At the December 5, 2011, Reorganization Meeting, new board members were installed. Two of the new board members expressed an interest in attending a two-day PA School Board Association training session which will be held in Greensburg.
Details of the conference from the PSBA website:
As dedicated elected volunteers, school boards are charged by the Pennsylvania Constitution with the important responsibility of providing for a "...thorough and efficient system of education." The school boards should:
• Function as the policy-making body to guide district operations.
• Operate within a specific legal framework.
• Be the steward of our communities' financial resources and the trustee of our children's future.
Guided by our mission of leadership, service and advocacy, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association is committed to providing practical and up-to-date professional development to help the commonwealth's school directors and other school leaders provide public education of the highest quality. This unique learning opportunity will help prepare you for the challenging life of a school board member. Learn school governance basics and gain the knowledge you will need to become a successful member of the Team of 10!
YOU WILL LEARN:
Day One — Morning
I'm a New School Board Member, Now What?
• What are the school board's duties and responsibilities?
• What is the school board's governance role?
• What is policy and why is it important?
• How can school boards conduct effective and efficient meetings?
I'm a New School Board Member, Now What?
• What are the school board's duties and responsibilities?
• What is the school board's governance role?
• What is policy and why is it important?
• How can school boards conduct effective and efficient meetings?
Day One — Afternoon
Budget Basics
• What financial information do you need to make informed decisions?
• How is the budget developed?
• How do boards monitor the budget?
• What's on the political agenda about property tax reform and school funding?
Budget Basics
• What financial information do you need to make informed decisions?
• How is the budget developed?
• How do boards monitor the budget?
• What's on the political agenda about property tax reform and school funding?
Day Two — Morning
It's the Law!
• Learn about the powers and duties of a school board and the role of the individual school director.
• Explore the board's role in hiring, firing and evaluating.
• Hear about students' rights and discipline.
• Discover the legal liability of school districts and school directors.
It's the Law!
• Learn about the powers and duties of a school board and the role of the individual school director.
• Explore the board's role in hiring, firing and evaluating.
• Hear about students' rights and discipline.
• Discover the legal liability of school districts and school directors.
Day Two — Afternoon
The Board and Student Success
• See how boards' decisions directly affect student learning.
• Learn what No Child Left Behind means in your school district.
• Find out what you should know about Pennsylvania's Accountability System.
• Learn about school improvement components.
The Board and Student Success
• See how boards' decisions directly affect student learning.
• Learn what No Child Left Behind means in your school district.
• Find out what you should know about Pennsylvania's Accountability System.
• Learn about school improvement components.
This seems like a valuable conference that ALL school board members should attend in order to be effective, informed members of the board.
The cost of attendance ($349), meals, and mileage reimbursement for a conference in Greensburg in no way compares to the blatant disregard for fiscally responsible spending shown by previous board members and current administrators. The Greensburg conference would incur no overnight stays, no romantic dinners, and no $14.57 cups of coffee.
As presented in this blog, former board members and current administrators were permitted to travel and spend carte blanche. (For one example, see November 1st post, “Rocking the Riverwalk”.)
However, Sroka informed the new members that he would have to “check” the “BOARD CONFERENCES AND TRAVEL” budget line item to see if there is enough money budgeted for attendance. Sroka stated that he would “get back” to them with an answer.
Sroka had to “check” and get back to them??? . . .
First of all, that information can be found in the budget control reports (budget control reports compare budgeted funding with actual results). Sroka should have been prepared for the meeting and had a copy at his fingertips. In fact, every member of the board, including the new members should have had a copy in their board packets.
In addition, PA School code authorizes the attendance of school board members to state conferences; essentially rendering Sroka’s assertion that he had to “check” to see if money were available moot.
School boards and board secretaries do not have the authority to override municipal law.
24 P.S. 5-516
Chapter 1. Public School Code of 1949
Article V. Duties and Powers of Boards of School Directors
The board of school directors or the board of public education of any school district may appoint one or more of its members, its non-member secretary, if any, and its solicitor, if any, as delegates to any State convention or association of school directors, held within the Commonwealth. It shall be the duty of such delegates to attend the meetings of such convention or association, and each delegate so attending shall be reimbursed for travel, travel insurance, lodging, meals, registration fees and other incidental expenses necessarily incurred. Any such board may become a member of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Inc., and may pay, out of the school funds of the district, any membership dues which may be assessed by the association at any State convention of school directors to defray the necessary expenses of maintaining the association and of holding the convention. Such expenses shall be paid by the treasurer of the school district, in the usual manner, out of the school funds of the district, upon the presentation of an itemized, verified statement of such expenses.
