I linked previously to some pretty serious issues raised by Elaine Hopkins at her blog, Peoria Story. District 150 Board of Education member Jim Stowell has responded to that report and asked me to post it on my blog as well. If you haven’t read the original article, you might want to first before you read his response:
Elaine – Thank you again for sharing the full report from the anonymous “experts”. It is entirely incorrect to state that the “district spent $10.5 million more than it budgeted as allege.” The “on-behalf” payments are an intra-state transfer from the state treasury direct to TRS. Those funds were never received by the district nor spent by the district. In 2006 and 2007 a statutory amount was reflected, but in 2008 the state engaged in an actuarial computation which was necessary given the large and growing under funded pension system. I was told that past comptrollers always omitted the amount as it is not part of our working capital or restricted funds. The state, I am told, uses this figure in overall education funding to enhance their effort in showing how they “support” public education. These are not education dollars, but rather pension dollars for future retiree benefits. Page 62 of the audit reflects an amount of “revenue” of $10,410,849 while page 66 shows a like amount as an expenditure. By stating the larger gross figure than what we actually receive (and throughout the state), it inflates how much the state really spends on education. With respect to the deficit fund balances, the Medicaid operations fund and Mid-Central Assoc. fund are merely cash flow issues. We provide services (an expense) but are often not reimbursed in a timely manner, thereby resulting in a deficit fund balance. I am also told that the Municipal retirement/social security fund balance deficit has existed for some time and the district is “whittling away” at it so it doesn’t have to levy for it, which, while within their rights, causes taxes to rise. The Self insured workman’s comp reflects the extremely large number of comp claims filed and is why the Board voted to establish a Tort levy. I voted against the levy because the amount carried as a liability is an estimate provided by our third party administrator (TPA). I felt we should better manage and be more proactive in mitigating workman’s comp claims and only levy once the outcome of all these pending claims are known. These anonymous supposed “experts” also make ridiculous assumptions that “if an expense was incurred the previous year, it is probable that it will occur again the next year”. With all the work being done to balance a budget and the dynamics of various program changes, that is an ill-founded assumption, at best. The group does raise legitimate questions on certain line items that warrant clarification and I will be following up to address those. For example, our Board has been frugal in spending, yet page 69 shows budgeted salaries for “Board of Ed Services” of $71,085 and an actual amount spent of $395,008. I am told that salaries for “Board initiatives” are booked here. I am asking for clarification and a breakdown. I will follow-up with more when I receive answers. I encourage you to affirm or deny the source of this “report” being our auditors, as some are suggesting. Whoever the source, they are wrong to suggest that we “spent $10.5 million more than” we budgeted, as you state in your opening sentence. Thank you for your concern on behalf of our students and our community. For more legal advice see: http://goodwinbarrett.co.uk/how-to-claim/. Jim
I appreciate Jim responding publicly, and he offers some very helpful insight. However, someone who wishes to remain anonymous takes issue with Jim’s comments:
The disclosure of the TRS revenue and offsetting expense by the state of Illinois on behalf of the school district is a required disclosure in the audit. Laymen may not understand that since it washes out or in Stowell’s case even like it, but by generally accepted accounting standards it must be reported that way as it has been for years! Stowell’s statement that it wasn’t budgeted before is grossly in error and personally shows how shallow his understanding. Consequently there should have been a budget though this year Cahill forgot it apparently and CG was required to highlight it!
I don’t know generally accepted accounting practices, so I’m not going to weigh in on this. All I can tell you is that the audits of the past few years haven’t looked too good, and I’m glad to see at least one board member taking these issues seriously and asking questions. Thank you, Mr. Stowell.
ed… we are third in the state of Illinois for lead cases…
Frustrated, Ed, and others: Regarding our discussion about differing cognitive abilities: How difficult do you think it will be to convince District 150 to acknowledge these differences and to plan curricula accordingly? These decision-makers are the ones who are presently bragging about their decision to mainstream special ed students at Manual. One of my former colleagues just wrote in the PJS that this year hundreds of Manual students have made the honor roll. Do you think there is a chance that grade inflation is being encouraged at Manual? I know that one very dedicated Manual parent–whose older daughter graduated a year or two ago as Manual’s valedictorian (I think)–who was extremely happy with the education her children were receiving at Manual until this year. I believe that in January she pulled her youngest daughter out to home school her because she was no longer being challenged academically at Manual.
