how much it cost and where it was shipped from. Don't we sell office furniture in Cleburne? It was also surprising to find my open records request included complete district credit card numbers and expiration dates. Talk about living dangerously.

So to those of you considering running for school board in May, the application does not say anything about Free Vacations, Luxury Lodging and Expensive Meals. This is a free, thankless job with long hours and no promises of $219 per night rooms and $97 per plate meals. You are doing this as a free public service to the community. You should not expect that anything will be named after you so that your family name can be forever enshrined in the annals of Cleburne school history and no bronze statue of you will be erected anywhere within the city. The position accepted is not for personal gain but solely for the purpose of demonstrating your undying love…”For the Children.”

Harold Gentry