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NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk.DailyVoice.com accepts signed, original letters to the editor. Letters may be emailed to letters@dailyvoice.com.
To the Editor,
The Common Council's unanimous approval of a Democratic-sponsored resolution calling for an appropriation "not to exceed" $1.8 million for the Board of Education marks a significant step forward in the quest to maintain critical programs and staff at our schools. But that debate is far from over. The argument now moves back to the mayor and the Board of Estimate and Taxation, which must craft a rescue package using the multiple tools at its disposal.
But time is running out. The BET's ill-timed decision to cancel its July 2 meeting likely means that layoff notices and program cuts will be implemented, only to be restored when and if the BET restores the funds. (Here is an idea: The next time the city faces an unprecedented financial crisis, perhaps it would be better to postpone the holiday barbecue?)
While the BET gets around to implementing the Council Council's resolution (or an alternative plan that would accomplish the same result), it might be a good time to also consider the real cause of the current crisis. Notwithstanding the administration's claims to the contrary, this was not just an accounting error. The root cause of the current crisis was a failure of leadership and a series of short-sighted decisions by the administration.
Evidence presented at numerous public meetings shows that beginning in 2009, the Board of Education did not fully contribute to the city's common insurance fund. This "inter-agency" fund is used to pay for all city insurance obligations – health, workers compensation, general liability, etc. Because of the way the city and the BOE contributed to and accounted for this fund, the BOE's underpayments were simply not detected.
Thus, while the BOE's budget called for a $25 million annual contribution to the fund, current calculations show the BOE actually contributed about $23.8 million in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years. Rather than use these funds as called for in the budget, the BOE used those funds for programs and in areas that were overbudget.
While poor BOE accounting practices led to the failure to detect the underpayments to the Insurance Fund, those accounting practices did not cause the underfunding. Rather, it was the city that created the current crisis by failing to adequately fund the BOE over the last three years. Let's be clear: The BOE's accounting practices prevented the underfunding from being detected. But the city's funding practices caused the underfunding in the first place.
For example, during one meeting, council members were told that the BOE's special education expenses traditionally exceed budget projections by $500,000 or $600,000 each year. To me, if the BOE knows it will spend $500,000 or more than budgeted every year, the program cannot be called "overbudget" – it is underfunded! By simultaneously demanding the BOE expand educational opportunities for our kids, close the achievement gap, comply with state mandates and show improving test scores while refusing to give the BOE the funds needed to accomplish these tasks, the current crisis was not "unanticipated" — in was inevitable.
The city further contributed to the current crisis when it suddenly directed that the $4 million shortfall (which was created over three years) be corrected all at once. This $4 million "hit" is the second action by this administration that directly led to the current crisis. Even though the problem took years to create, the city directed it to be cured overnight. (The partial solution heralded by the administration as providing $2.6 million was merely a decision to "un-do" the demand that the gap be fixed in one year. That "solution" was the same as saying "never mind" to the city's "fix it now" directive.)
The combination of these shortsighted decisions (chronically underfunding the BOE and demanding immediate correction) brought us to the current crisis. Now that the Common Council has set forth a plan to stop these cuts from being implemented, it is up to the mayor and the BET to restore the funds. They must act quickly. The delay has already caused turmoil. Every day that goes by simply compounds the injury done to those who had nothing to do with creating the problem — our kids, teachers, and staff.
Comments (5)
Let's hope the general public is beginning to see through the obvious partisan antics of select council members who shamefully prey on heartfelt emotions. I know I am not alone when I say I find it unsettling when those in authority confuse campaigning with the business of running our city. In his “opinion” piece, Councilman Miklave makes reference to "the administration," an entity to which he seems to think he is exempt. The average resident can only do so much. We look to our council members to FIX the problems. This generally involves a think-tank process with calm, rational individuals who listen to other points of view and honor consensus, not party, as the means to an outcome. This is not Washington. This is Norwalk! In the future, I would hope Mr. Miklave is very much an active part of "the solution" when pointing out what he passionately feels needs to be improved. Whipping the general public into a frenzied flock does little to qualify the position of an elected official.
Nice speech, Matt, even if it is one misleading statement after another.
If one has the stamina to slog through to the end of that fog of verbiage you've written, it's plain what you want. You want a taxpayer bailout. You want the city to increase our taxes even higher to pay for the mistakes of those school administrators who are now gone. But, hey, that's a legitimate position. Just have the courage to say so.
Out here in the real world, where people not on the public payroll do things that are actually productive, we have grown weary of bailing out the incompetence of others. Already, fully two-thirds of the property taxes extracted from Norwalk residents are gobbled up by the public education blob that shows virtually zero improvement in student achievement scores year after year. This, even as the inflation-adjusted expenditures per pupil has multiplied three- and four-fold. I put this waste and inefficiency at the feet of your public-union buddies.
