APS must always put students first
Taking sports away from kids is not an option, especially when other areas can be cut
Since being elected to the APS School Board in February 2015, it has become apparent (to me that) children are not always the priority. I was shocked to learn there was no board policy stating our decisions were to be made in the best interest of the child. It took me over a year into my tenure to persuade the board to make children’s interest paramount. Now we are charged with making decisions in the best interest of our students. So why then did APS consider cutting competitive middle school sports if children’s interests must be considered before adults? (The district reversed course Wednesday and said it was working to keep the sports next school year.)
Children always come first to me. They will always be placed ahead of the adults in the building. I speak for them! Students are our future, and I refuse to vote for a budget that is balanced on their backs. Children are the reason I will not vote for a budget that includes cutting competitive middle school sports, because I know the positive impact and outcomes athletics provide our children. If we (were to) cut sports, who gets hurt most? The ones who will bear this pain are our most-vulnerable children, those trying to figure out who they are and what they are good at, those who can’t play club sports, and those who don’t have someone waiting for them at home.
Funding all middle school sports would cost APS — really our taxpayers — under $600,000, which is .00046 or 46 thousandths of 1 percent of a $1.3 billion budget. Your children are priceless and certainly worth more than 46 thousandths of 1 percent of the APS budget.
If taxpayers can pay for APS employees’ cellphones at a cost of $350,000 a year and only ask their employees to pay $5 a month to offset the costs, then something is wrong. How many of us wish we paid $5 a month for our cellphone? If we can pay our attorneys and lobbyists over $1million a year but can’t find a way to keep mid-school competitive sports, then something is wrong. If APS can pay 35 employees between $100,000 and $240,000 (annually), then APS can find $600,000 for middle school sports. If it can’t, something is wrong.
Many of these employees get paid more than our public health doctors, more than district attorneys, more than Cabinet-level secretaries, more than our governor, more than judges, some even more than our Supreme Court justices. The governor’s director of communication earns $80,799 while APS’ earns $111,078. Something is wrong when APS chooses to fund these 35 positions at over $4 million a year while the average pay for teachers is $44,900 a year. Then APS (originally) says middle school sports is not worth funding at a yearly cost of less than $600,000, or 46 thousandths of 1 percent. It says it can’t cut something else. Well, I don’t buy it, do you?
Taxpayers have generously funded APS, and it is the board’s responsibility to recommend budget adjustments that limit the impact on our children. This can be easily accomplished by taking the following steps:
1. Creating an in-house counsel department, saving approximately $500,000 a year in private attorney fees.
2. Stopping paying for employee cellphones, saving $350,000 a year.
3. Reinstating the Internal Audit Department, ensuring taxpayers money is not wasted.
4. Consolidating graduations into a graduation weekend, saving money on facility charges.
5. Stopping paying the bond debt on the (planned) Employee Health Center.
6. Stopping the practice of allowing employees to take home taxpayer-funded vehicles.
7. Returning to last year’s high school schedule — as recommended by last year’s Budget Steering Committee — saving millions of dollars.
The sum total of these reforms would save mid-school competitive sports.
Moving forward with this most difficult budget process, I will continue to question the superintendent and ensure the truth comes out so the public is not misled by semantics. I will continue to call for equity for all children, transparency of the budget process, accountability of public monies, and assurances children will be placed first. First place is the only place they should be! The budget must NOT be balanced on the backs of our children.