THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610050104
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kevin Armstrong
LENGTH: 65 lines
It's difficult for anyone facing adversity to realize that it almost always brings about advantages. But the premise is proven again and again.
No informed citizen of this city would deny that both our financial health and civic confidence were rattled by the school district's dire money matters over the past two years. But I wonder how many of us would be willing to say the trying times were worth the lessons we've learned.
Part of the danger in admitting such may lie in how little attention has been paid to the work done to right the wrongs.
We have spent much time harping on consolidating city and school financial services to the point it's become a panacea - which it's not.
Consolidation remains a worthwhile goal, but let's not lose sight of where we began this recovery.
Peat Marwick's now infamous report of Nov. 7, 1995, concluded with six key recommendations:
Develop a realistic budget.
Provide the Budget Unit Directors with primary authority and the appropriate tools to ensure proper accountability.
Monitor budget versus actual results.
Decrease and monitor the number of budget adjustments.
Integrate the position control system linking budget, personnel and payroll.
Define the purpose of proprietary funds.
All but one of those recommendations has been accomplished.
The budget is now an effective, working document that can be traced daily, and it is certainly being monitored, as the Internal Auditor's office can attest.
Department heads and principals now have access at any given moment to what balances remain in their accounts. They no longer worry about money being transferred without their knowledge.
And the School Board is getting regular reports on how year-to-date expenses compare with the budget. They also know about budget transfers being made and how they now number far fewer than the previous two years.
Even the four proprietary funds - for athletics, food services, textbooks and self-insurance - are back in the black and have growing balances as they should for anticipated expenses down the road.
The one unfulfilled need involves the position control system, which requires an investment of time and money in creating a new database to link budget, personnel and payroll. The board assuredly will request such a system be funded in the 1997-98 budget.
Whether you realize it or not, many of these changes were the result of the efforts of previous board members and Jim Pughsley. And the changes have continued.
For example, the board's new Audit Committee charter was corrected so that the Internal Auditor no longer reports to the superintendent and board jointly as was the case under Sidney Faucette's regime. The auditor (or inside watchdog) now reports, as she should, only to the board.
The superintendent also is no longer a member of the Audit Committee, a previous practice that was ridiculously out of line. The committee now is composed of two board members (Dan Arris and Neil Rose) and a ``member of the business community at large.'' That spot was recently filled by Ken Palmer, a retired CPA and former member of one of the ``Big Six'' accounting firms.
All are signs that financial accountability is being restored - aside even from consolidation efforts.
Most importantly, though, it means the board now can spend more time on academic accountability - from principals, teachers and students. by CNB