Dade schools officials expect more cuts

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Already reeling from tens of millions of dollars in state funding cuts, Miami,Dade School Board members on Tuesday wrestled with how to react to a state audit critical of certain district accounting practices.

The consequences could be dire: Hot lunches for kids and overtime for employees could become things of the past.

“It´s very distressing,” said School Board member Marta Pérez. “The audit said we should not have been wasting money. We can´t afford to be doing this, especially now with the budget crunch.”

Board members did not make any formal suggestions to administrators. Superintendent Rudy Crew did not attend.

COST DISPARITY

The state Auditor General´s report noted a disparity in food costs among schools, and noted that inventory controls were not consistent throughout the district.

The conversation, however, quickly turned to how to save money.

This year, the district´s food service was operating $12 million in the red. School system officials blamed the rising cost of food.

Penny Parham, who oversees the district´s food service program, said her office had taken steps to reduce costs, including streamlining the process for ordering food and standardizing menus. “Next year, there will be a much more limited menu,” she said. “We´ve taken off one hot choice.”

But board member Evelyn Greer, citing the budget crisis, suggested the district rethink the very idea of food service.

“What would it take for us to convert to an all,sandwich menu in our schools?” she asked. “We could eliminate all of the cooking of hot meals at lunchtime, which I don´t think is the custom of this country anymore, and provide a healthier, more balanced sandwich lunch.”

Parham and Deputy Superintendent for Business Operations Ofelia San Pedro said they would consider the suggestion and report back.

Not all board members supported the idea.

“I´m not totally comfortable with that,” board member Wilbert “Tee” Holloway said. “I know that many of our children rely upon that meal.”

A conversation about overtime payments followed.

Last year, the report found, the school district paid out about $27.8 million in overtime. School system records did not adequately document the need for the payments, the report concluded.

School Board Vice Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman called the overtime issue “the most egregious finding” in the report. “This is a big, big problem,” Hantman said. “There were some employees who were making as much as their salary in overtime.”

OVERTIME

San Pedro said the district in February implemented a moratorium on all non,essential overtime. Still, the district has spent about $19 million in overtime so far this fiscal year, which ends in June ,, a figure that several board members found objectionable.

“You may have put some controls in place over the past month, but over $20 million of overtime is still unacceptable,” board member Ana Rivas Logan said.

Some board members criticized what they called a lack of administrative control over overtime payments.

The board also discussed capital outlay funds.

Last year, the district spent $18.6 million of specially designated capital funds from the state to pay technology support specialists and managers.

State auditors, however, said the expenditure did not qualify as a capital investment. Under Florida statute, any district that improperly spends capital dollars could see an equal dollar reduction in general funding the following fiscal year.

On Tuesday, San Pedro reiterated the district´s opinion that the spending was appropriate under state law.

Still, it remained unclear whether the district would see a reduction in funding. San Pedro said she was working with the state Department of Education to settle the issue.

© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company