| George Lucas is chairman of the board of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. He has long held a concern about how to improve education -- a concern that focuses on heightening the vast imagination and curiosity of a child. Lucas grew up in the small town of Modesto, California, and attended the University of Southern California film school. As a storyteller, visionary, and innovator, his imagination reached into the galaxy with the Star Wars saga. He is also creator of the Indiana Jones series and the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| Conservative Commentary - U. S. public education National School District Honor Roll's 1st Anniversary (October 2007) |
| THE BIG PICTURE |
| AS OF OCT. 9, 2007 THE NATIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT HONOR ROLL ONLINE CHECKBOOKS 68 school districts! 5 states! $31.5 billion! How to ask your local school district Flyer History |
| ILLINOIS Carpentersville SD 300* Elgin U-46* Huntley CUSD 158* Naperville CUSD MINNESOTA Milaca ISD St. Cloud ISD TEXAS Allen ISD Alvarado ISD Anthony ISD Arlington ISD Bellville ISD Big Spring ISD Blackwell CISD Bremond ISD Center Point ISD Chester ISD China Spring ISD Comal ISD Conroe ISD* Corpus Christi ISD* Cypress-Fairbanks ISD* Dallas ISD Denison ISD Ector Co. ISD Electra ISD Franklin ISD Grandfalls-Royalty ISD Hempstead ISD Holliday ISD Houston ISD* Hunt ISD Katy ISD Keller ISD* Kerrvile ISD Lago Vista ISD* Leander ISD Leonard ISD Lovejoy ISD Lufkin ISD Madisonville ISD Malakoff ISD Marble Falls ISD Meadow ISD McKinney ISD Nederland ISD New Caney ISD Nordheim ISD No.Forest ISD No. Zulch ISD* Pasadena ISD Pearland ISD Quinlan ISD Richardson ISD Roby CISD Round Rock ISD * Royce City ISD San Angelo ISD South Texas ISD Spring Branch ISD * Texas City ISD Timpson ISD Tomball ISD Trent ISD Van Alstyne ISD Wharton ISD Wimberley ISD WISCONSIN Sun Prairie SD |
| COMMITTED El Paso ISD (TX) Galena Park ISD (TX) Miami-Dade CPS (FL) Temple ISD (TX) Ysleta ISD (TX) STATE DOE ONLINE Texas Education Agency MIDDLE EDU-LAYER St. Clair County RESA (MI) HONORABLE MENTION ** Michigan Intermediate School Districts WHERE PARENTS, TAXPAYERS, TRUSTEES ARE ASKING: Cedar Rapids PS (IA) ChippewaVall.SD(MI) Cleburne ISD (TX) Eanes ISD (TX) Lake Travis ISD (TX) Lancaster ISD (TX) LA USD (CA) Midway-Waco ISD (TX) New York CPS (NY) Omaha PS (NB) Rochester CS (MI) Santa Cruz CPS (AZ) Water Valley ISD (TX) ___________________ * No check numbers. ** For online numbers including budgets, salaries, lobbying, PR, legal, autos, more. (Source for names of six Texas districts: Houston Chronicle) |
| Looking for Sept. 15, 2007 San Antonio Express-News editorial? It's at far right, this page |
| Former Spring Branch ISD supe Yvonne Katz (above); Ryder Warren (below right) with Marble Falls ISD board |
| Introducing . . . your new best friend, and mine: WFAA's Brett Shipp, who took a cameraman and followed Dallas ISD educators to Canada Brett Shipp has worked as an investigative reporter at Channel 8 since 1995. In January of 2005 he was awarded the Alfred I. duPont Silver Baton from Columbia University in New York. It is widely regarded as the highest honor awarded in broadcast journalism. Brett was recognized for his series of investigations into the crisis in the Texas Worker's Compensation system, exposing the inhumane and unfair treatment of legitimately-injured workers by the insurance industry. As a result, state lawmakers quickly moved to abolish the State Worker's Compensation Commission and overhaul the system. Brett also received the coveted George Foster Peabody award for the same body of work. Brett was also awarded both the duPont Silver Baton and the Peabody in 2003 for exposing a fake-drug scandal in the Dallas Police Department. As a result of the scandal, several officers and their informants were either convicted or indicted, and the narcotics division underwent a massive overhaul. In 2003 and 2005, Brett was named as a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Journalism by Harvard University. Notable among his many other investigative accomplishments is the exposing of tax-dollar waste at the Dallas Convention Bureau, and by various DISD superintendents. Brett was also the first Dallas reporter on the scene in New York City following the 9/11 attacks. He grew up in Dallas, and is a graduate of Highland Park High School and Stephen F. Austin State University. His father is Bert Shipp, a legend at WFAA with a 40-year career as a reporter, news director and assignments editor. Brett lives in Dallas with wife Amy and two children, Harrison and Katherine. |
| 52nd IRA Annual Convention May 13–17, 2007 Toronto, Ontario, Canada PER DIAM Detail for LAGBARA, MAYA P - 2012.PRINCIPAL.ES. PRIN Date Amount 2/26/07 144.00 6/6/07 372.40 Detail for LAGBARA, GA O - 6000.TEACHER.CTU.TEAC Date Amount 6/13/07 425.64 BRIEFING MEETING OF THE DALLAS CITY COUNCIL September 17, 1997 97-2962 OPEN MICROPHONE In accordance with Subsection 6.3 of the City Council Rules of Procedure, the city council provided an opportunity for the following individuals to present concerns or address issues during an "open microphone" period. SPEAKER: Dr. G. Lagbara, 2735 Meadow Dawn Dr. SUBJECT: Show the money |
