pinion Letter to the Editor: School District Debt is Appalling

Dear Editor,

I just attended a meeting listening to Linda Schaich (a Candidate running for the School Board), talk on the finances of the Manatee County School District. Every time she informs us of the inconsistency of information available and indications of waste, I am appalled.

MCSD is in debt by $512 million (10.33% in 2011), considerably more than the $282 million debt (3.04% in 2002) revealing the debt service ratio to expenses has tripled. Why? Because the School Board keeps on borrowing.

With the new sales tax income, MCSD bought a rowboat for $18,000 and new Ipads for teachers, who already had excellent laptops, and did not use any of it to pay down our $512 million debt.

The separate Capital Fund has $126 million to spend, with MTI being the only major project which has already been funded with loans. They could legally take some money from this fund to pay down debt.

A separate budget of $40 million for the teacher’s health plan reveals a current deficit of $5 million and also must have a $9 million reserve. So this fund is really at a deficit of $14 million and is not operating legally according to Florida Statutes.

The Board has gotten us into in debt by overbuilding, keeping the building contractors busy who contribute to their future campaign treasuries. Reference the newspaper article ”Local Elections Run by Developers“ to discover the real reason why we have thousands of empty student stations. 

With an annual budget of $600 million, as the largest employer in our county, we need fiscally responsible individuals on the School Board who are persistent in finding the real cause of our problems. We need School Board members with financial experience, like Linda Schaich, who are willing to work to correct the problems instead of hiding them.

Judi Hood
Waterlefe