Cell Phones and Snacks for Education
Cell Phones and Snacks for Education:
By Regan Benson
MAD synopsis: In July 2010 Jefferson County School District spent more (a lot more) on cell phones and snacks than it did on textbooks for its Migrant Education program.
One of our greatest hidden treasures of abusive and wasteful government spending is tucked well within the infrastructure of our public education system, pulling on the heart strings of voters. I would like to share with you my findings in a department called “Migrant Education” of Jefferson County Public Schools. What we see in this piece of transparency is that grant money can certainly free up dollars out of the general fund for important work such as salaries and benefits for employees that produce “student achievement”.
Grant money can also free up general fund money so that employees of Jefferson County Schools can manage Facebook pages and a twitter account, social networking is an important task for student achievement. Ok, maybe not. Perception is an interesting topic, especially in uncertain economic times and worries. Jefferson County Schools is the only district that I have been able to find in the State of Colorado that uses district resources to manage social media, but after all they are Colorado’s largest school district, and the taxpayers keep the $$$ flowing!!!
To summarize, the expenditures out of the Migrant Education Fund (grant money) for time period 7/10 thru 8/10 are just down right scary! Dental care and snacks seem to have a direct correlation with a grant, fascinating. Cell phone expenditures in correlation with grant money is another fascinating concept. One might have to wonder what the grant(s) were designed to pay for?
cell phone charges: $9923.39
snacks, meals &refreshments: $1496.62
contracted services for dental care: $4760.44
textbooks: $26.35
[...] Cell Phones and Snacks for Education [...]
October 11th, 2010 at 4:04 amOh, how sad that out of $16,206.80 spent .1% was spent on textbooks? That’s POINT 1%, not 1%…Ay-yi-yi!And this is called “Migrant Education Fund”? OK, so the cell phone charges are blantant mis-use, but I can hear people justifying the snacks and dental as needed services for good health and nutrition. HOWEVER, there are already programs out there to cover these types of expenses that can be utilized. The people managing these funds and programs need to be held accountable for guarding and using these funds for what they are meant for.
October 12th, 2010 at 6:39 pmWe should not be paying for educating or ANY of these services for migrants (I.e.illegal aliens) Why can’t schools concentrate on education rather than feeding, clothing and providing medical care for those they deem worthy? I am tired of watching all of this from my seat at the table of the shrinking middle class.
November 10th, 2010 at 7:42 am