| I have served as Chairman of the English Department at Mountain View College and as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Paul Quinn College. I own the only African-American owned mall in the State and it's in Dallas. We want to transform this mall into a one-stop shopping and community center. The one-story shopping center adjoins a four-story office tower, and we are encouraging and willing to grant free rent for businesses to be a part of that needed facility. It is called Westcliff Mall. |
| 2005 An investigation by The Dallas Morning News found that Budd students finished in the bottom 4 percent in reading in third grade. A year later, they had the second-highest reading scores in the state, beating schools in Plano, Highland Park and every other wealthy district. (SOURCE--Joshua Benton, Holly Hacker/Dallas Morning News) And what did they discuss at the reading conference in Canada? Washington Feb. 2007 "J. Lewis. No Child Left Behind: IRA’s recommendations 2nd IRA Annual Convention May 13–17, 2007 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Reading 'Cause I Want To”:Negotiating Adult LiteracyPractices in Adolescence through Community BookClubsDeborah Appleman, Carleton College, Northfield, MN She presented the same thing in 2004 at the National Reading Conference in San Antonio. |
| LAGBARA, MAYA at B F DARRELL 5,541.88 0.00 5,541.88 LAGBARA, MAYA at ROBERT L THORNTON 19,577.55 299.98 19,277.57 LAGBARA, MAYA P at B F DARRELL 10,881.40 0.00 10,881.40 LAGBARA, MAYA P at ROBERT L THORNTON 31,137.98 23,615.79 7,522.19 $66,000 |
| THE NATIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT HONOR ROLL One year old: WA-HOO! By Peyton Wolcott Tuesday, October 9, 2007 - 10:40 a.m. |
THE NATIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT HONOR ROLL 68 school districts in 5 states . . . . and at least $31.5 billion in annual transparency! |
| Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Interim Commissioner of Education Robert Scott (L) |
| Last week marked the first anniversary of The National School District Honor Roll, a project begun October 1, 2006 on my website to encourage American school districts to voluntarily post their check registers online--and to recognize districts for so doing. A year ago, only a tiny handful of Texas school districts were posting their check registers online, most as part of their TASB BoardBook software. As of this week, we have 68 school districts online -- most of them in Texas -- along with the nation's first department of education, the Texas Education Agency. Why online check registers? At the same time that public schools are coming to their taxpayers asking for more money, citing rising costs and construction issues, parents and taxpayers have been frustrated by many school administrators' unwillingness to share specifics of how that money is spent. Just two mornings ago, while chatting with someone in another part of the state, as so often happens the talk turned to local public schools. The man was upset that the high school principal was charging $15 for a parking sticker for the man's kids. "I voted to approve their $37 million bond issue which paid for the parking lot," the man said. "And now they're wanting me to pay for this parking lot a second time, for my kids to park there?" That this man was a longtime school volunteer and a civic leader was not lost on me, meaning that he was not just an angry taxpayer, not just an angry single-issue dad, but rather someone who's been on the side of his local schools and wants to see them succeed. And this man's school district has still not yet chosen to post its check register online, with the result that rumors circulating about the superintendent's out-of-control spending, rumors about activity fund accounts controlled solely by principals at each campus being dispensed to favorites with no oversight by outside eyes, rumors about myriad other questionable practices --all are allowed to churn through the local gossip mill with no facts offered by the school district, facts which likely could easily refute the rumors. In the background, this same district's ongoing and very expensive and public legal problems resulting from some employees' behaviors with students is never far from people's minds. Familiar scenarios such as the one above have proven to be fertile ground for administrators wise and courageous enough to be willing to be transparent with their communities in a meaningful and forthright way by voluntarily posting their check registers online. |
