The New York State Comptroller’s Office released information this week on an audit it conducted on the Ossining Union Free School District.
The audit examined the district’s administrative costs from July 1, 2008 to May 3, 2010. According to the 17-page report, auditors found the district has higher administrative costs than those of comparable districts in the region. By reducing the number of administrators and limiting its administrative costs to that of other comparable districts, the Ossining school district could realize annual savings of up to $670,000, the report showed.
Those funds could be used toward instructional services or to reduce the overall budget, the audit indicated. Auditors recommended district officials analyze its administrative positions and determine why it has more administrators than similar districts and also determine whether cost savings can be made by reducing administrative staff.
The district’s response to the recommendations included a plan already in place for the 2011-2012 school year that calls for a reduction in two administrative positions.
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If anyone is surprised by this then they haven’t been paying attention.
The district budget is fraught with waste and this is only the tip of the iceberg. Not only are we overpaying, we are underachieving (the “achievement gap” continues to widen even after a decade of throwing money at the problem).
It’s time to do an honest cost benefit analysis of everything in the district starting with the superintendent. All administrative costs need to be justified, teacher contracts, in all districts, need to be reworked now. Pension and medical costs have to be reduced. Paid teaching assistants should be replaced by unpaid teaching interns (college students studying to be educators) and Tax Payer Funded Pre-K MUST be repalced by a fee based option.
Real, significant cost reductions have to be made before the district decides to spend $65MM+ to rebuild all the schools in the district.
Get mad taxpayers! TBOSS (Take Back Our School System).