Do Pawtucket schools need 79 'building assistants?' 

So check out the Valley Breeze article on the 10 million dollar deficit find with $1.2 million in floating building assistants who do what?

What do you think ?

School auditor defends process

PAWTUCKET - The state-appointed auditor of the School Department's budget books is backing the work she and her company have done, she told The Breeze this week, even in the face of public criticism from school administration officials.

Sam Hadley, partner with Virginia-based auditing company Cotton and Company, also issued a word of caution about this auditing process that has caused a furor among administrators and staff at the School Department since it was revealed last month that as much as $10 million or more in possible cost savings had been found within the School Department budget.

Cotton and Company's initial recommendations, made public in The Valley Breeze in late February, were to shut down two Pawtucket schools due to shrinking student enrollments, cut the number of "building assistant" and custodial positions within the district, and increase class sizes in city schools, among others, for millions of dollars in potential savings.

In an interview last Friday, Hadley defended her company against at least two accusations made by school leaders in last Wednesday's edition of The Times, both related to an audit process she says still has a long way to go.

* On the reported contention from former Superintendent Hans Dellith that someone in Pawtucket City Hall gave instructions to the auditor in advance on "what to look for or recommend," as written in The Times story, Hadley denied the allegation entirely.

"The audit scope was developed by the state Auditor (General's) Office and we followed that scope," said Hadley. "Cost saving ideas were provided by both the city and the School Department; however our report includes only those recommendations that we identified through our normal audit process, and we consider viable options for cost efficiencies."

* On school leaders' claim that preliminary recommendations from the auditor do not consider state and federal mandates, "We believe each potential recommendation acknowledges those concepts, whether that be mandates, union contracts or other hurdles," said Hadley.

Indeed, initial cost-saving recommendations from Cotton and Co. consistently refer to state mandates on schools, federal education guidelines and local union contract language.

* On the accusation from members of the school administration that the auditing process has been "political" in nature, that city officials are currently seeking a charter change allowing an appointed School Committee, among other things, "We have no comment," said Hadley.

All of the savings categories detailed in a Feb. 24 edition of The Breeze were included as part of an official audit draft released to some school officials on March 2, according to Hadley. Some of the millions of dollars in cost savings contained within those categories increased, she said, while others decreased. She did not disclose the specific results of the official draft, as school and city officials have not had a chance to fully respond to the findings contained therein.

As has been his custom since the Pawtucket edition of The Breeze began last August, Dellith, now serving in some sort of interim capacity with the local school district, did not return calls for comment.

Hadley said that she is currently engaged in talks with school and city officials about modifications needed to Cotton and Company's initial recommendations.

As with any audit process, she said, any "factual inaccuracies" raised by local officials will be evaluated and incorporated as needed before a final audit report is released. She said she expects most of the back-and-forth between Cotton and Co. and Pawtucket city and school officials will end by the end of the month, with a final audit report, including comments from local officials, likely to be released on tax day, April 15.

Written comments from Pawtucket officials are expected by March 19, said Hadley.

Hadley emphasized last Friday that she would not necessarily characterize the $10.4 million she initially listed as part of her preliminary recommendations as "overspending" on the part of school officials, as worded in The Breeze and strongly denied by school leaders, but said they are instead annual cost-cutting measures to consider going forward.

She also cautioned that a few of the recommendations she initially suggested, like $94,000 in savings from cutting custodial overtime, will overlap with other cost-cutting recommendations. She did not say how much of a difference those overlapped savings would make to a preliminary $10.4 million estimate, but did reiterate "approximately $10 million" in preliminary money saving ideas.

Meanwhile, members of the City Council are maintaining that preliminary performance audit recommendations from Cotton and Co. show that school officials have been "overspending" for years, even as the city and its taxpayers have repeatedly come to funding agreements with the School Department.

Some have even indicated they would be willing to have schools shut down if such an option is deemed the best both for the local education system and city taxpayers.

Administration officials have countered the suggestion by saying that many of the educational advances made in the district over the past few years can be attributed to maintaining smaller class sizes and less crowded schools.

Hadley said that because a $4 million school budget shortfall is being sought through a Caruolo action against the city for the fiscal year ending this June, it is not likely that school officials will be able to implement enough of her recommendations to accomplish recommended savings in the current year. By the time the audit is done on April 15, the chance to have "immediate savings" is gone, according to those who have experienced similar lawsuits in other Rhode Island municipalities. There may be some partial savings, they say, but not typically enough to fill the entire school budget shortfall for the year.

Hadley conceded that the unique Caruolo Act lawsuit process does present a twist that her company does not typically deal with.

As has been seen in Cranston, sometimes a judge will declare the city the winner of a Caruolo lawsuit. Even if a city wins, however, the result is a deficit for the schools and the city eventually has to come up with the money to pay the bill, said one local government official.

To put it simply, city taxpayers lose either way.

The hope in such a case, said an official, is that a local school department will implement enough in annual savings opportunities like the ones recommended by Cotton and Co. to be able to add a future "deficit reduction" line item so the city and its taxpayers don't have to eat the whole deficit number in future taxes.

The Pawtucket School Committee, as an autonomous body, will be under no legal obligation to implement any recommendations from Cotton and Co., said that government leader. Closing two schools, at a recommended savings of more than $4 million, would take a majority vote of the School Committee, something that in other communities has taken years to happen from the time a performance audit was completed.

Here is a dismal picture of the costs of our dropouts for our communities- You thought the costs of education were high, here are the really big costs

http://www.clms.neu.edu/publication/documents/The_Consequences_of_Dropping_Out_of_High_School.pdf

I knew it was bad but this really shows CF teachers and ours how important they are to not fail the kids. They should be happy to have a job in this economy.

California laid off at least 20000 teachers