Did We Get Value for Tax Dollars at CISD?

by Micki Nellis

04/25/08 - Did Cleburne School District taxpayers get value for their money?

This question is asked in light of the Texas Education Agency Audit that showed CISD misused 44.4% of federal funds audited. CISD (taxpayers) are being asked to pay back $367,027.64 so far. That amount might increase if TEA decides to do a complete audit, or decrease if CISD can convince TEA to whittle down the amount.

Let’s look at what we paid those who were responsible for running the school and spending tax dollars properly. All figures were taken from the CISD Salary Report obtained by Open Records Request in October, 2007.

First, CISD had one superintendent and two assistant superintendents. Previously there were three assistant superintendents until Joe Ripple took a job in another school district.

Superintendent Robert Damron’s base pay is $140,920.00 per year. He is now at home drawing $11,743 per month for doing nothing since he was “reassigned”.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Bailey, in charge of School Finances, has a base pay of $102,086.00.

Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Cody, in charge of Personnel, has a base pay $102,250.00. She just announced her retirement at the end of this school year.

That’s a total of $345,256.00 per year for Superintendents, (the top level of the administration) or $28,771.33 per month.

Next we have Sharron Miles, Administrative Officer, Special Projects. Her base salary is $84,375.00. She’s the one who took “community volunteers” to Mexico at taxpayer expense. (Nell Dixon, Troy Dixon and Cathy Marchel.) Also going to Mexico at taxpayer expense were school employees Lisa Magers, J. and G. Navarrete, and A. Sarchet. TEA said that foreign travel must be approved by TEA ahead of time, and besides the trip was unnecessary.

Next we have Sharron Miles’ daughter, Amy Martin, Administrator, at a base salary of $52,588.00.

We have Communications Director Lisa Magers at a base salary of $63,940.00. She dispensed the “we have done nothing wrong” spin printed in the Times Review.

Now to Curriculum. The salary report listed Judy Senter, Administrative Officer, Curriculum, at a base salary of $84,000; Randall Stone, Director of Curriculum, $91,501.00; and Janet Walker, Administrative Officer, Curriculum, at $84,750.00. That’s $260,251.00 for curriculum.

Wikipedia says “In formal education or schooling, a curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and content offered at a school or university. A curriculum may be partly or entirely determined by an external, authoritative body…In the U.S., each state, with the individual school districts, establishes the curricula taught. Each state, however, builds its curriculum with great participation of national academic subject groups selected by the United States Department of Education, e.g. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) for mathematical instruction.” Teachers do their own lesson plans.

Perhaps this is a naive question, but shouldn’t curriculum be pretty well standardized among Texas schools? After all, students are required to pass standardized tests.

TEA cited lack of receipts (proof of purchase) for more than $50,000 in disbursements (page 122 of report). In the accounting department we had Mike Bailey, Assistant Superintendent of Finance at $102,086.00, plus an Accounting Assistant and two bookkeepers at a combined salary of $90,022.00. That’s $192,108.00 for managing finances and accounting.

Here are a few examples of money paid out with no documentation:

Check 2658 $1200.00 Consulting Services
Check 2948 $2265.00
Check 2704 $648.43
Check 3510 $628.00
Check 01825 $6,000.00 No receipt, no invoice
Check 2709 $1030.05
Check 3324 $1165.00
AMEX $303.51 Purchase from Amazon
Check 2523 $510.95 Gift card from Barnes & Noble
Check 3703 $1640.00
Check 4583 $2175.00
Check 2957 $10,000.00
Check 2647 $2600.00 CTIA exam, no receipt, not covered anyway

Money paid out with no proof of purchase could mean fraud, misuse, or carelessness. Either way somebody wasn’t doing their job.

In the personnel department, TEA listed $140,756.20 to be paid back because “a) The grantee did not maintain periodic certifications for the following employees who worked solely on a single federal award or cost objective.” Named are Karla D. Cox, Allyson L. Elkins, and Suzann Jodoin and Courtney Jones. The report also lists $37,180.06 to be paid back because there were no personnel activity reports for Amy Martin and Gina Jones. That’s a total of $177,936.26 to be paid back because of personnel irregularities. (Page 49 of TEA report.)

Carolyn Cody said “The teachers in question …are all certified. Karla D. Cox, Allyson L. Elkins, Suzann Jodoin, and Courtney Jones are all TEA certified and also State Licensed Speech Pathologists. The point questioned in the audit refers to a document not signed by those staff; it has been corrected and documentation of their work is on file.”

With this many well-paid administrators and less well-paid bookkeepers, what is the problem with following the guidelines and keeping proper records? Obviously, several people didn’t do their jobs.

CISD has had to hire an Interim Superintendent, a TASBO official, and an accountant to try to clean up the mess and implement proper procedures. Since CISD is restructuring, we suggest being very careful to keep only the people who did their jobs. We should look at what appears to be top-heavy administration and get rid of the non-performers and excess staff.

A great source of aggravation among parents that lies outside the bounds of the TEA audit is that many students don’t have textbooks. Since the State furnishes textbooks free, it is hard to understand why enough textbooks are not ordered.

Is it too much to ask that the people we pay very well do their jobs?