What we really need in this crisis is no more preening, grandstanding windbaggery for the purpose of scoring cheap political points.
Well said, dunnebster. I am tired of Councilman Miklave's petty partisan bloviating, which far too often prioritizes the interests of municipal Union members over the interests of ordinary taxpayers.
MJC: The documentation is a matter of public record. An email to longoe@norwalkps.org would get you a copy of the spreadsheet that documents the accounts that are at issue. The explanation is much more involved, and I would be happy to explain it.
Matt: This letter demonstrates a poor understanding of the facts and a series of errors, better you should try to understand things before you write something like this. You and attacks like this are the number 1 impediment to education reform in Norwalk, because responsible people need to stop working on solutions to correct mistatements.
Your poor attempt at humor doesn't reflect well on anyone. The long held tradition of cancelling summer meetings close to July 4 or in August is well known to you, in fact you praised me for cancelling the Public Works Committee meeting that would have been July 3rd. The BET has already scheduled a meeting for July 11th. If the meeting was held on July 2nd, no doubt it would have been a "conspiracy to prevent people from attending" because of its proximity to the holiday.
You say "The root cause of the current crisis was a failure of leadership and a series of short-sighted decisions by the administration" A more accurate statement would be "The root cause of the current crisis was a failure of leadership and a series of short-sighted decisions by the then Democrat controlled Board of Education, which has complete discretion in the administration of its budget". That the issue went undetected by anyone in either party is not in dispute. No one besides you seems to have any desire to “pin the blame” on anyone still around, because we have long since realized the administrators responsible are gone.
Your statements as to the mechanism by which the crisis occurred are simply not correct. While I would not disagree were you simply to state that BOE Administrators chose to take perceived surpluses from the BOE Insurance accounts to cover overages in the special education fund, you attempt to make this seem like a conspiracy by pointing fingers at some mysterious underfunding. The fact of the matter is that insurance claims (medical visits and procedures) vary wildly due to timing and simple demand. You personally told me that a handshake deal was made to fund this account for $25M each year when you were last on the council under Mayor Knopp. If the perceived overages weren’t swept at the end of those years, arguably this account would not have gone into deficit.
Similarly, the education of children with special needs is unpredictable. Children come in to the district (and leave) and their educational and therapeutic needs must be met. I have worked at Brookside School and seen the Occupational Therapist at work myself and I think they do a great job. Many kids need out of district care, like my friends’ deaf mute child. While I don’t think it is correct to not demand swift billing for those services, the opposite has occurred causing a lag in the recognition of those charges and thus the underlying need for the transfers to cover the end of year shortfall. You don’t seem to follow that.
If you truly believe the city has been underfunding the Educational System of our city, propose a special tax to make up the difference, and own it, rather than proposing a fiscally irresponsible (but politically easy) use of City reserves to pay operating expenses. (Before you say it, I only voted for the Resolution because it said [as Mr. Kimmel pointed out] “up to 1.8M”, and any amount would necessarily come from the BET after appropriate study). Need I remind you that Norwalk spends far more per student than any other City in our DRG; we are not in a fiscal crisis because we underspend local tax dollars; we are in a crisis because (1)we have the highest salaries in the State even though we are a City that ranks 54th in median family income, and (2) your fellow party members upstate have been underfunding our schools by $30 million per year for years (without a peep of protest from you, or for that matter from our state senator, who brings us crumbs from the Hartford table and says he's "standing up for us" while that $30 million a year we should rightly receive is siphoned off by more effective Democrat legislators for their cities up state).
I have sincerely tried to look at this situation with an eye to solving the problems we face, but your (willful or otherwise) misunderstanding of facts to forward a political agenda and continuously throwing mud is of great discredit to you and anyone who associates with you. The fact that many of your own caucus have fled from you should be a signal to you to stop this. Even the Democrat members of the BOE are not coming to your side in this discussion. Please consider the children and leave your harmful political agenda behind.
Well then, is it not time to publish some documentation? I am sure the financial plan is many pages long, but I am sure it is doable. I have been hearing variations of the "shortfall" explanation, as many others have. To end misinformation, would it not make sense to make financial plan and line items, ect available for all to see in plain sight, rather than have every political angle state their "point of view". This tactic is not working because it is confusing the public and causing more disunity than the unity imperative to get thru this in a common sense manner.
The BET should disclose why they cancelled the meeting, so speculations don't arise. What is it, picnic, the holiday week, summer vacation plans, what?????
Thank You