DCSS: BOE Intellectual Deficit

DCSS had been grappling with a looming budget deficit which was expected to be handled by operating cost reductions due to retirements and layoffs. This balancing act was predicated on the estimate that "X" number of employees would abandon their paychecks. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, significantly less than "X" found freedom from their daily grind.

For argument's sake, let say the actual number was "one half X". That means from a budget point of view, an approved budget, there would be a surplus of "one half X" employees. In the real world this is viewed as a very real opportunity. The first "one half X" chose, on their own, to leave. The system had no say and no influence on whether those leaving were "desired departures" or eligible for a retention program. They just left. Here's the opportunity: the other "one half X" can be selected for surplussing based on their contribution, based on their merits, based on their value. Outside the cloistered environment of government this is known as "cleaning out the deadwood".

Yet this opportunity was soundly rejected by the Board. Why? The Board was already aligned with the political and operational consequences of a system with "X" fewer employees and had approved a budget based on that level of staffing. They cannot now rise up in opposition. Or can they?

It isn't clear who the Board is pandering to, but even teacher organizations have rightly come out in favor of the cuts based on the logic that now is better than later as it allows surplussed employees time to find another job. Furthermore it is clear to even the teachers that the current level of staffing is unsustainable. Clearly the Board is not pandering to common sense and logic, so the only alternative is they pander to exactly the opposite: outspoken parents.

Perhaps the Board should remember they have fiduciary responsibilities to DeKalb taxpayers and not just a few whiny parents whose child "really enjoyed the field trip to Fernbank". Or perhaps we just need a new Board.