School board admits it does not understand budget, cuts $25 million anyway

[The Straight Story]

A majority of Columbus school board members said last night that they didn't have a good understanding of the district's budget, just moments after they had approved $25 million in cuts and a five-year revenue forecast outlining billions of dollars in spending.

The admissions capped off a tense several weeks of the board's budget-review process -- or lack thereof -- and ended with a vow from Superintendent Gene Harris that she's going to work with the members to develop a process to keep them better informed next year, for the 2012-13 budget.

"I believe that I've worked within the parameters that I've been given to date," Harris said after last evening's Board of Education meeting.

But Harris acknowledged that it was a mistake to provide the board with a four-page list of budget cuts without any context as to what percentage of programs were being cut.


http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/18/school-board-approves-big-cuts.html?sid=101