TUSD has been responding to and spinning the results of the Auditor General’s report during the past two weeks. TUSD Kids First feels compelled to make sure the spin does not minimize the facts of the situation within our public schools. As stated in the Auditor General’s report TUSD, compared to other large peer districts, has 211 extra administrative positions that cost the District over $11 Million per year. These dollars are taken directly out of the classroom and spent at the whim of the Governing Board.
The District has stated various reasons for their excessive administration headcount and costs. Initially it was due to a number of extra Assistant Principals that have been put in place (seven) as well as positions mandated by the desegregation case (seven as well).
THEY ARE WRONG!!!
The facts are the number of Assistant Principals today is 20% less than there were in 2013 and many of the desegregation mandated positions existed prior to the desegregation case. Nevertheless these 14 positions do not justify the extra expenditure of $11 Million per year on administrative overhead.
The District then stated that the large number of administration positions were due to small schools causing TUSD to have “more counselors, nurses, librarians and other support staff” implying these are administration positions.
THEY ARE WRONG!!!
The facts are these positions are considered Student and Instructional Support and do not count against administration headcount as outlined in the Auditor General’s Annual Report. To be clear, administration is purely administration and does NOT include custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, nurses, speech therapists, librarians, counselors, teachers or other instructional professionals.
The Governing Board is trying to hide from the community the fact that during the 2014‐2015 school year student enrollment DECREASED BY 857 STUDENTS while administrative spending INCREASED BY $1,198,000.
Simply there should be more resources in the classroom and less in administration. Change at TUSD starts with the repositioning of the extra 211 administrator positions and the placing of the corresponding $11 Million into the classroom. After all, the Governing Board should understand TUSD KIDS come FIRST.”