It looks like there was some evaluation of the wrap-around services approach because there was an indication that fewer people were using the services that were not located at the schools. Miles indicated support for wrap-around services, initially at least.
Also, think it was a mistake by Miles not to make the financial situation with HISD perfectly clear with the public when he took over. If he did so, he can point to that declaration now as a reminder.
Of the fund balance: You are aware of the "General Accounting Principles" that apply to school districts?
To summarize training materials on the topic:
Under school system GAAP, supplies held in stock room inventory are typically accounted for using the consumption method. In this method, supplies are recorded as an expense when they are used or consumed rather than when they are initially purchased. When supplies are received into the stockroom, they are not immediately expensed. Instead,
<em> they remain as an asset (inventory) until they are taken out and used. </em>
The expense is recognized only when the supplies are issued for their intended purpose (e.g., distributed to classrooms, offices, or other departments).
So, part of any "positive" fund balance may, possibly, include a freezer full of chicken sticks with an expiration date of 2019. Or unopened boxes of Pentium laptop computers running Windows XP. Or a pallet of salmon colored copy paper. It might, in worst case, include the value of stuff that has been issued, thrown away, or pilfered without the inventory accounting being updated.
A district may, in my direct experience, report a fund balance of some six figures greater than any cash on hand available for payroll or fuel or repairs ... Districts with poor administrative controls over kitchens, closets, stockrooms, vehicle parts lockers can be in a world of hurt long before the problem shows up in the annual independent audit, and even then, the auditors are much more accustomed to look at the journals instead of dusty old warehouse shelves.
"In 2010, the US Department of Education released its ambitious National Educational Technology Plan, setting a goal to transform the future of education through technology. In many ways, this vision has now been realized. Today, students across the country use computers to learn English, Math, Science, and History. Tech companies and curriculum developers claim that this is helping them. Personal devices and digital platforms, they say, increase student engagement and have huge educational benefits.
Yet in my experience as a speech-language pathologist, digital programs are ineffective and distracting for kids."
Top line budget numbers don’t predict the wisdom of the budget itself. If you are cutting things that are useless and stupid, you might actually be doing some good.
Beyond whether or not it's wrong in the legal sense, it's evidence of mismanagement.
Third, you can talk to the Chronic, as they've picked that up.
Fourth, while we're here, I've written in much more depth about your bromance or whatever for Guyger, and guesses on the "gumshoe" mindset that might drive that.
I take your point, and I wouldn't be terribly worried if the sums were a little overhead allocated here or there. From the numbers Shipp cites, it appears nearly half of the Texas funding wound up in Colorado. Legal or not, that's cause for concern. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Miles' supporters will try to downplay it, his detractors will sensationalize it. It's not clear to me how much political capital Abbott is prepared to invest backing Miles, but I'm sure he has limits. This will put him closer to them.
Yeah, I saw this piece by Brett Shipp, who is a great reporter. The missing element for me -- and maybe it's there and I missed it -- would by illegality in the way a private entity shifts its own money around. If HISD pays Beck Construction to build a school, I don't think HISD can then say, don't let any of this money leak over to your Chicago office. I also can't help sniffing some possible shell game on the original sourcing of the story.
Maybe. I do think HISD can say it doesn't want materials that it was invoiced for its school winding up in Colorado. Which scenario this is closer to remains to be seen.
Clever article with lots of good points. However, you miss the fact Miles is also cutting a lot of school budgets that have lots of poor and failing kids in them in favor of spending beyond the means of the current budget for rapid expansion of NES schools. Houston doesn’t have zoning and almost all schools are Title 1 schools. Some of the A and B schools can mask their struggling children in the accountability system because they have some higher performing kids. But the reality of struggling kids-kids just like the ones in NES schools will be hurt with his budgeting priorities. I wish he had more vision.
Miles is armed with dense testing and classroom observation to support his claim that what he is doing actually works. Can you offer us some evidence that the schools you describe are serving poor kids well -- any kids?
I'm probably not sufficiently conversant here. I am aware that Houston has a number of schools where attendance has dwindled but the state held its subsidy at pre-COVID attendance levels as an emergency measure. That money is now over and done with, so those budgets are being cut by the state, not Miles. is what we're talking about? Forgive me if I am off point.
