I found this information in a thread titled Arrogance of Power. I felt this was valuable enough to get it on the front page for people to see and comment about.
Here is the thread -
Importance of Responsiveness
Submitted by fisher08 on Tue, 2007-07-31 23:23.
I'm sure there are citizens who would agree a large part of any elected official's responsibility is communicating effectively with citizens and responding in a timely and accurate manner. I take this responsibility as a huge priority and often as a school board member, the concern or problem is to be handled by someone in Administration, but it is my responsibility to see that the citizen who inquires directly to me, does in fact, receive the information to the best of the organization's ability and to the satisfaction of the taxpayer. As a Board Member, I want to ensure that calls are returned and information requests are complied with timely. When I served as President of the Board, I kept a log of calls and noted my action or if follow-up was needed - it was a very simple system that worked. I may have missed a call or two during that year but I put it on a high priority to be responsive to citizens and the media alike. Civil service is to be our first priority even when disagreements occur - just my two cents on this topic! Darlene Fisher
Glad you are so willing to communicate with ...
Submitted by tpsteacher24 on Thu, 2007-08-02 08:13.
...the citizens. So, is there going to be a levy on the ballot in November?
--These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will; in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. -Thomas Paine
Still waiting on that great communication you were talking about
Submitted by tpsteacher24 on Mon, 2007-08-06 21:06.
Darlene...Ms. Fisher...is this thing on?
Response to Tpsteacher24 from 8.06.07
Submitted by fisher08 on Wed, 2007-08-08 13:58.
Tpsteacher24 - I apologize for not seeing this post until now. Actually Steve Flagg brought this to my attention as I haven't been back to this thread since 8/1. However to answer your question regarding a TPS levy for November. What I can provide to you are the steps I've taken to get this clarified myself and as follows:
1) I've been asking for the Superintendent's/Administration recommendation for some time now. One of the reasons we need to move the budget cycle and approval process up in the year is for this exact situation. So we are not pressed to the deadline to decide if a levy is needed or not. The deadline for that decision is August 23rd. We have a board meeting on August 21st. But I have been repeatedly requesting information from Mr. Foley and the Treasurer regarding where the district stands with the budget and what the financial situation is for the next 3 to 5 year period.
Since our 7/31 budget hearing where it was noted that the district will now carryover $18M it will be difficult for citizens to understand the reason a levy should be placed on the November ballot. I have been asking that the district review the budget in depth and this time under our new Treasurer they went to a zero-based budgeting approach. This approach resulted in much less spending in several budget areas in May and June and therefore added to the additional carryover balance along with the district losing less students and receiving additional state monies. Currently, with this information, I can not be in favor of placing a levy on the ballot for November. I have repeatedly stated that I do not want to be blindsided by a decision to put a levy on the ballot and if it will be difficult to sell the public on the need for a November levy that is very concerning to me. I am waiting for the Administration to state their case and recommendation but at this time, they have not and with it being 8/8 there are only 8 business days left before the 8/21 meeting.
That is the information I have at this time. I'd be happy to contact you to discuss in this in more depth or feel free to call me at the board office. I'd be very interested in your opinion and ideas. Thank you, Darlene Fisher
And I have so many more questions I hardly know where to begin!
The people I know who are for school levies at this point are the ones who show little personal financial ability themselves. Hmm! The rest who have an opinion on school funding are prudent, know the value of a dollar, and naturally say "hell no".
Toledo is probably going to end up with a core constituency of poor who will vote in any tax offered. Sometimes I despair.
...gets it act together..forget it. They are 2nd only to the Mayor and his administration in idiocy. The only reason they are 2nd are becasue they control less. These two key elements are why Toledo suffers so much now. If things continue as they are, we will have nothing in less than 5 years.
Ms. Fisher, but I really don't get much from your answer. I hope that you, as a board member, don't feel as out of the loop as the teachers do. Sad.