| Texans have Governor Rick Perry (above right) and Interim Commissioner of Education Robert Scott (above left) to thank for the Texas Education Agency's check register being posted online this past February; it was a natural next step after Perry's Executive Order RP 47 in August 2005, "relating to a comprehensive financial accountability and reporting system to ensure transparency and fiscal efficiency in school district operations," a system requiring school districts to spend 65% of the monies entrusted to them by taxpayers in the classroom. Robert Scott, a Distinguished Speaker on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007 at the annual TASB/TASA convention in Dallas, encouraged the 8,000 (SOURCE--The Dallas Morning News) public school superinten- dents and board members present to join the movement towards transparency and place their check registers online. Those present report that Scott was well received--so much so that the large convention hall had to be enlarged to make room for more of Scott's audience as they arrived. At the same conference education lawyer/lobbyist Sandy Kress, whose clients include the Pearson edu-entities to whom Texas taxpayers have sent $1.423 billion since 1998, presented regarding the Commission for a College Ready Texas, which he chairs, the hour before Scott, in a conference room and not a convention hall; Kress' presentation was not covered by any of the state's newspapers that I have been able to find. Here's hoping Gov. Perry will view Saturday afternoon as an informal straw poll of what his populace wants in an education commis- sioner. As Perry and his able staff continue to weigh whether to appoint Scott or Kress, here's also hoping that Perry will recognize that Saturday's crowd, which represents the Texas education establishment, apparently, with their feet, picked Scott. |
| BSISD's online check register is the same one the district's trustees receive with their board packets each month, is a model for other districts to follow because of the wealth of information offered: |
| Sandra Waggoner |
| "Superintendent Duncan Klussmann saved the Spring Branch school district more than $50,000 when he took the helm of the district in December 2004, follow- ing the departure of Yvonne Katz. At the time Katz, who resigned amid controversy over conflict-of-interest outside consulting work, was pulling in $250,000 a year, compared to the $197,500 annual base salary Klussmann now receives....Both Klussmann and board President Wayne Schaper said the pay was a fair deal for a new superintendent and in line with superintendent salaries of similar sized districts in the state. 'When I started teaching 18 years ago I was making $17,200 a year,' Klussmann said. 'How can I be upset with ($197,500)? I think I'm very fairly com- pensated for what I do.' " (SOURCE--The Houston Chronicle) |
| Hand it to Duncan, when he put his district's check register online last November ahead of his self-set target date, there were a lot of questions on the table. |
| Spring Branch ISD's good example An upscale suburban Houston district once beset by image problems chiefly related to the regime of former SBISD supe Yvonne Katz, SBISD has been run since December 2004 by superintendent Duncan Klussmann, a good example of why school districts' promoting from within their own ranks is a good idea: |
| Duncan Klussmann |
| BSISD INFORMATION POSTED (ONLINE CHECK REGISTER): |
IN THE MIDDLE OF A FACILITIES STUDY -- A LARGE COMMITTEE LAST FRIDAY, UP 124 STUDENTS OVER THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR WE NEED TO REPLACE SCHOOLS OUR NEWEST SCHOOL IS 40 YEARS AGO BIG SPRING ISD SCHOOL DISTRICT TAXES HAVE GONE DOWN 46 CENTS IN 2 YEARS M&O WAS 1.50, NOW 1.04 ECONOMY STARTING TO PICK UP -- THERE'S A REFINERY THERE Christy Brorman More Information Background Check 721 Colgate Ave Big Spring, TX Add to Address Book, Map (432) 264-0520 Jeff Brorman More Information Background Check 721 Colgate Ave Big Spring, TX Add to Address Book, Map (432) 264-0520 Niki Brorman More Information Background Check 705 W 18th St Big Spring, TX Add to Address Book, Map (432) 264-7505 |
| WORTH EMULATING |
| operating budget; all three previous such have received the group's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. It's quite a document, and I'm mentioning it here in hopes other districts will emulate its format in which information is presented "as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan, and as a communications device." And communicate it does; this is one of the few budget presentations I've ever seen on a Texas public school district website which accurately reflects the total number of dollars the district receives and spends, in BSISD's case, $31 million. "Budget" vs. reality When most of us who are not public school profes- sionals use the word "budget" we mean how much money a district takes in and how much it spends. But here in Texas when a supe talks about his or her budget, he's referring generally to only one slice of his total pie -- sometimes as little as one half -- because federal and state income is not included. |
| Big Spring ISD A good example of a school district with a commitment to transparency, BSISD was one of the first Texas districts to post its check register online; the district's checks went online in July 2006.. |
| Check number Check date Payee name Purchase order number Invoice number |
| Name of BSISD originating entity (food service, HS, admin., etc.) Reason for check 21-digit code Amount. |
| BSISD CFO Waggoner Downes is quick to give credit to his staff including |
| CFO Sandra Waggoner, who is preparing her fourth Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) |
