AJC: Fernbank Science Center Back on the Chopping Block
Decatur Metro | June 11, 2012AJC is reporting…
Last month, when the school board negotiated a budget with $60 million in cutbacks, Fernbank and its $4.7 million in annual expenses was spared.
On Monday… hours before the final vote on the budget, Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said she would be recommending $3.2 million in cutbacks at Fernbank, a school facility that operates independently of the nearby Fernbank Museum of Natural History run by a nonprofit.
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This seems to be a distraction from the core issues of fiscal incompetence, lack of accountability, nepotism, bloated leadership salaries, disregard of the budget committee recommendation to cut 300 (not 70!) Central Office positions, and disregard of retirement commitments to teachers. So sorry for the families and staff who are not responsible for this mess. It’s a lesson in keeping a close eye and media attention on one’s school system. It doesn’t take long for things to get out of control.
Note that this is a importantly different than the earlier proposal, as under this one, the annual budget of FSC would be severely curtailed, but the facility would still remain open. Under the old proposal, if the center closed down entirely, the property would have been lost to the DCSS because of the conditions of the lease. Given DCSS’s severe budgetary problems, severely cutting back FSC in a way that still allows it to go on seems OK.
But I totally agree with AHID that FSC is a distraction from the core issues confronting DCSS, especially its leadership treating it primarily as a patronage system rather than an educational system.
Earlier didn’t they say that it took 4.7 million dollars a year to run FCS? So if they cut 3.2 million from FCS, that would mean they would only get 1.5 million dollars. That is a serious cut. Could FCS even operate on that and still offer all of the programs and services that the schools / community currently use? I don’t know – I’m just asking.
It seems very sneaky and cowardly for Atkinson to throw this in at the last minute and I completely agree that these budget issues are just distractions from the real issues the DCSS is facing.
It’s a nearly 70% cut. And it is 100% about conditioning the electorate for more tax increases.
Keep in mind that Atkinson has been for raising taxes to the current millage limit from day 1. Cutting Fernbank altogether (her first proposal) was intended to force that bitter pill down the throats of taxpayers — a sort of “support my tax hike or the science center gets it” proposal. Atkinson’s plan elicited the parental opposition she wanted, but the Board voted for a smaller tax hike than she had proposed. So now she’s proposing the “next best thing,” which is to gut Fernbank and have it exist only as a zombified version of its former self.
Atkinson’s message, of course, is that in tight economic times, she’s “forced” to cut things that parents like and which benefit kids. It is a pure diversion from what she does not want to do, which is to curtail the current friends and family jobs program. Atkinson hopes that all this disposes voters towards her default position: when in doubt, raise taxes. Or at least keep them at the millage limit, contrary to one board member’s recent (transparently absurd) pronouncement that the tax hike would be temporary.
There are way too many people within DCSS with way too much invested in the status quo. Atkinson may be #1 on the list, as she is raking in huge dollars presiding over the friends and family program. She may be sneaky and dishonet, but more likely, she is just self-interested. She stands to gain nothing personally from rocking the boat.
I’d say she and the board are sneaky and dishonest, along with self-interested. I say that because as you well know, and thanks to the folks at school watch for making a big deal of it, why (of course we know why) would they have previously unbudgeted costs they were well aware of, and sneak them in pretty much last minute? So they could spend money on HUNDREDS of unnecessary office positions, pretending like they didn’t know the true nature of their financial problems and then claim, “It’s way worse than we thought! now we have no choice but to raise taxes!”
In the meantime, they have upped the board members budgets by $3 million dollars, and the “department of communications” went from needing $150k, to almost a $960k, in just a single year. Perhaps they are eliminating some of the positions from one department, and shifting the employees to another. But that’s just speculation.
Atkinson aims to take the central office issue off the table next year not by making serious cuts, but by moving employees off the central office budget and onto the budgets of the principals.
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/04/27/could-dekalb-schools-survive-without-129-assistant-principals-could-any-metro-system/
The board, of course, has already granted at least tantative approval to this shell game. Now who wants to bet that during next year’s fiscal “crisis” Atkinson et al will pat themselves on the back for reducing the central office size and expense?
