Sunday, December 17, 2006
The high cost of high school athletics
Our old friend Ben Mays stopped by the studios the other day. Mays is the veterinarian from Clinton who is now on the State Board of Education. He has been asking hard questions about the cost of high school athletics for years.
Anyway, the legislature has passed some laws which require school districts to account for how they spend. So far, the financial statements for the year, which ended at the end of last June, have yet to make their way to the Board’s attention. Major corporations are able to close books on multi-billion dollar international businesses in a couple of months. Mays expects the newest numbers to come out in February. They usually show up in the form of a grid, and it typically has lots of blanks.
Districts are deliberately avoiding the bad news on sports and goofing up the rest due to sheer incompetence. You have probably heard about the ugly exchange with the superintendent of Earle who is about to become a State Senator, despite not taking competitive bids on tens of thousands of dollars worth of projects. Forrest City Rep. David Dunn nailed it completely. Earle School District just does not want to obey the law. That school district is not alone and this kind of thing must stop.
(Broadcast December 14, 2006)
Anyway, the legislature has passed some laws which require school districts to account for how they spend. So far, the financial statements for the year, which ended at the end of last June, have yet to make their way to the Board’s attention. Major corporations are able to close books on multi-billion dollar international businesses in a couple of months. Mays expects the newest numbers to come out in February. They usually show up in the form of a grid, and it typically has lots of blanks.
Districts are deliberately avoiding the bad news on sports and goofing up the rest due to sheer incompetence. You have probably heard about the ugly exchange with the superintendent of Earle who is about to become a State Senator, despite not taking competitive bids on tens of thousands of dollars worth of projects. Forrest City Rep. David Dunn nailed it completely. Earle School District just does not want to obey the law. That school district is not alone and this kind of thing must stop.
(Broadcast December 14, 2006)
