From a District 150 press release:
Planning and Budget Committee Members
As announced at the February 2 meeting, the Board of Education is establishing a special committee to assist with the school district’s budgeting issues. Below is a list of the appointed members to the Planning and Budget Committee.
Mr. Pat Roesler
Chief Financial Officer, G & D. IntegratedMrs. Lois Boaz
Retired Caterpillar Executive with experience in accounting, business analysis and Six SigmaMr. Erik Bush
Chief Financial Officer, Peoria CountyMr. David Underwood
Vice President of Finance & Chief Financial Officer Proctor HospitalMr. Charles Randle
President, Illinois Business Financial ServicesDr. Bernie Goitein
Professor of Business Management & Administration at Bradley UniversityMr. Ken Casper
Retired BankerMr. Larry Williams
Retired Superintendent and Business Manager of Illinois Valley Community School DistrictThe main functions of the committee include:
- develop financial templates for presenting and outlining the district budget; allowing easy assessment and financial impact of proposals, suggestions and changes
- establish a “district finances” section on the district website
- create one-page documents explaining school district financial terms and how these issues impact Peoria Public Schools. Examples include: Title I, Special Education Funding, Corporate and Property Taxes, Public Building Commission Funding and TIF Districts.
This sounds like a real positive step for District 150. My hat’s off to these community members who have stepped up to lend their expertise to Peoria’s public schools. And I commend the board for putting this group together and setting goals for greater transparency in the district’s financial dealings. If these goal are attained, I think it will go a long way toward reestablishing some trust in District 150.
As much as I hate the persistent negativity, I have to disagree regarding the committee’s potential value. Read the three bullet points carefully. It appears that the committee’s principal role will be to develop tools that improve formatting and PR. Where does it indicate the committee’s considerable expertise will be used to advise and guide the Board regarding financial matters?
As the three points presented are characterized as “main,” I’m left presuming that any such advisory function is secondary if it exists at all. Based solely on this information, the committee may be no more than window dressing.
I think all of these people deserve a very big Thank you for stepping up to the plate in an effort to help District 150.
It’s a shame it took so long to get to this point. This should have been done years ago.
nontimendum:
check the more detailed overview on the district’s website.
http://www.psd150.org/community/docs/Budget_and_Planning_Committee_to_Form.pdf
Is there any word on if and how much these people are being paid? Or are they doing this free out of the kindness of their hearts?
This does sound like a committee whose members really do have experience in the financial realm–that is certainly a plus. I believe the paper states that these people will not be 150 employees, but that they will work with District 150 employees. At no point is the treasurer mentioned–as to how the committee will receive information from and work with the treasurer. I’m sure I shouldn’t be reading between the lines.
Another question: Is this a temporary committee assigned to deal with the present crisis and to set up a system whereby the district’s financial status can be more transparent? I can’t imagine that it will be permanent, especially since most on the committee do have their own jobs, etc. The plan, as yet, doesn’t establish how long this committee will be functioning.
Do any of them live in the#150 district? send kids to #150? I will bet none live in the East Bluff.
At least one who was quoted in PJS has or had children in 150.
I find it hard to believe that Guy Cahill is going to cooperate with outsiders looking at his numbers. It will be interesting to watch how he responds to this committee.
It is an awkward position for the District to attempt to address personnel issues, which demand confidentially, with such a public spotlight on them. I think we should all have some patience. I am betting Cahill is out, if for no other reason than a loss of public confidence. How can the District assemble a budget committee to straighten things out and then turn it over to the same individual that is perceived to be responsible for the errors and omissions in the first place? Mr. Cahill’s job is a leadership position within the District and he should have already developed the very items identified on the committee’s “to do list.”
I am hoping the District can use the committee to put the District’s financial records back in order and offer some guidance for the future, while the District searches for a new financial officer.
Frustrated: Ditto
Thanks, ed. Hope I’m wrong as to my window dressing comment. Time will tell.
Martin — Does it matter where they live? Seriously, shouldn’t it be the brightest, most trustworthy financial minds regardless of address. Do you have any kids in D150? Would that disqualify you, or are you qualified merely because you live in the East Bluff.
Sud O. Nym
hmmmm, you suggest the “most trustworthy financial minds…”
oh, you mean like Mr. Charles Randle
President, Illinois Business Financial Service
right?
gosh, I wonder if anybody would like to know that Charles Randle has been the childhood BEST friend of Ken Hinton? Let alone Charles’s wife named Mary Ann, has been a tight confident of Ken Hinton as an employee at District 150 for years. Then after she retired from District 150 she is now one of those highly paid, untouchable “consultants”! Small world isn’t it?
why do they call the west bank the east bluff?
Charles’s wife worked at D150 and his son still went to Notre Dame? I did not know that.
6 Sigma experience! Be afraid, be very afraid.
What do you mean by that IDNKM?
Six Sigma is only as good as the person who uses it. It can be a useful tool/methodology in the right hands. In the wrong hands it is worthless.
6 Sigma is an elitist excuse for the bean counters to put everything in money terms… and to communicate how much they care… as they rip off the employees and customers.
Customer service, human services… all become line items that can show profit and loss.
6 standard deviations from the norm is an impossible joke.
Unless we all have forgotten, business (whatever business) is about human beings… not widgets. It is the widget mentality (money being the biggest widget of them all) that has brought us to this wonderful capitalist prosperity we are all suffering from right now.
w/o malice: I don’t actually know any of these people (I’ve heard Erik Bush’s name). I wasn’t passing judgement on these individuals, just pointing out that martin seems to disqualify them purely because they might not have kids in D150. We all benefit from District 150’s success, no matter if our kids attend their schools or not.
6 Sigma as a set of tools to help analyze manufacturing process variability and make improvements to them is great. 6 Sigma as a self-perpetuating, incestuous club hunkering behind a facade of buzzwords and PowerPoint slides within a company is a waste of resources. That is what 6 Sigma has become at CAT.
id…
If that is the case about 6 Sigma then they will fit in well with most educational “experts” in the country 😉