How difficult would it be for the existing Fernbank museum to buy the DeKalb County facility, if the county wants out? It would be an excellent move for the museum, the county would come out with cash…
Unfortunately the Fernbank Museum (on Clifton Rd.) hates the Fernbank Science Center (on Heaton Park) and treats them as their red headed stepchild. They would love nothing more than for the science center to disappear and have the bonus out of having “nothing to do with it.” Really, really sad and it makes it hard for me to go to the museum (on Clifton).
As a red-headed stepchild, I find your comments offensive.
FB museum hates the FB Science Center? Please explain why two educational facilities would behave this way. FB Science Center could pack in more martini drinkers at discounted rates in the Forest if funds need to be raised.
Doesn’t matter whether they hate it or not. We’re talking about a takeover, and the ability to control what goes on there. That would seem like an irresistible opportunity to me no matter how badly I hated what’s there now.
I have to say that Fernbank, the Museum, has always seemed a bit thin to me for a big city natural history musem. And given that, the cost high. We were members for a few years but the kids quickly tired of the very slowly changing exhibits and we never got close to our money’s worth. We got the most use out of the Mother’s Day brunches, which anyone can access. It’s also got a cold and sterile feel to it, both in terms of architecture and in terms of staff interactions. Meanwhile, the Fernbank Science Center has a warm and homey feel to it. And the price is right ($0!). It’s had some wonderful free community events and very reasonably priced camps and programs. And it’s much more walkable from Decatur. If the two institutions disappeared, I’d miss the Science Center more than the Museum.
I’ve always wished that something like SciTrek would spring up again. It was dynamic and engaging for kids; Fernbank Museum not so much. It seems more interested in fitting into the Druid Hills society ambience.
again, I’ve gotta say, this could all be solved by gutting the central office……….
I, for one, will be voting against ANY school board member that votes for the budget proposal as is. For the board to continue to recommend cuts while increasing its own budget as well as that of the superintendent is unconscionable. The board needs to operate from a zero sum budget, and cut any nonessential fluff, including products of nepotism. Ironically, this Board will submit the budget to the county commission, who is apparently squawking about the CEO spending 100k of unapproved money on a soap box derby track….except that they already approved almost 700k for the project. The system is broken and I hate to adopt an “anyone but them” attitude, but I feel no other choice.
And the hits just keep on comin’….http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/06/11/dekalb-board-delays-budget-vote-after-learning-it-must-trim-12-million-more/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog
Property values continue to fall in the midst of a bad recession? Who’d have thunk it? What’s next, the unemployment rate goes up?
As for the cuts, it’s a good thing the board members put off a vote. Man, finding an additional $12 million in cuts, where to look? Really hard work. If only the DCSS had hired a consultant or something, then they might know exactly where to look when making serious cuts. If only:
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/04/27/could-dekalb-schools-survive-without-129-assistant-principals-could-any-metro-system/
Once again, there you have it per Walter Woods. In the Atkinson administration, taking the professional advice of the consultants you paid $150,000 is not something worthy of serious consideration.
Another example of government malfeasance. Can this whole school admin team be fired? I hate to bring it up, but remember, the government wants another 1 cent sales tax to “untie Atlanta” traffic. Who wants to bet there will be cost-overruns & the tax gets extended past 10 years?
The cost overruns are a feature, not a bug, Mic. Take E-SPLOST in DeKalb. So far they’ve had at least $25 million in cost overruns on SPLOST III projects alone, which, of course, have simply been shifted to SPLOST IV.
http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2012/04/19/dekalb-school-projects-back-on-track/
That is the plan, of course — to keep spilling over from one SPLOST to the next so that SPLOST becomes permanent. I suppose you could say it already is permanent, since we are now on SPLOST IV and there’s no end in sight. Voters continue to approve SPLOST no matter how ridiculous the projects lists (high school football stadiums, a $250,000 track for a middle school, the rebuilding of perfectly acceptable schools like Fernbank, etc) and regardless of the open corruption (indictments, lawsuits, oh my!). Anyone who expects T-SPLOST to be different is engaging in some very wishful thinking.
