The simple reason why the Fort Worth school district wound up with 200 unbudgeted teachers -- at a cost of $13 million -- is the staffing process got off-track. But as an auditor explained at a lengthy Saturday school board workshop, how that occurred wasn't at all simple.
Alyssa Martin, a partner in the Weaver firm, said that the district had a "well thought-out process" for staffing schools but that it got diverted at several points last year and that no one got it realigned with the need to reduce 200 teaching positions for the 2011-12 budget."When you get off the plan, you must have a remediation to get back on the plan," she said at the workshop attended by trustees and senior administrators.Hiring is coordinated through several departments, but they didn't always communicate adequately, the audit found. The goal of budget cutting in the face of reduced state funding was supposed to align with the goal of making sure schools had the right number of teachers -- but in the end the two didn't mesh. And by the time it became apparent they wouldn't, it was too late to adjust the budget the board approved June 7.Administrators knew the magnitude of the problem in August. And in October trustees agreed to cover the unexpected expense with money from reserves.But that's not a good way to operate.The audit team documented a number of factors that helped send things awry: Inaccurate reports about high school staffing didn't get corrected; principals were given teacher-student ratios to stay within but later had more flexibility to fill vacancies; administrators expected middle schools to make cuts, but principals had a different understanding; and master schedules weren't finalized early enough."There's not one single point of critical failure or a position of critical failure," Martin said.But the audit recommended an action plan that specifies who is responsible for key parts and holds them accountable for implementation. The overriding theme was that for hiring to stay on budget, the process must be monitored at each stage, and any deviations must be justified and approved along the way."We almost had a perfect storm here," board member Norm Robbins said. That's because at a time of belt-tightening, the district was opening new schools and starting specialized career-oriented programs at each high school. The district tried to avoid cutting teachers by offering retirement incentive bonuses, but that wasn't enough.The district has 24 fewer teachers this year than last, though enrollment grew by almost 1,400 students. But in the end, the goal of cutting 200 teachers wasn't met.The $13 million wasn't squandered -- no one's accused of funneling taxpayer dollars to their cronies or filching funds because the district lacked financial controls.Still, the episode points out the need for much better practices to keep track of where money is being spent.Good planning, proper execution, timely monitoring and personal accountability can prevent a costly recurrence. The public is entitled to that.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
