Imagine if you were a landlord of an apartment building and your site manager didn't collect rent from 38% of the tenants, AND you didn't have a report that told you that $235,000 was not collected from tenants. That is the way the School District is managing taxpayer programs like the Pre-K program in Lake County, FL.
Over the past few weeks, the Lake County (FL) School District has been mired in a controversy about funding for a "Pre-K" or pre-kindergarten program. Rabid parents showed up at last night's Board meeting ready to plead for the program to continue based upon rumors the program would be cut.
Not so, said the Chairman Larry Metz - the Board had a workshop earlier in the day to receive the details in a new audit report and decided no cuts were planned.
However, the audit report resulted in the outing of another poor business practice at the District.
Apparently they charge pre-K kids parents fees for the program, but 38% of them had not paid the fees. As the article below says, teachers focused on the kids, and not being businesslike in collecting the fees. The result is the program lost money due to NOT collecting $275,000 in fees. At least one public input speaker at the Board meeting railed at the Board for not backing up paying parents by collecting from the deadbeat parents. Especially, he said, when there was a waiting list for the program, and concern over a need to reduce the program due to costs.
So, here is another poor business practice that needs correction. You can't have a program that is based upon breakeven funding where the program managers didn't collect the fees owed. You also have to ask why the administration and Superintendent had no clue the fees were not collected until the audit report was issued.
The District clearly needs a business perspective overhaul. They can plead about not cutting budgets due to lack of State funding, but until I see a business like performance metric system that is published, and they start acting businesslike in these types of programs, they don't have my sympathy. The teachers could have my sympathy, but when their unions push to promote teachers without business skills (like football coaches, etc.) into administrative posts, they are part of the problem also.
It is time School District administrators "manage" schools using business skills and management reports used in business. Start hiring outsiders with business skills to run programs, not unskilled insiders.
vj
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from the Orlando Sentinel
Lake County School District Board Members stress pre-kindergarten support, need to collect parents' after-school fees
Tanya Caldwell | Sentinel Staff Writer
May 13, 2008
TAVARES - The Lake County School Board vowed Monday to keep the pre-kindergarten program rumored to be on the district's chopping block next year.
"We never cut it. We're not cutting it. And we're going to make it work better for the '08-09 school year," School Board Chairman Larry Metz said at a board workshop.
State cuts prompted the board to look closely at its budget for next year. Board member Kyleen Fischer called on district auditor Steve Wolkomir recently to review the voluntary pre-K program after concerns arose about its financing. The state helps fund the program; parents are obligated to pay a fee if they want after-school care for their preschoolers.
Wolkomir gave board members his assessment.
"It would appear to me that VPK [voluntary pre-K] is effective," he said. "However, it's not very efficient."
Only 62 percent of parents, officials found, have been paying for the program's after-school component. It's one of the reasons why the pre-K program offered during the school year is losing money.
Board members criticized district administration for not collecting more than $275,000 in fees from parents.
"It's not financially prudent to not collect money that's owed to you and it's not fair to the parents who are paying," School Board member Jimmy Conner said. "I believe if you collect the fees, you can narrow the deficit."
Others agreed, but board member Scott Strong said the board has already done its part to ensure the fees are collected.
"We have a policy that they [parents] pay," Strong said. "It's the administration's responsibility to make them pay."
Fischer said some school employees may be more focused on serving kids than balancing the books.
"I think that we take care of the welfare of the child and overlook the irresponsibility of the parent," she said.
Board members said they want to collect the fees the district is owed. They also want to make the program more cost-efficient. That could mean consolidating pre-K centers or offering classes for a half-day.
"The solution's already out there," Metz said. "It just hasn't been brought to us."
Those who attended Monday's workshop were relieved to hear that the program will remain in place. Some said they showed up because they heard the School Board was ending the program.
"If it's true that we're going to keep the pre-K program intact . . . then that's good news for us," said Don Campbell, principal of Treadway Elementary School in Leesburg, which has had the program for years.
Another relieved principal was Rhonda Hunt of Sawgrass Bay Elementary in Clermont. "It seems like we're not debating the if, it's just the how," Hunt said.
Tanya Caldwell can be reached at [email protected] or 352-742-5928.
