The so-called budget presented for approval at a special St. Louis Board of Education meeting July 12 was essentially a broad spending plan totaling nearly half a billion dollars – $485 million to be exact.
The board first received some general numbers at the June 7 school board meeting. The very same document was again presented as the budget at a meeting on June 14. Shortly before that meeting, Board President Darnetta Clinksdale advised the other board members that she would seek approval of the budget that night. When that ran into opposition, action was set over until July 12.
Finally, after repeated insistence that more information be provided, board members received by messenger on June 24 some highly questionable line item supporting information. This was set for discussion and voting at a meeting on July 12. There were no other board or public meetings conducted during the budgeting process.
We share with Superintendent Creg Williams the belief that priority must be placed on providing the greatest possible opportunities for the children to learn and that resources must be allocated accordingly. But the budget document before the board did not set forth a coherent, detailed plan. There were numerous omissions and acknowledged errors.
We believe that all board members, the public and particularly the parents have the right to fully examine a proposed budget, comment and raise questions in a timely fashion, so that their questions can be considered and addressed in the final decision-making. The public had no opportunity to even see the plan until July 12. And – worse – brief public comments were allowed only minutes prior to the budget presentation and before the spending was approved.
We believe that spending should be spelled out in detail instead of lumping multi-million dollar appropriations in vague accounts such as “other unclassified” or “other professional and technical services.” Are they hiding something? We believe that Missouri law means just what it says: a proposed school board budget must be detailed together with corresponding comparisons of actual or projected expenditures for the two prior years itemized by year, fund, activity and object. This information was not presented to the board at the meeting of July 12.
Veronica O’Brien
William (Bill) Purdy
Members, St. Louis Board of Education