This is part of the series I’m writing about the financial and communication crisis at my local school. You can see all posts in the series by clicking here.
I attended a budget meeting last night that was open to the public. My past life as an accountant (government and public) served me well in researching the financial statements, audit reports, and budgets that the Ki-Be School District has posted on their website. It also gave me a decent understanding of how the funding works. I normally would spend some time taking a few deep breaths, doing some more research, removing my emotions from an essay about something like this. Emotion has a way of distracting from credibility and objectivity.
But I got home and was frustrated and angry and started writing in my journal.
Here is part of that journal entry:
“Well, that was interesting.
I’m just going to say, I left disappointed. And that’s the core of my message, I think. Disappointment.
The budget meeting was well attended. The community was engaged. The 3 board members present were all very new, and what a time to be elected to the board.
I had a scripted question I asked and it boiled down to two questions really — what is the long term strategy for recovery, and when will it be shared with the community?
It went over like a turd in a punch bowl. I didn’t follow the more predictable (expected?) flow:
audience asks emotional questions,
board/admin soothes audience nerves,
rinse and repeat.
And it did get emotional, justifiably so. As a community we are being asked to absorb some serious pain, grit our teeth, and bear it. This is prolonged pain with no resolution in sight - no plan showing how cuts now could benefit our community and kids in the future. We aren’t getting the “this will only hurt for an hour” that a strategic plan could prepare us for. We are getting, “This will hurt, it will continue to hurt, and nobody seems willing to explain how these sacrifices actually lead to recovery.”
I felt like one of the board members tried to “handle” me - and the consensus in the room seemed that we all know b—sh— when we see it/hear it/smell it. When asked for a vision or plan, the answer was that there were “too many unknowns” to create a strategy. I thought, “Y’all, that is the heart of strategic planning — keeping your focus during those unknowns.” The response felt designed to avoid accountability rather than create confidence. AND, what’s so special then about the other schools who are operating with a strategic plan? Are they mystics? No. Ironically, the person who said there were too many unknowns is or was on another school’s board… and that school does, in fact, have a strategic plan. Covering several years. And it’s on their website.
I keep going back to Moses Lake SD. Man, I’d love to talk to the folks there. They have a school board meeting Thursday night. They have a Citizens’ Financial Oversight Committee. I can’t believe I have committee envy.
Strategic planning is not “too hard because of unknowns.” Budgeting is literally planning under uncertainty. This is confusing “we can’t predict everything” with “we don’t want to commit to a visible recovery framework.”
And it’s a cop out.
I pushed back a bit but it was pretty clear I was alienating people right out of the gate, and that doesn’t really inspire change. That’s exactly the kind of behavior that would provide another excuse for continued opacity.
My confidence is waning. My disappointment is growing. And now my b.s.-o-meter is pegged out.
I want to write another objective piece. But the more I observe and dig and question and COMPARE to other schools, the closer my frustration gets to the surface.
And I keep being so …
Disappointed.
People are heavily focused on grants as a solution. At this point, anything that moves any needle should be a welcomed idea, although grants are a different beast from my understanding and experience. Usually you have to pay the costs up front, and then get reimbursed. In our current state of implosion, that ain’t happening. There’s nothing to pay up front with. Hell, we’re borrowing money to pay regular expenses (at an interest rate of what, 4.something percent?).
And lord, the requirements for keeping grants going… it’s a much bigger effort than filling out apps and getting free money.
Kudos to the board and admin for not squashing anyone’s dreams though, because what IS important from the discussion is the PASSION of people wanting to save the school and community.
Even when they feel like they’re being dragged through hell.
Enough.”