Superintendent Richards is not a good manager

Newark city schools is again talking about a tax issue for the May ballot. I agree with Advocate editorialists who say Newark city schools can't win any kind of new tax at the polls. (Read it at this link.)

Had they tried for an income tax earlier they might have won it. Now, it's too late for any kind of tax for two reasons: The economy has a lot of folks scared and they aren't buying much of anything, least of what they will buy will be new taxes; and the other reason is that confidence in the NCS superintendent and board has eroded even further to a very deep and well-deserved low.

Superintendent Richards and his gaggle of school-board puppets failed to hear soon enough the very clear feedback given to them, if they heard it at all; and they all failed to act quickly and decisively when told over and over that taxpayers are tapped out. The argument that some folks are too selfish to "give to the kids" patently ignores the incredible property-tax and income-tax burdens already in place. Taxpayers are giving mightily to local schools, but some parents/teachers/administrators still can't see new tax requests as new taxes piled on top of these already-excessive taxes.

It's a never-ending treasure hunt for NCS and Superintendent Richards, so it is now suggested we somehow owe "the kids" another whopping 14.5 mills, which is the amount suggested for the May ballot.

Superintendent Richards is not a good money manager, though he's paid more than twice the amount paid to the city mayor by a public that expects a lot more for a lot less. If you need further proof of his lack of fiscal finesse, go take a long look at the NCS treasurer's pages and click on the 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report - posted January 5, 2009.

On page 151 you can see that the cost per pupil has risen over the past 10 years from $6,092 to $11,696 - almost doubled - while enrollment has dropped by nearly a thousand students - from 7,433 to 6,538. During those same years the teaching staff has risen from 427 to 511, changing the pupil-teacher ratio from 17.41 to 12.79.

This is the kind of management - of guarding the public's money - that we're getting from Newark city schools and Superintendent Richards.

Now there's yet another factor that enters Richards' bottom line. He sold the community a few years ago on the notion that we should construct new school buildings and renovate others. Voters were sold an incredible load of debt, the lenders of which now expect to be repaid.

How much debt? As of 6/30/2008 the outstanding balance on long-term debt stood at $75.6 million. But wait. By the time the library bonds are paid off in 2023 and the school improvement bonds are paid off in 2034, Newark city taxpayers will have been milked for $109.7 million dollars and while we're paying on this, we're also paying for school operating expenses. And in 2034 - or earlier - guess who will be needing more money for buildings now needing repair or replacement?

So now, the debt load for Richard's folly is a big part of the vice being felt by NCS, or so it seems to me.

As I've said before, it's past time for Superintendent Richards to retire again. He is no longer believable, he is no longer seen as competent, he is in the eyes of many citizens the opposite of a community asset.

His departure would not solve the financial pinch which he has created. But it would clear some air if we were to have a skilled manager and a good communicator at the helm. In the interim I would indeed like to see the state come in and reset NCS priorities and expenditures. It would be a good launch pad for the future of our local schools.