Why we Need an Independent Inspector General for the Montgomery County School System — Joan Fidler, President, Montgomery County Taxpayers League (Dec. 2, 2014)
The Montgomery County School system has an annual budget of $2.3 billion, student enrollment of 154,176 and a staff of 21,580. It is an organization that rivals many counties in the nation not only in the size of its budget but in the number of people it employs. Yet, despite that, it lacks an independent authority within the organization that has oversight over waste, fraud, abuse and just good management, in general. One wonders why. It does have an audit staff that reports to its Chief Financial Officer but not directly to the Board of Education.
Fairfax County Public Schools with an annual budget of $2.5 billion, student enrollment of 186,785, and a staff of 23,447 recently appointed an Audit Manager located within the Office of Internal Audit but reporting directly to the Board of Education. The Audit Manager is responsible for analyzing school operations and efficiency “through independent and objective analyses and evaluations.”
The 9 members of Montgomery County’s Board of Education work part time and have administrative/secretarial staff but none with financial or audit expertise. Yet the Board has oversight of a large school system with an enormous budget that must rely on the very bureaucrats that run the system to provide it with analyses. So the Board is totally dependent on the school system staff who must have the time, the energy and the motivation to respond to Board requests...
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What a great idea. But how about we DON'T hire an individual who has already pled guilty to fraud.
ReplyDeleteTo whom should an Independent Inspector General be accountable to?
ReplyDeleteAnd please, let's not toy with the thought of an independently elected one.
This is long over due. The amount of money poured into the school system with zero accountability is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteAll the superintendent has said for the last 4 years is the money is for closing the achievement gap. He provides no measures to examine as a result of this continued increased spending. What criteria can taxpayers review to see the results of this increased spending? What improvements in student achievement has resulted? What is being measured to see that the gap is closing? I am sick of throwing money at ineffective leaders and programs.
Much needed. Process and dollars be damned, they do exactly what they want with no accountability.
ReplyDeleteMaybe "County and State Revenue" should be called "Constituents hard earned tax dollars". Calling it revenue makes it sound like they actually earned it.. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The seven phases of auditing:
ReplyDelete1. Wild enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Confusion
4. Panic
5. Search for the guilty
6. Punishment of the innocent
7. Promotion of non-participants