It is really easy to blame everything on “government”. It’s also intellectually dishonest. Government is what we make it as a society. Government is a construct, and when it fails, it is the fault of the society that continues to put the fools in office and allows them to flourish as it is that of the fools.
The more people in this country try to blame some faceless monolithic “government” for the ills in the world rather than address core issues and problems like incompetent, agenda-driven elected officials and civil servants, then the bad guys continue to win on all levels. It’s easy to blame government rather than to take a stand or try to fix anything.
There are some very bad actors in DeKalb who need to be relieved of their duties, period. The school board is incompetent and this superintendent is no better than her predecessors. The county “CEO” (ridiculous term) is a buffoon, too. Not a single one of those people should have a job.
Yes, the entire school board can be fired, but not solely because the public is unhappy with the job they are doing. According to the Georgia statute, all public officials who hold an elective office can be recalled for the following reasons:
Grounds for recall” means:
(A) That the official has, while holding public office, conducted himself or herself in a manner which relates to and adversely affects the administration of his or her office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public; and
(B) That the official:
(i) Has committed an act or acts of malfeasance while in office;
(ii) Has violated his or her oath of office;
(iii) Has committed an act of misconduct in office;
(iv) Is guilty of a failure to perform duties prescribed by law; or
(v) Has willfully misused, converted, or misappropriated, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed.
Discretionary performance of a lawful act or a prescribed duty shall not constitute a ground for recall of an elected public official.
Is there any recourse for DeKalb schoolboard taxpayers in this? Other than the “voting public”, who holds the school board accountable? Does the state have any authority to fire this board and superintendent or do those who vote need to call for recall?
This effects Decatur, too, and not just because refugees from DeKalb are going to drive our real estate values- and hence our taxes- even higher (not always a good thing, BTW), and certainly not because of FBSC (because if CSD or CoD aren’t going to become financially responsible for it in some way, then we need to step back on that one), but because a troubled and corrupt education system doing such harm to children right next door effects us as a community and as people.
WSB has the story on the $12 million, too.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-schools-budget-vote-delayed-after-discovery/nPRRT/
I doubt any of these people will be voted out, so that’s a good question. Worth mentioning, on top of the debt the school board is already facing, Dekalb may have to pay an additional $70 million to a teacher’s benefit plan they were supposed to be funding, it’s tied up in court right now. If Dekalb loses, that puts them $150 million in debt, and there’s obviously no way humanly possible to remedy a situation that is that out of control, not with the current “leadership.”
None of these people are capable enough to handle a financial situation of that magnitude, and none have the fortitude to do what’s necessary in their own office, as demonstrated by their refusal to address their own staffing issues, and merely moving staff around, instead of eliminating redundancy, while increasing their own budgets by MILLIONS.
Apparently last night they spent a portion of the meeting bickering about their own travel expenses. WTF do any of these people need a travel budget for??? A side not to that is that the Superintendent gets $40k in ADDITIONAL expenses a year, on top of her salary which happens to be more than every Governor in the US, and Vice President. Absurd.
So…
In the article DEM posted above, several comments allude to something I’m unfamiliar with, but would be interested in learning more about. A couple of comments refer to a Constitutional amendment that would break up the districts in an effort to make them more manageable (financially and other). I don’t know the pros vs. cons of doing something like that, but I do know that none of these people have ever dealt with the sums of money they are currently mismanaging, and are obviously failing beyond miserably. The comments seem to suggest that breaking up the districts would do away these massive offices and staffs, and increase accountability, which is a no-brainer. But again, I really don’t know the details.
What is the superintendent’s salary???
The “breaking up into districts” thing is a dangerous concept. There is a huge possibility schools in lower income areas and programs like special ed could really suffer. Then again, there is apparently a vocal DeKalb contingent that WANTS those groups to suffer, so there you go.
$275,000k base + $2,600 a month routine expenses + $750 a month travel expenses
Like I said, I really don’t know much about the concept, but none of these people can manage this distract, or the money. Perhaps there’s a way to make it equitable, but considering the demographics of Dekalb, it could get sketchy. Still, I would like to at least hear the arguments.