kcdad,
http://pha.peoria.il.us/
Peoria Housing Authority News July 2005
“The Peoria City/County Health Department reports that each year, Peoria County children are exposed to dangerous levels of lead. While incidence of elevated blood levels in young children has been falling over the past 30 years in Peoria and the nation, Peoria remains one of the communities with a serious lead poisoning risk. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Illinois has one of the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning in the nation and Peoria has one of the highest prevalence rates of lead poisoning in the state. Approximately, one in seven Peoria County children under six who are tested has an elevated blood lead level. Peoria County has a high lead poisoning rate because it is one of the oldest communities in the state, with 84 percent of houses built before 1978.”
Thanks Ed.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5210.pdf
Wow… who’d a thot?
Illinois is 4th in the nation in pre-1950 housing units, and first in confirmed elevated lead blood levels.
Kane and Cook counties are ahead of Peoria County… (at least it isn’t Rockford and Bloomington/Normal)
To update everyone: I received emails back from Mary Spangler and Debbie Wolfmeyer. Both said that WHS and PHS will remain open as they currently are in 2009-10. They did not address the future of those buildings. As far as the primary schools that could be closing the response was that it is still up for discussion at this point.
Please know this is ONLY a rumor but it was all over where I work today. The rumor is that D150 Treasurer Guy Cahill has been asked to resign. I do NOT have any confirmation of this, but Peoria Pundit is blogging that WEEK is breaking a big news story tonight. I was told but have not confirmed that there was a closed Board meeting on Friday. So…
I have to work tonight so I will not see the news. Hopefully someone on this blog watches WEEK and can report back if that is, in fact, what they are breaking.
Remember this is just a RUMOR so do not pass it on as fact until it is verified. Much as I fell Mr. Cahill should be removed, it is not faif to him to report this as fact until there is confirmation.
okay, the spelling gods hate me– it should be “feel” and “fair” in the last paragraph! Ugh!
That’s the rumor!
Yep, I’ve heard the rumor, too. I wrote and asked District 150 spokesperson Stacey Shangraw and BOE President David Gorenz if Guy Cahill is still employed by District 150 and they confirmed that he is. That’s as much info as I can get at this time. There was a special BOE meeting on Friday that was a closed session to discuss personnel. No one is saying what was discussed. If anyone was fired, though, it wouldn’t be official until action is taken in open session. So, it’s within the realm of possibility that Cahill could still be officially employed, but will not be after the next meeting.
But officially, there is no confirmation of the rumor that’s going around.
I hoped that talked about more than Cahill in the closed door session!
Sharon – Your story about the good student being homeschooled because Manual was not meeting her needs is a sad one. I don’t understand why, if they can’t meet her needs, she cannot be transferred to another high school that does?? Hey, have you heard about the new fad “unschooling?”
I hope they got rid of the consultants while they were at it….
I’m not sure about the home school–however, her mother and dad are quite capable of homeschooling–she was a teacher; he is a minister. I think it might only be for this semester–she’s either a junior or a senior. They purposely moved to the Manual area several years ago because they wanted their children exposed to diversity, etc. I believe there are a significant number of homeschooled students in West Peoria. The ones I know have parents who have teaching degrees or college educations. Yes, I am sure there are many students who are kept home in the guise of home schooling–but this would not be such as example.
That was a cheeky way to get everyone to watch WEEK… 😉
Imaswede,
Sorry we got played by WEEK. I just got online as I was working and then doing errands (yes, this late!) and asked hubby if there was anything on WEEK about D150. He said no so I don’t know what Peoria Pundit’s info was about. I do know that at the PHS-Richwoods game tonight the rumor about D150 Treasurer Cahill resigning was THE topic of conversation. Even security officers were talking about it! I had to dissuade some PHS staff from asking Jim Stowell (who was at the game) about the rumors. Since he is a board member, he cannot comment about personnel issues until certain procedures are followed; it would serve no purpose to put him on the spot. Hopefully, they listened. I was working so I don’t know.