| Terrence Stutz has reported in The Dallas Morning News (published 10.04.07) that Sandy Kress has confirmed that "he is not a candidate for state education commission- er, leaving current acting Commissioner Robert Scott as the most likely person to be named to the post by Gov. Rick Perry. Mr. Kress said that although he has been encouraged by several business and civic leaders to consider the job, he has no plans to give up his current position as an Austin- based partner in the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld law firm and wants to retain his membership on key education panels. 'I have a full plate of things that engage me in Texas and around the country, and I intend to continue working on all the assignments I currently have,' said Mr. Kress, a former president of the Dallas school board and current chairman of the Governor's Commission for a College Ready Texas." |
| UPDATE: KRESS NO LONGER A CANDIDATE |
| Richardson Independent School District 2006-2007 Accounts Payable Payment Register http://www.risd.org/AboutRISD/2006-20 07%20Accounts%20Payable%20Paym ent_Register.pdf 816 pages (PDF) Searchable |
| San Antonio's Northside ISD This is the district whose trustee two years ago told me he thought they were spending and receiving about "$300 to 400 million" when in fact their total receipts/all funds amount for the preceding year was almost $600-700 million more: $994,587,465. This is the same district whose supe, John Folks, told his peers two years ago at NISD Communications Department August 22, 2007 The Northside Board of Trustees is scheduled to approve the 2007-08 budget next week, along with a proposed tax rate drop from $1.5925 to $1.2625 per $100 of property value. A public hearing on the proposed budget was held Tuesday night. At the Aug. 28 Board meeting, Trustees will vote on a $907 million budget, which includes a general fund budget of about $601 million. 1,039,950,123 |
Developing . . . |
| Commentary: An easy way of following school money San Antonio Express-News Op-Ed Web Posted: 09/15/2007 07:00 PM CDT By Peyton Wolcott Several San Antonio-area school districts have been in the news this past year — and not always in a good way. It's hard to stand by and watch a preventable train wreck. As a longtime public school volunteer increasingly concerned about academic failure as costs in our vendor-driven schools skyrocket, one of my primary issues is lack of transparency. While some schools are doing a good job, many are wasting too much money poorly educating students, especially economically deprived children. Money wasted, whether through fraud, waste or faulty planning, is money not being put to best use in classrooms. The fuzzy math/whole language progressive reforms have resulted in too many kids who can't read and young adults who can't tell you what six times nine is without a calculator. Half of students entering community college — the fortunate ones who have not dropped out — need remedial work in core subjects. Superintendents insist our school districts are broke while they attend a seemingly endless stream of education conferences and stay at what most taxpayers would consider luxury hotels. Who's right? Who's wrong? It's a fight with no winners. A light bulb moment occurred last fall when I realized that persuading school districts to post their check registers on their Web sites was an easy and positive solution to this Gordian knot. Simply put, online checkbooks give the keys to the sausage factory to parents and taxpayers. Some sausage is terrific — our family gets some from a San Antonio market that's out of this world — and other sausage needs work. Thus began the National School District Honor Roll with the names of a few tiny Texas districts that were posting their checkbooks online, mostly as part of their BoardBook software. To say this grass-roots movement is catching on is almost an understatement; we already have 60 school district checkbooks online in five states, including Texas' two largest (Houston and Dallas), plus the Texas Education Agency — at least $31.3 billion in annual transparency. But none of the 60 districts are in San Antonio; the closest is Comal in Spring Branch-New Braunfels. So here's a wonderful opportunity for San Antonio-area schools: Who's going to be first to post their check register online and show their communities, in black and white, that they are completely on the up and up? Which superintendent is going to take the first bold step toward transparency? It's hard to imagine any superintendent or school board not wanting to be perceived as 100 percent transparent by their communities. We've learned, with so many districts now online, that most of the issues raised last fall have proven to not be real, such as concerns about the need for new technology and manpower. The Earth has not opened up and swallowed any of the 60 school districts, and taxpayers have not stormed administration buildings armed with lanterns and pitchforks. Far from it. Those districts online are reaping untold public relations benefits in their communities. --------------------------------------------- Peyton Wolcott lives in Horseshoe Bay. Information about putting check registers online is available at www.peytonwolcott. com, which includes a "How to ask your district" page and a report from districts that have already done so. |
| Editorial in The San Antonio Express-News (published September 15, 2007) |
| NOTE: Current roster with up-to-date numbers is at far left of my home page here |