September 29, 2004
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
As a new school committee member, I have taken a class for new members, spoken to and personally visited the Mass Association of School Committees (MASC) Offices, and had numerous conversations with school committee members from around the Commonwealth and around the country. The following is directly from the MASC:
"As a school committee member, you are the overseer of your district's school funds. It is your responsibility to ensure that these public monies are spent wisely, efficiently and equitably to meet the education goals that have been established for your district."
"Monitoring the budget. Once the school budget has been adopted and appropriated, it is the responsibility of the school committee and superintendent to ensure that expenditures are used to achieve the goals that have been established. Proper monitoring requires reviewing financial reports regularly, preferably monthly.
"Most boards want to know four things: how much did we budget? How much have we spent? How much is left? And if the answer to the last two is unexpected, what happened? Reports should not be limited to the operating budget. Look at enterprise accounts, school activity funds, athletic funds, and cafeteria accounts. Supporting documents should be clear and concise."
This is the financial information I have requested, but have not been provided. My responsibilites are described quite clearly in these statements from the Mass Association of School Committees.
If you believe I should not be following these instructions, or that other rules dictate my responsibilites, I would be very interested in hearing about it.