Funny that Sroka should suddenly deem it necessary to check the availability of money in a line item of the budget . . .
Take a look at this expense reimbursement:
Sroka approved Craig’s expense of $59.47 for mileage and coffee as allowable under budget item “580 - CONFERENCE AND TRAVEL”; although the necessity of Craig’s attendance at Scholastic Book’s warehouse sale in Homestead is questionable, to say the least.
What’s really troubling is his approval of $105.75 for the purchased books from Scholastic and the prizes from Ranger Depot as allowable under budget item “890 – MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES”.
A quick look at the 2010-2011 budget indicates that a line item for “890 – MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES” did not exist in Craig’s budget.
At the Reorganization Meeting on December 5th Sroka stated that he had to “check” to see if money would be available for the new board members to attend a conference that is authorized under municipal law, yet he authorized and pulled money for Craig’s expenses from a budget line item that didn’t even exist.
? ? ? ? ?
More Creative Accounting . . .
Here’s another example of the “creative accounting” that this administration does so well and so often.
On this reimbursement submittal, Craig went to Washington, DC, to attend the National Convention of the Institute for Education Leadership (IEL).
Here’s a description of IEL:
About IEL
Since 1964, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) – a non-profit, nonpartisan organization – has been at the forefront of innovative efforts that bring together leaders across the various sectors of education (P-20), workforce development and child- and youth-serving systems. IEL builds partnerships across institutional boundaries, helping individuals and institutions tackle leadership challenges and leverage the resources of multiple partners to foster reform. For IEL, deep and purposeful collaboration is essential to getting results that will transform learning for the 21st Century
.
IEL’s work focuses on multiple factors that influence child and youth outcomes. Institutional factors, such as effective organizational stewardship and strong professional development; in-school factors, such as principal leadership, teacher quality and rigorous, engaging curricula; and non-school factors, such as family circumstances and community context all require attention. We believe that our society and our leaders can and must address all dimensions of child and youth development.
Sroka charged this convention to “240 - TUITION REIMBURSEMENT”.
Tuition reimbursement????
This is how the PDE’s Chart of Accounts defines “Tuition Reimbursement”:
240 TUITION REIMBURSEMENT
Amounts reimbursed (or paid directly) by the LEA to any employee qualifying for tuition reimbursement based upon LEA tuition reimbursement policy.
According to the LEA (Fort Cherry), tuition is to be reimbursed for credit courses taken through an institution of higher learning.
ACT 93 AGREEMENT between the
FORT CHERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT and the
FORT CHERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT AMMINISTRATORS
July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2016
The appropriate budget line for training fees and associated costs that Craig incurred while attending the IEL convention would be:
324 Professional Educational Services – Employee Training and Development Services
Record to this sub-account expenditures for the professional development of school district personnel including instructional and administrative staff. Included are course registration fees (not tuition), charges from external vendors to conduct training courses (either in house or off-site), and other expenditures associated with training provided by third party vendors.
This is confirmed when you look at the Chart of Accounts description of travel:
580 TRAVEL
Expenditures for transportation, meals, lodging and associated expenses incurred by staff members or students traveling on behalf of the LEA. Per diem in lieu of reimbursement of actual expenses is also charged here. Include in this object travel to and from conference sites. Training fees and associated training costs should be recorded to object 324.
Funny thing – “324 – EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES” was not listed as an option on Fort Cherry’s 2008-2009 budget. It’s not an option on the 2011-2012 budget either. (http://www.fortcherry.org/170310102813521177/lib/170310102813521177/_files/Final_Budget.pdf)
The budget as prepared by Dinnen and Sroka gives two options (out of the five available from the Chart of Accounts) for charges to “Professional – Educational Services”:
322 Professional Educational Services – IUs
Expenditures incurred for contracted educational services provided by an intermediate unit.
329 Professional Educational Services – Other
Record here expenditures for consultants and other contract expenditures
With all the traveling that Craig does under the guise of “professional development”, wouldn’t it be prudent to have an appropriate line in the budget to properly account for her training fees and associated costs?
The Chart of Accounts has nine major objects (categories) for expenditures to be charged to. Those nine are divided into sub-objects for more detailed accounting.
Sroka habitually charges budgeted items to either the “major” object or the “Other” sub-object – essentially keeping expenditures vague.
Charging everything to “other” is poor accounting practice.
In this case, charging a training session to “tuition reimbursement” completely misrepresents the reason for the expense.
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Creative, vague, sloppy accounting practices should not be tolerated.
The taxpayers of Fort Cherry deserve better financial management.
Perhaps the new board members can make that happen.