I have had one source confirm second-hand and another source not confirm through similar means. Whether someone is still employed is not the same as whether they have offered a resignation that has yet to be acted on at a board meeting.
Guess we have to wait and see. Hopefully a yes or no answer soon.
Hot in the City, I was absolutely thinking it was cheeky of WEEK…. not you, I assure you. I think they do have some information but for whatever reason are not going to share it as yet. Reporting ain’t what it used to be!!
Ima and Hot, Billy reported news was breaking, NOT WEEK. If anything, smack Billy upside the head. And how are they going to report on something that is only speculation at this point? That would be completely irresponsible, even for a blogger.
This doesn’t seem to be Billy’s week for blogging…. Billy is a big boy, Diane. I think he can come on here on speak for himself. And perhaps it is more than speculation for some, but for certain reasons they have been asked to wait. Time will tell.
I was addressing your criticisms of WEEK.
Diane,
I did not intend to be critical of Billy in any way. Sorry if it came off that way. I believe that he had info that WEEK was going to break a story and reported that. The fact that it didn’t occur does not reflect on him. I, too, can only speculate that something happened that prevented WEEK from running whatever story they were planning. Because, belive me, when a news organization is breaking a stpry they will beat you over the head that “This is a (news org. name here) exclusive. In breaking news, (news org name here) reports that …” or some derivation of the above.
Time will tell.
BTW, I would have posted on his blog about the potential news yesterday but he had comments turned off for that post and I wanted people to be aware, in light of the rumor floating around.
Personally, I believe the rumor is/was running rampant enough that if it is not true, District 150 should be doing some damage control to set the record straight.
I guess my comment was misunderstood. Criticize Billy all you want… I was defending WEEK against these remarks… “reporting ain’t what it used to be”, and “We are getting played by week”. If they have incomplete info they couldn’t possibly run the story so I didn’t understand the criticism. Does that make sense? Ugh.
Diane,
Yeah, I get what you’re saying. I think we’re on the same page. I wasn’t dissing WEEK because I understand today’s news climate, but IF they were promo-ing a breaking news story and then didn’t report one it means they were premature in their announcement.
My take on whatever this story is/was — they thought (WEEK) they had the appropriate sourcing and confirmation and then it didn’t materialize. I have lived through having solid sources get cold feet at the last moment so you can’t run a story. Since tv, newspaper and most radio outlets are still regarded as media of record, they have different standards for publication than we do on the blogs/internet. Like it or not it DOES make a difference in what and when they can report something.
Week wasn’t promo-ing a breaking news story. Billy was. He was guilty of premature blogulation.
*premature eblogulation* Can I get that copyrighted? 😉
Probably the problem occurred because we (I) and/or the media didn’t take under consideration the accepted way that District 150 conducts personnel matters–when and how these matters are decided and when the information becomes public. Doesn’t the board have to vote on these matters at public meetings (without names)?
I heard today that Cahill is definitely out and that Cheryl Sanfilip will also be leaving….. of course, WEEK has not confirmed, so at this point, it is still rumor.
It happens to all of us at one time or another.
It does.. we just like teasin’ ya…. and so you know, you aren’t the only one hearing the same rumors… you are just the only one takin’ the heat!
C.J. saved me from taking the heat originally–because I put it on the blog very early on and he wisely took it off. Now, however, I think most of us believe that the rumor is probably true. At least, I believe that someone from the administration or board should have (or would have) put out this fire a long time ago if it weren’t true. I guess there is still a chance that some of us could end up with egg on our face. However, I should have realized that any rumor would not be confirmed until after the board meets (next Monday) to follow procedure and vote in public session. If the rumor is actualy fact, we’ll have to believe there is considerably more transparency than we thought–and hopefully, more to come.
Next Monday is President’s Day and the district offices will be closed. So the next board meeting is actually next Tuesday night, Feb. 17.
Well, I guess the PJ Star has it Cahill is leaving, just read it.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x700581357/District-150-treasurer-reportedly-leaving
and we may get to pay him for another year!! Another great move by Hinton… the buck stops with him!
The Journal Star article talked about what a GREAT job he has done for D150. Bwahahhhaaa. I want what they are smoking!