From the PG, a $21.7M operating deficit is to cme out of the fund balance:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11320/1190432-100.stm
The PPS fund balance will then be at $42M according to the article. That would be enough to cover a $21M deficit for each of the 2 years remaining on the superintendent's contract, but would leave major problems for the next superintendent. It will be interesting to see if our school board raises any concerns about a budget with such a large deficit.
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I'm not really sure what can be gleaned from this until all schools receive their budgets and have an idea of exactly who and what are going to be cut.
That said, there is a rumor afloat that the district is going to streamline scheduling across the board, which if true, should almost be comical.
I'm hearing that start and finish times will match at each school given their classifications. I understand that the word of the day is "oversight" and if central administration can go further to put all schools on the same page right down to the minute, this goes hand in hand with controlling expenses.
I am wondering if streamlining schedules of department level staff that hang out over at places like Greenway will also be on the agenda. How do you oversee the schedules of people who largely do nothing?
...and speaking of the preliminary budget, does anyone remember how proud Dr. Lane was of CIO Mark Campbell's alleged cost-saving, no-bid contract with Xerox?
Well, turning to page 208 of the budget (page 237 of the PDF file), there it is in black and white: the total budget for copiers and the central print shop in the district is INCREASING by $932,713.
What a sham.
I'm sure our new $250,000 friends from Detroit will be bringing their anti-union ideas to Pittsburgh:
Detroit Mayor Urges Unions To Accept Pay Cuts.
The AP (11/17, Goodman, Subscription Publication) reports that in a televised address, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing "urged municipal unions to accept wage cuts and Michigan leaders to pay the city millions stemming from a decade-old tax agreement, saying Detroit needs the money to avoid an emergency financial takeover." The piece notes that Bing says the city is facing a $45 million deficit, and that the cuts he is seeking would save the city some $40 million. "A state law passed in March gives state-appointed financial managers more power when fixing the finances of municipalities and school districts. Michigan already has emergency managers in place in the Detroit public school system as well as the cities of Pontiac, Ecorse and Benton Harbor."
I think there is little coincidence that the very same day the preliminary budget that includes the layoff of nearly 400 is released that the Solicitor and Budget Director recommend extending the lease of Columbus to a charter school.
This is the Broad/Gates end game, to privatize public education.
By the time Nina locally and Randy nationally smell the coffee brewing it will be too late.
Allegheny County's fund balance is described as "money set aside for emergencies and unexpected expenses"- shouldn't the PPS fund balance be the same?
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11322/1190797-455.stm#ixzz1e4np9vPa
Dear Angry 11/16:
Did your kids get their report cards on the 16th?
Does anyone know what the delay might be?
The glitch is the new system, Pinnacle. Not only did it cause the delay, but parents should have been able to access grades and attendance online daily a good bit ago.
You should have gotten a robocall from the district about report cards not going home until "early next week" which I guess means tomorrow or Tuesday.
If you didn't get the call, you may want to make sure that the district does have a working phone number for you!
Maybe the Solicitor should waste more taxpayer resources launching a private investigation of why report cards are late rather provide straight-forward public answers.
My goodness, talk about mixed up priorities.
Is it possible that instead of focusing on Xerox - which is now costing us nearly $100,000 per month more than the prior bid contracts - that Mark Campbell should have been worrying about report cards?
Really, what is more important than communicating report cards, a snapshot of grades, attendance and behavior?
Dear Not a Carpetbagger 7:03:
Maybe Pure Reform should do some reporting on what is referred to around here as "Ira Money."
"The glitch is the new system, Pinnacle. Not only did it cause the delay, but parents should have been able to access grades and attendance online daily a good bit ago.
November 20, 2011 7:32
The team in charge of installing it (PPS) are the ones at fault. My best guess is the ones that understood it were part of the mass termination. There would be no glitch if they had leadership and enough employees.
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