Thanks. I’m with you on hold harmless and also what a pitiful job our gov and leg did on not funding isds and charters in the general and 4 specials while they held hostage for vouchers. Shame. But the schools I’m talking about don’t have declining enrollment.
Fascinating, Jim. Sounds like those elected assholes down in Houston were really bad.
Hey, remind me what happened to the budgets of the uber-responsible, Reformer-led Dallas ISD over the same period (as it bled 10% of its enrollment)? Just curious...
No worries. As it happens, I don't think DISD has been particularly irresponsible with its operating budgets (capital expenditures are another matter), but they, like HISD, and Austin and just about every district in the state face deteriorating finances precisely because the state hasn't raised the basic allotment to keep up with inflation.
So what Miles is doing cannot be put down to having been necessitated by poor fiscal management. Like it or not, at least admit that it's an affirmative choice he's making.
It looks like there was some evaluation of the wrap-around services approach because there was an indication that fewer people were using the services that were not located at the schools. Miles indicated support for wrap-around services, initially at least.
Also, think it was a mistake by Miles not to make the financial situation with HISD perfectly clear with the public when he took over. If he did so, he can point to that declaration now as a reminder.
Of the fund balance: You are aware of the "General Accounting Principles" that apply to school districts?
To summarize training materials on the topic:
Under school system GAAP, supplies held in stock room inventory are typically accounted for using the consumption method. In this method, supplies are recorded as an expense when they are used or consumed rather than when they are initially purchased. When supplies are received into the stockroom, they are not immediately expensed. Instead,
<em> they remain as an asset (inventory) until they are taken out and used. </em>
The expense is recognized only when the supplies are issued for their intended purpose (e.g., distributed to classrooms, offices, or other departments).
So, part of any "positive" fund balance may, possibly, include a freezer full of chicken sticks with an expiration date of 2019. Or unopened boxes of Pentium laptop computers running Windows XP. Or a pallet of salmon colored copy paper. It might, in worst case, include the value of stuff that has been issued, thrown away, or pilfered without the inventory accounting being updated.
A district may, in my direct experience, report a fund balance of some six figures greater than any cash on hand available for payroll or fuel or repairs ... Districts with poor administrative controls over kitchens, closets, stockrooms, vehicle parts lockers can be in a world of hurt long before the problem shows up in the annual independent audit, and even then, the auditors are much more accustomed to look at the journals instead of dusty old warehouse shelves.
"In 2010, the US Department of Education released its ambitious National Educational Technology Plan, setting a goal to transform the future of education through technology. In many ways, this vision has now been realized. Today, students across the country use computers to learn English, Math, Science, and History. Tech companies and curriculum developers claim that this is helping them. Personal devices and digital platforms, they say, increase student engagement and have huge educational benefits.
Yet in my experience as a speech-language pathologist, digital programs are ineffective and distracting for kids."
https://public.substack.com/p/big-tech-hubris-and-greed-behind
Glad to hear from you, Jim. It's been 6 weeks! I was worried.
Top line budget numbers don’t predict the wisdom of the budget itself. If you are cutting things that are useless and stupid, you might actually be doing some good.
When is Schutze going to tell the facts about Miles' Colorado charter schools being a cash-starved clusterfuck? (Apparently, per other comment, he's seen the information, he just doesn't want to fully deal with it.) https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2024/05/14/disappearing-dollars--texas-public-schools-missing-millions
Dear Socratic, when are you going to deal with the obvious hole in that story -- what did anybody do wrong?
Well, sure, "wrong" in the legal sense, Jim.
Beyond whether or not it's wrong in the legal sense, it's evidence of mismanagement.
Third, you can talk to the Chronic, as they've picked that up.
Fourth, while we're here, I've written in much more depth about your bromance or whatever for Guyger, and guesses on the "gumshoe" mindset that might drive that.
As I said last winter, can we get an Amber Guyger Substack next? https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2023/12/jim-schutze-self-resurrects-to-carry.html
Steve Synder, is that you? Still pretending to be competent?