--These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will; in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. -Thomas Paine
I gotta hand it to ya..you hang tough in spite of incredible odds. I respect that. I hope and pray that unity and forward movement can be achieved. I trust that is what should be top priority going forward and that you will seek the balance of the Board and draw positive attention for the coming year. :-)
tpsteacher24 - I apologize that in general teachers feel out of the loop. As a board member, I often am the one driving for the information or requesting it. Sometimes it seems I had more information as a citizen/parent then I do as a board member. However, for a decision such as the importance of a levy - that can't be a decision that comes down to the wire. Here's my reasoning, I see the postings here - there are just a few comments but many people in Toledo have left for the suburbs or feel that we can not ask for new tax revenue until we work hard to improve the situation within TPS. Improving the situation on several fronts - addressing our lower preforming schools - are the resources we have assigned to the schools doing the trick - it appears on the surface they are not - so what evaluation measures must we create to make sure our resources align with the schools that need the most assistance. I understand that our salary structure is lower than surrounding districts, at this point in time, I don't know that we can address that - taking new tax revenue from an increasing shrinking tax payer base certainly could hurt our city in the long run. How I believe it should work is that the Board and Administration come to terms together and first and foremost there must be the demonstrated finanical need - currently I have not seen a plan that shows me that the only plan is that we need a levy - if we can create a win/win where we go thru the budget - attempt to address some of the back salary owed to the staff without new tax revenue - everyone wins (In my opinion). Our biggest opportunity is to make Toledo and TPS the place that people want to live and have their children educated. That solves some of our financial issues and also would drive the need for additional revenue if we were teaching more children. I'm so saddened to see the # of students leaving the district each year - there are very sound reasons for that decline. Also if the Administration and Board could work more proactively in tandem with the community to regain needed trust that could also help the district. First we must be frank with the issues we need to deal with - not sweep them under the rug. Educational systems are in a competitive environment now and we need to be able to compete with the various options successfully. I will openly share with you whatever documentation I have and believe the forums such as this or conversations that I'm able to have with people in the community help me to understand what support base there may or may not be for additional taxes. I am also an advocate to reviewing polling and/or research prior to any levy being placed on the ballot. We certainly would need to know the obtacles the district would face, and quite frankly what percentage of a dedicated sample base would or would not support a levy. It costs nearly $300,000 in contributions to put together a marketing plan to sell a levy - over the last 8-10 years the district has required to obtain contributions totalling over $1M just to put the levies on the ballot and campaign for them. I'm looking for us to put together a long term plan one that says for 3-5 years what will be needed in terms of tax revenue that also keeps some sort of increase in our salary bands to remain an attractive place to work. Again, I extend an invitation for us to meet. I'm sure we'd have a very good exchange of dialogue and I'm certain I can learn some important perspectives from you.
D. Fisher
If the TPS administration refuses to provide the needed information for Ms Fisher, I fully expect her to perform the fiscally conservative act of voting NO for balloting a levy.
Why on earth does anyone else think otherwise? Do we just keep throwing money at an extremely wasteful and inbred $360M school system and hope for the best? Toledo taxpayers have their OWN bills to pay; if there's anything left over, then perhaps school funding can see an increase.
Don't slice strips of meat off the cow that gives you milk.
When they took Jack Ford over Dr. Francis Dumbuya, they told us loud and clear that good ol boy politics trumps qualified people here in Toledo.
They took Ford because of his big deal connections in Columbus?? Well then let Ja-Fo generate the bucks they need.
They want money from Toledoans? They need to show that they are smart enough to get us the proper bang for the buck, and when you put Ford's resume next to Dumbuya's there should have been no contest.
(Poor choice of words on my part - there WAS no contest, it was a done deal from the start. And Toledo lost)
They can take their levy and shove it.
Steve,
A TPS levy in November?
Of course, without a doubt!
And never forget:
It's for the Children...
And the teachers
And the staff
And the administration
And for the accumulating shortfall in rebuilding decent school buildings with much smaller and inferior ones.
But I digress (and, I remember how taxes trickle down) ;-)
If they still have 18 million from last year, then I really don't see why they would need a levy. Like GZ says we have our own bills to pay and the last thing we need is more taxes.
When they speak of these out year budget deficits, they really don't discuss the assumptions. While they take into account any reduction in revenues such as lower enrollment, they don't look at any expense reductions. They budget expenses as if there will be no employee reductions or school closing. For instance, they know that Libbey will not be rebuilt and will eventually be closed prior to the completion of the building program yet they still have the building costs and staff in the forecast. It makes for a very conservative process that looks worse than it should be.
The lesson from this is that you need to know how they do this process and what is included. You would never do this in a business situation, but for some reason it is okay in the surreal world of government.
So next time you hear about these huge deficits, don't believe it until you check out the situation. If you look at financial forecasts from say 2005, you will see large deficits in 2007 and beyond. Yet they have managed to cut the budget and balance it without a levy.
Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors!