OIB essayist John Marshall Lee who badgers, prods, pokes public officials to eat their OATs (open, accountable, transparent) has focused his X-ray vision on Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas. General Lee likes what he sees and shares a link to a Vallas letter that, interestingly, does not place blame for the school system’s “chronic financial distress” on unions. Vallas’ letter sets forth problems and solutions. Check out Lee’s thoughts and link to Vallas letter:
I had not gone to the Bridgeport Public Schools website in some time. Today I was pleasantly surprised to see this letter summarizing what Paul Vallas sees as progress towards the goal of turning the Bridgeport educational system around rapidly and with sustainability. Incidentally, while folks are at the site, they may look at the Budget Allocation model, ECS info and other program info that are posted.
You know I have been a long-term and frequent supporter of OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT in City governance. It has taken a long time to see any progress on the City side, unfortunately. The type of information I see posted recently is an example of disclosure that is full of information for different stakeholders who may have different interests in Bridgeport’s education system. Had there been more of this type of info offered to the public in the past through available technology, perhaps some of the frustrations and anger could have been avoided.
I understand the BOE books for 2011-12 will definitely show a balanced budget when they are closed for delivery to the auditors on August 31. It is likely this information, providing line-item detail for 12 months, will be useful in comparing and contrasting the “turnaround funding through June 30, 2012” with what was happening previously. Going forward, regular monthly reporting using MUNIS information will be available and include reports of actual numbers of employees in departments. There will also be reporting details on Grant Funds that come to education including details that show numbers of grant employees and the programs funded for the City education effort. These details have not been routinely available through the City Clerk’s office to the public. Providing such a full view into the infrastructure, by location, and showing how components become available to encourage local school initiatives and parent involvement activities is powerful support of OATs to me and I hope to others. Finally, I expect we shall get to see some scoreboards to keep us sport fans interested in seeing progress over the next few years to the metrics that will tell us whether the resources, the people and the funds have provided necessary gains to the young people. However, the info provided so far allows the curious as well as those who are professional educators to drill down, explore the data and pursue questions that are more directed to understanding than to feeding frustration. This is progress and proof that time will tell.
www.bridgeportedu.com/docs/HomePage/2012-2013/BPSDistrictFinancialUpdate.pdf
John Marshall Lee, your letter is not complete because you did not say HOW Paul Vallas is a part of Mayor Finch’s master plan to TAKE the voters, the taxpayers of Bridgeport’s right to vote away from them. Everything starts there, Mr. Vallas is the protection Finch hides behind to deny voters their rights and no one person is above taking someone’s right to vote away.
Do you also want to vote for the WPCA commissioners? They handle more sh*t than anyone!
I disagree that the general public is capable of voting in a capable, function BoE and I’m going to vote to allow the mayor to appoint the board.
Brick,
I am very happy to hear you are averse to the democratic principles of one person one vote. It certainly helps a dialogue to understand the beliefs that form their public stands. Don’t know when you came to that opinion and also don’t understand why you are not about informing, educating, arousing and making fellow citizens aware rather than cutting off their right to elect the BOE members.
And I am especially happy you introduced the “sh*tty” subject of commissioners, in this case WPCA members. The Mayor has the power to appoint and re-appoint Board members and Commissioners, responsible citizens of Bridgeport. However, Mayor Finch nor his predecessors have been particularly careful in evaluating the performance of current members and acting before expiry. WPCA should have five public members. At the moment according to info on the City website there are two vacancies and the terms have expired for Ortiz (12/10), Bogos (12/05) and Dyer (12/05).
So if you are looking to the Mayor for accountability, it is not there on the appointment and timely re-appointment horizon.
Brick, that’s a real problem. No evaluations done, so taxpayers have no idea whether good work is done or not. And serving in an expired term for six years or more (if you like that work) puts you at risk of failing re-appointment immediately if your vote is not handled just the way the Appointer wishes.
Now if I have only one chance to unseat that Appointer, four years is too long to wait for another example of UN-ACCOUNTABLE governance. This issue is not limited to the WPCA. Look it up. I know you were trying for humor, but in this situation it fails. Personally, I want as many opportunities to vote as possible. I do not share your trust in allowing one person to preside over the entire City budget of about $250 Million and then control the behavior of folks who are trustees for spending fairly and wisely over $350 Million annually to accomplish the education of over 20,000 youth in Bridgeport. Time will tell.
Ron,
With apologies to the seven Bridgeport citizens who did the work laid out for them by Mayor Finch as part of the Charter Revision Commission, they followed orders and gave the Mayor and City Council what was requested. THEY DID NOT GIVE THE CITY WHAT IT NEEDED MORE DESPERATELY: increased OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT governance with the public right to attend and participate in discussion and debate before decision time; to expect the Mayor to fill all appointments in a timely manner and institute an evaluation process for this; to have genuine check and balance mechanisms in place like internal auditor, trained and experienced fiscal backup for City Council, and public exposure and routine disclosure of all parts of City financial activities including CAFR external audit, capital budgeting–planning and results, and routine balance sheet disclosure through the year. These are a few of the things we should be chewing on as a taxpaying public.
And then the right to vote demands all of us find some effective way to get those registered currently to use their vote, to hold them accountable for getting informed before using it, and to risk losing it otherwise. That is what is going on in the Charter reform. So I shall be speaking against it. I also am looking to vote for three strong candidates who believe in the vote process on September 4 as I know you will also.
In the meantime, what I am pointing out is the system of school governance seems to have made significant progress in 2012. That was not caused by our accountable Mayor (since he would claim he does not yet have the power to affect the educational system). Vallas is businesslike and his staff members have a similar perspective it seems to me. They have a mission, professional expertise and resources to assemble in a form that will improve the desperate results they encountered upon getting here.
Elected Boards of Education were up to the job of setting policy and evaluating performance at some time in the past. And part of the evidence presented to the CRC was that whether fully elected, fully appointed or a mixed model was used, the results of such attempts was not necessarily clear. Evidence could be found to support each of the different models.
Now the City needs to come up with $5 Million for the current 2012-13 budget and the State with $4.8 Million more and participate in sharing management of or service to former parts of the BOE budget. Let’s see whether the money flows in a timely manner. Saying you are ACCOUNTABLE has a price in that you are expected to “walk your talk”. I cannot tell you from the financial reports available today whether that is happening. But it would be a bad time for even a partial renege by the City, wouldn’t it? And it might put a lie to the Mayor’s words of support, were it to happen. So attention to reports is critical at this moment.
Would it not be encouraging to find Mayor Finch putting out more accurate, timely,and informative fiscal reports, based on the fact the educational system is able to do so? Wouldn’t that be helpful? An unplanned and unintended consequence of an Interim Superintendent who believes in OATs perhaps? But perhaps also a fulcrum to leverage the City into fuller OATS itself. Now we need to get voters to see what is in the balance and get to the polls with a resounding NO in November. Time will tell.
JML: What that gang of seven did was wrong. Seven chimps could have done the same thing. One of the reasons Vallas is moving forward or so we are told was he was given more funds to operate and no resistance from the appointed school board.
The mayor stuck it to the BOE for at least three years when their budget was stagnant. Where was his concern for the school kids and their education?
My friend has 41 kids assigned to her class when 29 is supposed to be the max. We will see what the actual number is on the first day of school.
John Marshall Lee, you’ll have to forgive me but when I start reading those minutiae financial reports my eyes glaze over and mind fogs and I know not where I go. What I do know, however, is the current budget was balanced by a “loan” from the state with the stipulation that Stefan Pryor, the state’s education czar, would select the next superintendent after Vallas. I also believe Vallas illegally signed over $10 million in no-bid contracts with publishers, software producers, etc. as well as his hand-picked group of consultants. Those monies, while perhaps not reflected in the current budget, will come due in the not-to-distant future to fall upon the shoulders of the newly “elected” BOE so they can then take the fall. I’m sorry, but Vallas to me is nothing more than a snake-oil salesman who comes into town hawking his magic potion, pockets his money and then leaves residents with the pieces to pick up later. Look at his record in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Haiti. He was run out of Chile. He and the current illegal BOE should be brought up on ethics violations at the least if not civil or criminal charges for these no-bid contracts.
You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine. We both must look at the facts to a degree of depth to fashion our statements and opinions with some accuracy lest we make false statements and embarrass ourselves and possibly cause erroneous impressions of others about whom we have commented.
You understand I have a different impression of what Paul Vallas has done for Bridgeport to this point than you. For my part I have listened to him, heard and then seen in print a consistent and congruent theme and plan for the City over the next five years. We have gone from fiscal calamity to financial balance for the year past in six short months. He told us the year just closed would be the most difficult and the fiscal rollout over the next 60 months would naturally be easier.
For being OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT in a manner benefiting Bridgeport thus far, for accepting compensation well in line with past professionals and likely less because of the per diem and contract terms (without current healthcare, pension benefits, sick days, life insurance, OPEB commitments, personal days, car allowance, cell phones, etc.) for him and his team, and for laying out a fair school-based budget model for the public to observe and become informed, I respect him and trust him. Youth all over the City will get equal opportunity.
Either of us can be wrong in our current assessment, however my impression is fueled by asking myself the question “What open, fair, affordable and overall reasonable plan would be taking shape daily in Bridgeport, as the Vallas team has provided, if they had not come to town in January?” Years from now looking back I think his work will be credited in such a way as we look back on this time. However, as I continuously report, time will tell.
*** Give it time, it’s not an overnight quick BOE fixer-upper! ***