Re: expenses, the previous Super (a former typing teacher) also received an expense allowance of similar magnitude, and she did NOT have to submit any receipts for the “expenses.” It therefore is not an expense allowance at all, but a personal slushfund. On top of her ample salary. And the travel expenses. For a local school employee. Is she flying down to Grand Cayman once per month or something?
I’ve never met any of these Dekalb officials personally, but this ‘oops we found out we didnt count $12 more million’ is either a pretty sophisticated political strategy to push through some extra cuts (eg, Fernbank)/basis for tax increase like Daydreamer says or complete incompetence.
If the former, you have to give them some credit — they might be self-interested, but pretty astute politicians…
If that is their tactic, I think I will pass on giving them credit for intentionally misrepresenting the current financial condition of the school system to the public. Haven’t they held public meeting based on the prior numbers? Don’t the new numbers have the potential to drastically change public opinion about the correct course of action?
I didn’t say I liked it Dawgfan, just that it is astute and sophisticated politics.
I watched the board meeting last night, and the extra $12 million came about when the CFO explained that he had been in contact with the DeKalb County assessors daily, asking for a concrete number for the tax digest. Although he still does not have a concrete number, the CFO said that he was told the digest will probably fall 9 percent, not the 6 percent they had been basing the budget on. The board members were shocked, shocked, I tell you, when they learned of this further decrease. They decided to postpone their vote on the budget because they feel that they must address cuts globally instead of piecemeal; they did not want to vote on cuts now and then have to come back and make more cuts.
I can’t help but imagine that the new CFO regrets taking this job. It appears that through him, the board discovered that the prior CFO — who I’ve heard is an unqualified, inexperienced family member of a high-up current or former admninistrator — had spent all the reserves and had failed to budget for certain costs, such as millions of dollars in interest payments on bonds and the extraordinary legal fees (which have now been included in the board’s budget and elsewhere). Just last year, the prior CFO and interim superintendent had told the board that the school system was in excellent financial condition.
Aaaand, can this be a direct result of the Great 2012 Tax Assessment Fiasco?!?
The complete incompetence from all levels is really becoming apparent to me. I was hoping being a CoD resident would shelter us from their incompetence, but since we live int heir county, the inability to govern properly will affect us.
Time for CoD to become a tail that wags the dog maybe?
Like some on this thread, I don’t know any of these characters. Instead, I choose to look at the actual numbers….for example, while I cannot speak to what the previous CFO told anyone, I know from looking at the numbers that the DCSS had a surplus of nearly $40 million in the last two years….
“The FY2011 budget planned for significant reductions in state revenue from the QBE funding formula and significant declines in the local property tax digest from which property taxes are derived. Fortunately, the funds the District expected to lose in additional austerity reductions during the year were not lost. Additionally, while the District planned for a 7% decline in the local property tax digest for FY2011, the actual decline was 3.5%. The result is that the District received substantially more revenue than originally planned in FY2011. The additional revenue will add approximately $40 million to the General Operations Fund Balance at the end of FY2011.”
–from http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/budget
The problem is that, instead of putting money aside, the DCSS board members simply restored the bloat….spending every nickel of it. The entire lot is intellectually bankrupt (see their passage of policy amendments just last week allowing the members who DON’T use ALL of their $4k/year travel expense allowance to seek authority from the superintendent to let some OTHER board member use the unused remainder…..really?) and dooms the county with shortsightedness. What is their plan if the county commission says “no” to the increase in taxes? What is their plan for FY 2014? What is their plan to cauterize the wound of legal fees (from both the Heery/Mitchell fiasco and the shiny new pension plan non-payment lawsuit)? What is their plan if they lose one or both?
Anyone remember the Richard Pryor movie “Brewster’s Millions”? Just vote “none of the above” for all of them.
Good, informative post, thanks for that. I guess all there is to add is to quote the great Mark Twain: “First, God created idiots. That was for practice. Then he created school boards.”
Fernbank Science Center can be saved. They just need to announce that they intend to build a soapbox derby track!