Corrections and after-thoughts on Newark Schools budget

I wrote about pay to play at Newark Schools on 1/21/07, congratulating the school board for deciding to make this charge to students. I assumed that the charge would cover all the expenses of athletics, but in fact it covers about 50 percent of the direct costs, but not for coaches and advisors. Taxpayers will continue to pick up the tab for that, at least for now.

On the other hand, I erred in my assumption that taxpayers were paying the costs for buses and drivers for school field trips. Word from Superintendent Keith Richards is that parents/PTA members pay for the cost of transportation.

The superintendent also corrected me on the school Broadcast Center which, he said, was supported by private grants from the Miller Foundation. Taxpayers, however, paid the cost of the full-time employee to supervise it. That point is moot now because the school administration has already decided to drop that position.

While the school administration is moving in the right direction by trimming away some of the nonessentials that threatened to break the collective back of taxpayers, there is more to be done, in my opinion.

As my hero, Matt Drudge, says: "Developing ..."