On Wednesday, the Orleans Parish School Board issued a press release about the new superintendent, Dr. Fateama Fulmore.
The release quotes OPSB president, Katie Baudouin, saying, "I've appreciated her leadership through recent financial challenges, and I am certain of her dedication to ensuring that our graduation rates continue to rise, and the doors of success continue to open for our students through college, well-paying jobs, and beyond.”
I hope every last word of that statement rings true. But we can’t avoid the 36-million-dollar elephant in the room.
As most of us are aware, the OPSB is in legal throes with the Cantrell administration to settle a longstanding lawsuit. While the city is by no means without blemish in this scenario, we still have yet to receive a clear picture from the school board as to how they miscalculated revenues to lead to a $36 million budget projection error.
The school board has been quick to point the finger at the city, but the city didn’t necessarily put them in that situation. It’s the OPSB that failed to account for their revenue appropriately. Issuing projections is the responsibility of every single government department.
I was a tax collector. I know how this works.
It’s not unreasonable to make a projection within a 98-99% proficiency rate. But for some reason, the OPSB didn’t check with the revenue department. They weren’t sharing data. They were overstating their revenue. They got behind the eight ball and stayed behind it.
And until they can provide a clear pathway as to how they got into this mess and tie it directly to the mismanagement of the Cantrell administration, we can’t let them off the hook.
If they fail to do this, we’re going to lose another generation of kids. Our schools are in disarray as things stand.
I won’t deny there’s been some performance improvement lately. That’s great, but it’s not enough. We need to see it happen year over year over year, as opposed to these single-year spikes and then retreats.
Hopefully, the new superintendent rolls up her sleeves and does the dirty work and accounts for how we got to where we are. She needs to explain to us how this is the city's fault. I'm not saying they can't do it; this administration has historically spoken with a forked tongue, and continues to do so.
But they just appealed this ruling by the court and only need to pay $10 million, not the whole amount outlined in the agreement. That's suspicious to say the least.
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Moving forward, the new administrator must account for where we are and how we are going to plan for long-term success.
How serious are we going to be about providing that information? How about a little transparency? This was a major hiccup. One that could’ve been very easily avoided by simply paying attention.
Then the error was exposed, and people started leaving; they got the hell out of Dodge. They wanted to avert and evade accountability. And here we are: All questions, no answers.
It’s only the future of our kids. That couldn’t possibly be important, right?
We should expect more. We should demand more. And we should get more from the OPSB and this new superintendent. And there needs to be a publicized plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
What changes will be made to ensure that we’re checking with the tax collector to identify anomalies and miscalculations as early as possible?
These miscalculations aren’t acceptable. It shows that you’re not taking your job seriously. You have to give a damn, because you’re holding the futures of these kids in the palm of your hand.
Hopefully, we’ll see a cultural change where we pay attention to the details and what's going on in the state legislature.
The bar is low, so I’ll leave it at this. Do what Avis Williams didn't. You have the job, now get it done.
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