Board & Admin Don't Know Whether Read 180 Received Funding

Since May I've been asking the administration and board members, collectively and individually, whether the budget for this school year includes funding for a promising middle school remedial reading program called Read 180. The headline on a State Journal story on January 29, 2005, read: District Eyes Reading Program For Expansion. The subheadline said: Teachers Want More Students In The Read 180 Program, Which Has Raised Reading Levels Quickly.

But NO ONE seems to know whether the program received any funding at all in the budget!

At least no one has answered me when I've asked by e-mail and at various committee meetings of the board.

The failure of anyone to know highlights one of the weaknesses of the budget process, that is, no one (board and administration alike) has much control over academic achievement when no one knows whether a promising program did or did not get funding.

The MMSD needs a budget process that tells the board and administration, as well as the public, three things about spending on important programs and budget areas. In fact, we all need to know:

1) How much was budgeted last year.
2) How much was spent last year.
3) How much is budgeted for this year.

Until the budget includes these pieces of information, no one knows how taxpayer money is being spent.

Posted by Ed Blume at August 19, 2005 11:17 PM
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