Dularge Middle sets bar for educating the poor
February 22, 2011Thursday, Feb. 24
February 24, 2011The Louisiana Department of Education has responded to recent criticism and news reports of what has been perceived to be a glut of professional service contracts, claiming that it was unfair to use outdated contract lists as a basis of that criticism or to include federally-required contractual spending.
Department public information officer Rene Greer responded to a news story by Capitol News Service that cited deals such as one for $94,000 to teach children how to play at recess and dozens of contracts to church organizations to take care of children after school.
The story cited data from a printout of department contracts for three fiscal years – 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, the latest documents available. Those documents were provided by state Treasury Secretary John Kennedy’s office. Kennedy has been a vocal critic of professional service contracts for several years.
State Rep. Jim Fannin (D-Jonesboro), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told Capitol News Service that one of his biggest concerns is in the area of professional contracts awarded by the state, particularly by the Department of Education.
“It’s absurd to have so many professional service contracts out there,” he said. “Kennedy has been raising this as an issue. Many agencies get around the requirement to obtain approval of contracts of $50,000 or more by awarding a lot of contracts for just under the required reporting level. There’s a tremendous amount of waste in those contracts.”
Greer said the department is equally determined to cut waste. “We’re deeply committed to the same principle expressed by Treasurer Kennedy and Rep. Fannin – to ensure that every tax dollar dedicated to education is spent thoughtfully to achieve the best outcomes for our students,” she said. “But we’re disappointed by the continued focus on contracts that are no longer current and haven’t been for several years.
“In many cases, the criticism centers on contracts issued five or six years ago, to community organizations and churches for the federally-funded after-school programs. And the process that awards these contracts was revised by BESE and the current administration more than two years ago, as it now requires grant applicants to provide students with a high quality academic component in order to be eligible for these federal dollars, and the department monitors and measures the effectiveness of grant recipients to ensure only successful providers are funded,” she added.
“It’s oversimplifying the issue to decide the number or amount of contracts issued by the department is a gauge on our commitment to fiscal responsibility,” Greer said.
Greer also noted that the State General Fund budget for the agency’s direct activities, which is about $57 million, is shrinking.
“From Fiscal Year 2010 to Fiscal Year 2011, contractual allocations are expected to decrease by more than $5 million or 15 percent. The largest contractual expenditure for the agency, the testing contract, accounts for nearly half the agency’s total annual budget. So there is very little left in the way of discretionary funds for the department to spend. Regardless, total State General Fund expenditures for the agency’s direct activities have declined by $6.8 million, or 10.7 percent, from Fiscal Year 2008-09 to Fiscal Year 2010-11. In fact, the number of employees employed by the agency, including the Special School District, has drastically declined from 857 during the 2007-08 Fiscal Year to 682 during the 2010-11 Fiscal Year, which is a 21 percent decrease.”
Greer pledged to provide Capitol News Service with an updated contract printout and, last week, did provide a partial list that contained printing and copier lease contracts. The professional service contract printout, however, was not included among those documents.
