Bertie County School Audit Provokes Controversy

Nearly 3 months after the "Financial Review of Bertie County Public Schools" was discussed at a joint session of the Bertie County Commissioners and the Bertie County Board of Education, the MGT Audit Report controversy is still causing heated discussions.

The background to this effort is a recognition that money is at the heart of much of the anger on all sides of the issues surrounding our schools. Those who complain that education is not receiving enough money always react angrily when it is pointed out that some of the best schools in America spend a fraction of the money spent by most public school districts and yet turn out much better students. We need to find out how.

Two significant anomalies stand out for Bertie County.
1. Since 1995 the gap between Bertie County and North Carolina SAT scores has grown from 10% below to 20% below. Why are we slipping behind?
2. Bertie County spends $7,544 per student to educate our children while Chicago Public Schools spends $5,366. Is there any credible argument that the costs in Bertie County exceed the costs of Chicago?

Dismissing this and other statistics that indicate a problem simply allows changing the subject to something other than how poorly we are doing overall.

Though this blog is a community service blog and tries to avoid politics, this issue is one of such importance that I felt it desirable to start some discussion in this forum of what is at stake for our children. (For those who disagree with anything I write, please feel free to comment below. The purpose of this article is to start an open discussion.)

Thus I went to Windsor three weeks ago and purchased a copy of the MGT audit report. Since then I have interviewed a number of people in the system, and critics of the system. What I hope to present here is a synopsis of what is contained in the report, and reactions to the report, as a starting point to a discussion of what can be done to help our students achieve a more effective education. That is what our school system exists for.

Having some experience with audit reports (doing them as well as reading them), the first reaction that I had to the report concerned the implications behind the counties to which Bertie was compared. There are many variations in the way the expectations of a report are set up but they usually reflect the implied goals of the organization being audited. The two broad expectations usually reflect either a desire to be the "best of the best" or not to be below the "average of the average". The first method generally means that you will look for the best reasonably similar counties to compare (for example; based on success in educating students). The second generally means that you will merely look for similar counties in size and demographics with no effort to exclude based on accomplishments, good or bad.

In the MGT study no selection criteria included any concern for how successful were the comparison counties in educating students. They were somewhat randomly chosen based on size and proximity. It is thus clear that we were measuring Bertie on the basis of "average of the average", not "best of the best". The general reaction from the school system has been that "this is too hard for us".

That perception must not be left to stand. Right now today there is a young Condoleeza Rice in Bertie County, attending our schools. A poor person who can rise to the highest levels in our nation. The quality of our school system will determine whether that person, male or female, white or black, reaches their potential, or is never heard of.

With that expectation in mind, let's take a look at the responses to the recommendations made by the auditors. (The individual recommendations are listed at the bottom of the article.)

There are 33 specific recommendations made in the study. Of those, 14 provide specific cost savings. Let’s look at the cost saving issues first.

The total five year costs savings is estimated at $7,700,000, of which $1,900,000 is for technology funding. The actual amount of technology funding being lost is probably greater, and does not address effective uses of technology to save money in other areas. I want to focus on that issue. Our Bertie County school web site was so dated and useless that the new superintendent has shut it down. This at least is a good sign. "Distance learning" and "Internet search capabilities" are just two of the numerous fantastic new technology capabilities that dramatically increase the ability to impart knowledge at a fraction of the cost. Why are we failing to take advantage of using technology and getting all the funding available for it?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that our previous superintendent did not himself have a computer and avoided using computers? You cannot teach today without the powerful learning assistance provided from the resources at your finger tips you get from a computer. You cannot manage today without the proper use of computers to document and communicate. Sometimes anecdotal evidence is key to the problem. Every teacher and administrator in our school system must be comfortable with technology if it is to teach our students effectively. We need to make sure other Bertie County school leaders are not avoiding modern technology.

Are our teachers being trained on effective use of computers? Do we have a plan for how to expose our teachers to the best methods to upgrade their own skills using low cost computer training instead of travel? Are questions from students that the teacher cannot answer available through quick research over the Internet? Do we have a plan to implement "distance training? Are we using the most effective course materials? What are we doing to get students access to the new Internet based course materials online? Are we doing a good job with technology or just using technology by rote?

Failure to secure nearly $2 million in technology funding does not indicate we are heading in the right direction. Anecdotal opinions from teachers on what tools they have do not indicate we are heading in the right direction.

If we are spending 50% more than Chicago, is there any reason to believe we are spending the taxpayer's money wisely? All of these money saving recommendations must be implemented, and the school system needs to find other areas where we can do better.

The greatest number of recommendations in the MGT Audit Report are on controls, not money. 19 of the 33 recommendations address this area of importance. The most depressing reaction to the report is the response from the school system on some of the specific recommendations that are intended to improve controls. These are procedural recommendations concerned with managing the expenditure of your money in a professional and competent manner. For example, there was criticism of our controls on credit cards. With the general lack of attention to proper controls in the Bertie County school system, MGT recommended canceling the credit cards. The response from the school system was anecdotal evidence that other counties had credit cards without addressing the issue of whether they had adequate controls in place. This is not an acceptable answer. The issue is CONTROLS.

The general response to all recommendations on controls was either grudging acceptance of the recommendation, or anecdotal evidence dismissing why controls were needed. This does not indicate any acceptance by the school system that controls are a fact of life in any modern government organization. When we are spending 50% more than Chicago, a more willing acceptance of the need for controls would appear desirable. Only time will allow us to know if this concern has been addressed. Controls are an area that must continue to be addressed since lack of controls is traditionally used to hide problems in every organization. Just ask Ken Lay of Enron. In the meantime we must watch closely to see that our money is being wisely spent.

My overall impression from the reactions to this "average of the average" report? That is all that is being planned for your children. "Average of the average". Is this really what Bertie County parents want as the goals of their educational system? How do we change this reaction to an expectation that there is absolutely no reason that Bertie County cannot be "best of the best". We can. The Board of Education seems sincere in their desire to improve education. We need to get past defensiveness about this report and set that as our goal.



List of MGT audit recommendations
Specific recommendations on how to implement good management controls. 4.1 - 4.5
Reduce two nursing positions. 4-6
Eliminate Assistant Finance Officer. 4-7
Reduce travel costs. 4-8
Implement control and approval of travel. 4-9.
Cancel district credit cards. 4-10.
Control cell phones and eliminate 8 of current ones. 4-11.
Review house built for teachers. 4-12.
Prepare budget document. 4-13.
Address the level of unreserved fund balance. 4-14.
Appropriate funds based on a budget. 4-15.
Include key performance and service delivery measures. 4-16.
Establish financial planning process. 4-17.
Develop asset management plan. 4-18.

Reduce staff by 5 admin positions and 5 admin support positions. 5-1.
Clearly define supplements and bonuses for Superintendent. 5-2
Create and update job descriptions. 5-3. Implement a position control system. 5-4.
Stagger school start and end times to allow for multiple bus routes. 5-5
Consolidate transportation and maintenance. 5-6.
End lease purchase of 3 cars. 5-7.
Eliminate 10 cars. 5-8
Develop policy regarding Child Nutrition. Discontinue non-price lunch program. 5-10.
Separate profit and loss information for food service programs by school. 5-11.
Charge all indirect costs to Child Nutrition's Fund. 5-12.
Eliminate 2 skilled maintenance positions. 5-13.
Ensure the technology funds meet the E-rate matching requirements. 5-14.
Pursue areas of grant funding related to technology. 5-15