Tag: Schools

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State audit highlights financial worries in DeKalb schools

State audit highlights financial worries in DeKalb schools
DiscoverDeKalb college board users who fired superintendent trace at motives

The state conducts an once-a-year audit of every faculty district. The audit of DeKalb, the state’s third-premier faculty district, spans the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. Watson-Harris commenced functioning as superintendent in June 2020.

After some board users expressed considerations about hiring methods and federal aid shelling out, an outside investigation disclosed some of the issues pointed out in the audit. That investigation established that Watson-Harris was unaware of these troubles.

The condition audit suggests that just about $1 million in pandemic assist could have been inaccurately documented or invested without having proper acceptance dependent on their evaluation of a sample of expenses.

Three human means and payroll staff members in the sample received bonuses totaling $23,000 devoid of board acceptance or documentation of further perform done, the audit uncovered. Quite a few other employees out of the random sample of 60 had been found to have obtained bonuses they ended up not suitable for or for which there was no documentation.

ExploreReport: Fired superintendent not to blame for employing, pay out issues

These problems could consequence in “unnecessary economical strains and shortages” for the district, the report stated, if federal or condition education and learning officials were to check with the district to return some of the money.

District officers informed auditors that they misunderstood “ambiguous” early guidance about how to shell out the money. The investigation commissioned by board users, which spanned a comparable time body, concluded that workers have been not pursuing district procedures when it arrived to disbursing bonuses.

Auditors also reviewed staff payment and found that the district could not present documentation to guidance the decades of working experience additional than two dozen workers were being currently being paid out for. Other employees received bonuses they did not qualify for or ended up paid out previously mentioned their fork out scale. And about 150 workforce utilised or accrued additional family vacation time than they were permitted.

The district blamed these challenges on a absence of managerial oversight in the human assets and payroll departments and a failure to preserve documentation relating to personnel fork out.

In a reaction to auditors, district officials famous that its interim main of human means, who was in position when these troubles had been found, has been moved to a new position. There was no interim HR chief outlined on the district’s web-site at the time of publication.

And finally, auditors observed that a lingering changeover to a new monetary management procedure boosts the district’s chance of squandered cash and accounting errors, and puts an enhanced burden on staff. The conversion to a new process began in September 2019.

Board customers questioned Watson-Harris about this transition in February. She stated her team was getting the troubles “extremely seriously,” but observed that the complications predated her administration.

“Without powerful controls above a one accounting program, the Faculty District will increase its hazard of not detecting glitches or omissions in its accounting and HR/payroll details,” the audit explained.

District officials advised auditors they assume to change to the new technique by March 2023.

ExploreDeKalb County Faculties: Our modern protection

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FT Executive Education rankings 2022: top schools for management courses

FT Executive Education rankings 2022: top schools for management courses

Superior afternoon from London. After a year’s hiatus, the time has come to announce the effects of the FT Executive Education rankings — the leading providers of limited administration courses as properly as customised organization programmes.

Be sure to notice, we will be taking time off so the up coming Small business Faculty Briefing will be out on June 13, after a countrywide holiday getaway in the British isles. On that working day, we will publish the leading Masters in Finance levels of 2022.

Thank you for reading through Small business School Briefing and have a terrific 7 days — Wai Kwen Chan and Andrew Jack.

Free of charge on the internet event: the World Boardroom

Join the FT’s top rated journalists in discussion with leaders in governing administration and small business, like the IMF, the president of Colombia, US secretary of commerce and lots of a lot more at the World Boardroom party on June 7-9. Plus, we have speakers from faculties this sort of as Northwestern Kellogg, Peking Guanghua and Chicago Booth. Sign up for free today at ft.com.

FT Government Instruction rankings 2022

HEC Paris is selection a single for the initial time in the personalized, open up and mixed rankings for executive instruction. No other school has topped all three FT executive tables at the exact same time.

The school’s results comes as many of the world’s top academic establishments report a surge in need for non-degree courses as the Covid-19 pandemic eases, writes Andrew Jack, world-wide education and learning editor.

In our league desk of customised business enterprise programmes, tailor-made to the demands of firms and organisations, 70 colleges are highlighted. We also reveal the major 65 schools running advanced and typical management open up-enrolment programs.

FT Customized ranking of 2022: best five

FT Open up ranking of 2022: top rated five

Last but not least, a 3rd table is made up of the prime 50 suppliers of both of those personalized and open administration courses. In this article is our report on tendencies in the govt schooling sector at: ft.com/government-schooling.

FT Government Education and learning put together personalized and open up position of 2022: top 5

  1. HEC Paris, France/Qatar

  2. Iese Enterprise University, Spain/US/Germany/Brazil

  3. IMD Business College, Switzerland

  4. Esade Enterprise School, Spain

  5. London Business enterprise College, United kingdom/UAE

Verify out our rankings web page to see if your school is in the table: rankings.ft.com/residence/government-instruction.

Are universities suffering from management bloat?