Ahh, coming from someone who didn't have to pretend to be INcompetent, when it came naturally.
I take your point, and I wouldn't be terribly worried if the sums were a little overhead allocated here or there. From the numbers Shipp cites, it appears nearly half of the Texas funding wound up in Colorado. Legal or not, that's cause for concern. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Miles' supporters will try to downplay it, his detractors will sensationalize it. It's not clear to me how much political capital Abbott is prepared to invest backing Miles, but I'm sure he has limits. This will put him closer to them.
Abbott's support for Morath and Miles is a deep mystery.
Only if you believe them benevolent. Why you do is a deep mystery.
Life is a mystery.
Oh, dear...
https://www.fox26houston.com/news/report-texas-tax-dollars-diverted-out-of-state-to-charter-schools-founded-by-mike-miles?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1Ymc8YLFyl4t4rxg30uyLGGZL8TSB00ViShRhyUwbzQQAgecAUA-gDm_4_aem_Afs11mkAdvogSXXzW80Ub9fqa2cN7BIJJUaPRQnAHLS2ZlVClHOmLTkYJq05codpF8LLH4808-ycN1Zq-l4sFq7c
Yeah, I saw this piece by Brett Shipp, who is a great reporter. The missing element for me -- and maybe it's there and I missed it -- would by illegality in the way a private entity shifts its own money around. If HISD pays Beck Construction to build a school, I don't think HISD can then say, don't let any of this money leak over to your Chicago office. I also can't help sniffing some possible shell game on the original sourcing of the story.
Maybe. I do think HISD can say it doesn't want materials that it was invoiced for its school winding up in Colorado. Which scenario this is closer to remains to be seen.
Clever article with lots of good points. However, you miss the fact Miles is also cutting a lot of school budgets that have lots of poor and failing kids in them in favor of spending beyond the means of the current budget for rapid expansion of NES schools. Houston doesn’t have zoning and almost all schools are Title 1 schools. Some of the A and B schools can mask their struggling children in the accountability system because they have some higher performing kids. But the reality of struggling kids-kids just like the ones in NES schools will be hurt with his budgeting priorities. I wish he had more vision.
Miles is armed with dense testing and classroom observation to support his claim that what he is doing actually works. Can you offer us some evidence that the schools you describe are serving poor kids well -- any kids?
Maybe I’m missing something. Are you arguing cutting the budgets of non NES schools is fine?
I'm probably not sufficiently conversant here. I am aware that Houston has a number of schools where attendance has dwindled but the state held its subsidy at pre-COVID attendance levels as an emergency measure. That money is now over and done with, so those budgets are being cut by the state, not Miles. is what we're talking about? Forgive me if I am off point.
As far as "vision" is concerned, you really don't want to have more vision than you have money, do you?
Thanks. I’m with you on hold harmless and also what a pitiful job our gov and leg did on not funding isds and charters in the general and 4 specials while they held hostage for vouchers. Shame. But the schools I’m talking about don’t have declining enrollment.
Then I am uninformed.
Fascinating, Jim. Sounds like those elected assholes down in Houston were really bad.
Hey, remind me what happened to the budgets of the uber-responsible, Reformer-led Dallas ISD over the same period (as it bled 10% of its enrollment)? Just curious...
Don't remember. You?
https://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001475/Centricity/Domain/78/Updated_2019-20%20Budget%20Summary%20Website%20Posting_2019_06_17.pdf
https://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001475/Centricity/Domain/78/2024-25%20Budget%20Summary%20Website%20Posting%2005%2006.pdf
So, a decade after Miles left Dallas.
So, are we now agreed that DISD's administration for the past decade have been profligate baddies?
I need a moment.
No worries. As it happens, I don't think DISD has been particularly irresponsible with its operating budgets (capital expenditures are another matter), but they, like HISD, and Austin and just about every district in the state face deteriorating finances precisely because the state hasn't raised the basic allotment to keep up with inflation.
So what Miles is doing cannot be put down to having been necessitated by poor fiscal management. Like it or not, at least admit that it's an affirmative choice he's making.