Hey, readers, you're posting a lot of good questions and comments on education. Thanks! Keep 'em coming!
But if you'd like to deliver your two-cents-worth on education and the upcoming school board election in person (and if you're not worn out from shoveling your driveway), come to the open forum I'm hosting tomorrow morning at the Madison Public Library. I'll be there from 10:30 a.m. until noon to take your questions and ask you a thing or two about taxes, the trimester system, AIM High, and other issues our school district has to deal with. (I'll probably ask for your vote, too. ;-) )
So stop by, say hi, speak your mind. You don't have to stay the whole time, just come and go as you like. I won't be making a speech; Tuesday morning's event is an open conversation about education and our school district. I look forward to seeing you there!
Each year the school board lists the Daily Leader as its official publication. All the minutes and announcements are placed in the paper at a high cost of thousands of dollars to taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteIn this day of technology and internet, why can't the school website become the official publication at no cost?
Newpaper readership and subscriptions continue to decline. Young people don't subscribe or read a paper, they are online.
Wouldn't that save thousands each year if the school could post their minutes and announcements on the school site?
Do you know what school board members get paid? I think it is $30 or $35 a meeting. I wonder if that is enough to pay for babysitting costs. Maybe it is time to add five or ten bucks to each meeting so more people can afford to run.
ReplyDeleteWhen the whole opt out stuff started years ago, the board voted to take a reduction in pay to show their good faith in trying to curb expenses. I was at that meeting and thought it was the wrong approach. They aren't the problem as far as their pay goes, unless they get extra money for a lot of other things. I don't believe the board members are in it for the money but they didn't deserve a reduction in pay. There were many other places at that time to cut the budget instead of the school board. I don't always agree with what the board does, but I do think they earn their money. But I also don't think that the pay keeps a person from running if he/she is interested in the position. One board member who ended up quitting a couple of years ago (Craig Van Hove) refused to take ANY pay for serving. Now that's read dedication!
ReplyDeleteAs to the first poster, I think they could save money by posting on line. This was brought up once several years ago I think and the thought was that a lot of people wouldn't have access to the info. I don't think that argument holds anymore. And anyway, most of the minutes only list the expenses; very little about what actually happens at the meetings.
A way to find out how many people actually read the minutes is to put a request and phone number to call somewhere in the printed minutes. Only if a person read the printed minutes would they know to call that number. That way if hardly any calls, you would know that no one is reading the printed minutes and thus they are a huge waste of money. And then the board could look for cheaper, more efficient options, like the school website. I honestly don't think anyone wades through the stuff anyway.
Nonnie
$35 per meeting -- maybe I'll save on babysitting and bring Madville Times Jr. along to the meetings!
ReplyDeleteUsing the school website for official publications and notices -- spectacular idea! We could post our agendae and minutes immediately; readers wouldn't have to wait for the next paper to come out or drive up to the school to read the agenda taped to the boardroom door. That's what we do with our Lake Herman Sanitary District documents.
But I think the provision of the law that requires public posting of such records doesn't recognize the Internet as an acceptable forum for pulbic notice. You've got to designate an actual newspaper as your official publication. And I think someone mentioned to me once that the newspaper lobby isn't about to let their public cash cow go. (Oops -- there goes my endorsement from Jon Hunter!)
But yes, that's a good idea, and we should check with our lawyer to see if we could do it!
Oh! Madison already puts its agendae and minutes online! Check out the superintendent's page.
ReplyDeleteOf course, what would be really cool is if the board had someone put all that info on a blog and then stick it on an RSS feed that would update automatically on the school's front webpage and on any other website that subscribed! Mmmm, open government!
Oh, and I just chatted with my wife. She suggests that the cost of publication in the papers is just the cost of doing business, of making sure the information gets out to as many people as possible. Sure, lots of young people skip the newspaper, but lots of older people never touch the 'Net. What we save on publication costs (maybe a thousand bucks a year? maybe two?) might not justify the decrease in access to information for a portion of the voters.
I still say that a survey should be done to see if anyone actually reads the newspaper minutes. Maybe don't print them for two months and see if anyone misses them. Or put in the embedded request to call a certain phone number, which you would only do if you are actulaly reading the minutes.
ReplyDeleteI don't care if this is a cash cow for newspapers or not. It's my taxpayer money going to schools for education, not for subsidizing newspapers. And I think using said money for education is more important than wasting it on printed minutes that hardly anyone probably reads.
I would like to know much it costs for a year to print the minutes in the newspaper. Cory, could you get this figure before the meeting tomorrow morning, please? Thanks.
Nonnie
Here are the figures I found in the board minutes for publication expenses in the Madison Daily Leader in the past three months:
ReplyDeleteMarch: $493.29
Feb: $244.92
Jan: $545.65
Now note, these items include "legal publications, school newspaper insert, and advertising." I'm going to take a wild guess and say maybe half the cost was legal publications. Those figures and assumptions suggest maybe $2600 a year in publication costs for the legals. That might be close: the sanitary district spent $113 back in January, and even in a busy month, our notices aren't as long as the schools, so I'd expect the school's bill to be larger.
One question I have is how to account for the money the MHS Athletic Booster Club raises each year. Much of the money goes for camps and larger projects, but who is keeping track of their income and expense. How would anyone know if someone was getting into the fund?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they get audited like the school does each year. Maybe the school has no right to see their accounting, but if they are making the money at school events, shouldn't that be kept open to the public.
Same with Band Parents and their fund raising for trips. Who watches the money for these groups and does the public have any right to know what they actually raise each year?
I think the After Prom runs its money through the school now.
I'm sure the After Prom committee and the Booster club have their own internal audits, like any other club (including Kiwanis). But since they do not recieve taxpayer dollars from the school itself, then public accountability is probably not as big a priority.
ReplyDeleteI would bet that more than half the amount above is minutes cost. What do the schools advertise? And the Maroon only comes out a few times a year. I'm just guessing though.
ReplyDeleteThe Maroon is another outdated method of teaching and extra cost to the district, isn't it? How many students go on to work at a newspaper after high school? On the other hand, how many students are asked to help prepare a newsletter for their class while in college or for a company once they are in the work force?
ReplyDeleteMHS could probably save quite a bit in printing and insertion costs by simply printing a Maroon Newsletter that would teach kids Graphic Design principles on their laptops. They could design some killer resume's.
Rather than send it out through the newspaper, which only 60% of families subscribe anymore in Madison, and very few young families, post the Maroon Newsletter online on the school's website so alumni can also access it.