At a recent City Council hearing, we explained to Council the serious management and integrity issues of ACPS and the School Board specifically relating to budget matters, community relations, and compliance with legal requirements. We requested that Council initiate an Accountability Audit by a third party of (1) ACPS representations to Council during the facilities budget process, compared to the extraordinarily higher actual costs, (2) ACPS’s confrontational posture toward the city and the neighborhoods where schools are located, and (3) what corrective actions are needed. These actions are well within Council’s responsibilities and are needed to restore accountability to and confidence in ACPS stewardship of public funds and facilities.
To be clear, an Accountability Audit would differ from a normal financial statement audit. The Accountability Audit should focus on how the school district determines its budget and presents it to Council, and manages its projects and community relations, not on whether the assets and liabilities on a balance sheet are mathematically correct.
At the outset, there is unanimous support for spending what is needed to educate our children. Nothing is more important than education. But resources are not unlimited. The school district requested a capital budget of about $300 million in May 2016. Four months later, the school district proposed an increase of an additional $224.6 million. Last month, the school district proposed adding an additional $83 million to the budget. By Dec. 15, the final budget added more, resulting in a budget request of $611 million, a whopping 123 percent increase since May. Skyrocketing budget requests like this are a bright red flag of serious underlying management problems.
The failure to budget and expend properly, and lack of transparency, has been a hallmark of school management for years. Jefferson Houston was budgeted at $36 million; it cost $44 million. ACPS said the TC tennis courts renovation would cost $400K; in the end, it was $1.6 million. The proposed renovations at Parker Grey stadium were represented to cost $700K; it is already going to cost $4.1 million (likely much more), and at least $100K more to pay developers’ lawyers to fight citizens and the city. No one knows with certainty how millions of tax dollars magically appear or whether the school district continues to “move money around” inappropriately. No wonder one School Board member described ACPS’ spending habits as “unconscionable.” The school district believes itself to be unaccountable to Council or the public.
To cite a recent example, the Patrick Henry renovation started as an excellent example of civic engagement, involving multiple stakeholders. Dozens of citizens and officials gave hundreds of hours developing and refining plans. Yet the School Board abruptly sabotaged the process solely on the grounds of a vague $1.2 million cost differential and mocked the people who contributed. No full cost comparison was done. Later we learned that the selected option must be revised to add costs to support structural work on a third floor and retaining wall, and to make other changes needed due to the location of the power lines. The $1.2 million difference (if it ever existed in the first place) evaporated. Yet, ACPS succeeded in denigrating the citizens and officials who served in good faith, calculating (apparently correctly) that they are not accountable for their actions.
The schools also ignore SUP requirements. For example, the T.C. Williams SUP contains requirement 69 for a TC Advisory Committee, which has been meeting successfully since 2007 to address and resolve “adjoining neighborhood issues.” The school district took it upon itself to revamp the committee in a naked effort to nullify the voices of the citizens it serves. Worse, they were advised in writing by the planning director that these reforms are not what was envisioned by requirement 69, who further wrote that “I have talked to the City Manager’s office and we urge ACPS to convene the Advisory Committee as it was traditionally constituted.” In plowing forward anyway, the school district thumbed its nose at Council and the city manager.
ACPS’ funding is appropriated by Council and most of it comes from Alexandria taxpayers. Its legal authorities are not unlimited, and they are accountable to Council and the public. Oversight of city appropriations is a responsibility of Council. Council and the public have every right to know and demand that public funds and community engagement have integrity. An independent Accountability Audit of the school district is needed to root out and correct the persistent problems.
With at least $611 million in new schools, and redistricting at stake, we must have confidence in ACPS’ integrity and credibility, which has been shaken to its foundations and must be corrected.
Last year, the mayor and Council showed leadership in adopting an ethics resolution that pledges to establish a culture of transparency in Alexandria’s government. An Accountability Audit of the school district is a good start for Council to show the strength of its commitment.
Frank Putzu
Alexandria