Some academics argue that larger education and learning wants to aim methods absent from administration and again to teaching and investigate, writes Andrew Jack.

Timothy Devinney recalls his horror when he was revealed a sprawling spreadsheet of the “key general performance indicators” for the college division where he after worked. It bundled 110 targets, each individual with workers assigned to observe them.

“There are only two that matter: scholarship and pedagogy. Any sane organisation would appear at the administrative overheads and check out to get rid of them,” states Professor Devinney, now chair of international business at Alliance Manchester Small business School.

Timothy Devinney: ‘A lot of the administration is never contested’
Timothy Devinney: ‘A good deal of the administration is under no circumstances contested’ © Benjamin Statham/FT

Knowledge line: Leadership is the key ability to learn in 2022

Leadership is the top discovering priority for executives, in accordance to the FT’s second yearly chief finding out officers survey, this calendar year. The other two critical subjects are diversity and inclusion, furthermore electronic transformation, publish Andrew Jack, Sam Stephens and Leo Cremonezi. Other popular subjects had been adjust administration, innovation, digital expertise, system and information science.

Chart on chief learning officers’ themes for the year ahead

Function and professions round-up

Vive la différence between operate and participate in France was the initial place to give staff the appropriate to digitally disconnect from get the job done. Now the strategy is currently being taken up across Europe.

Why presenteeism is an enduring corporate narcotic Some leaders are demanding very long hours in places of work as if the doing the job from residence revolution under no circumstances happened.

The chilly connect with is back again and worse than ever We all experienced a break from nuisance phone calls all through the pandemic — so now they look even more intrusive.

Quiz: Are you up to day with the news?

What reward has Goldman Sachs introduced for senior bankers as it makes an attempt to bring in talent? Take a look at you with nine additional queries.

Ought to-read FT tales in the past week

Russian president Vladimir Putin has signalled Russia will tolerate Finland and Sweden becoming a member of Nato, but warned the Kremlin would respond if the alliance installed military services bases or tools in both place. But Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blocks Nato accession talks with Sweden and Finland.

Bitcoin has no long term as a payments network, claims FTX chief Bankman-Fried criticises biggest electronic asset about inefficiency and significant environmental costs.

Is the international financial system heading for economic downturn? The outlook is deteriorating mainly because of the Covid outbreak in China, growing US desire rates and a price tag of living crisis in Europe.

Column chart of Inflation rates and forecast ({ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}) showing households in many advanced economies face a cost of living crisis

Back again troubles
To view prior newsletters, go to: ft.com/bschool.

If this publication was forwarded to you, then you should indication up for the FT Small business Faculty Briefing.

Thank you for reading through. Be sure to send your suggestions and suggestions to bschool@ft.com.

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FT Executive Education Ranking 2022: the top business schools

FT Executive Education Ranking 2022: the top business schools

French company university HEC Paris has topped the FT’s twin yearly government instruction rankings for open-enrolment programmes and customized programs for corporate customers for the first time. The school’s double results comes as numerous of the world’s leading educational institutions report a surge in demand from customers for non-diploma courses as the Covid-19 pandemic eases.

This advancement demonstrates quick-phrase appetite from senior supervisors to meet in individual and off web page after months of performing remotely. But it also reveals a very long-time period drive to study clean techniques, these types of as digital transformation, and retain drive at a time of high employment and personnel turnover.

“Demand is selecting up noticeably,” suggests Anne-Valérie Corboz, affiliate dean of govt schooling at HEC Paris. “There have been a large amount of requests immediately after a halt for two many years, specifically from senior govt groups who have not experienced the option to satisfy and reconnect around new methods to performing, organisational layout and coping with Era Z.”

The sample is reflected in the FT’s parallel study of main studying officers who get programs for their organisations all over the globe. This demonstrates that a vast majority hope budgets to increase this yr, with a emphasis on classes supplying insights into management, range and inclusion, and digital abilities.

Monetary Periods Executive Instruction rankings 2022

Competitiveness from in-property “corporate universities” and consultancies is intensifying, as is on line understanding from organisations these as LinkedIn. A escalating amount of electronic coaching begin-ups funded by enterprise money are also disrupting the sector, with new technological know-how and flexibility in their choices.

But “the most interesting query at the moment”, claims Tom O’Toole, associate dean for govt training at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois, “is, how sustainable are these new entrants? There is massive promoting opposition ideal now and their returns are beneath pressure. We have the brand name of our school, the university, the associations that go back again years and a fantastic offer of reliability.”

Corboz adds: “Business faculties are in a one of a kind position to merge investigation with real-world encounter.”

Anne-Valérie Corboz of HEC Paris
Anne-Valérie Corboz of HEC Paris states demand from customers for courses is rising © Nathalie Oundjian

Among the 65 business enterprise educational facilities rated for normal and sophisticated administration open up-enrolment programmes this 12 months, the 19 top rated-tier elite providers include 4 with their key campuses in France, three from Spain and two each from the United kingdom, the US and Switzerland.

Of the 70 educational facilities that characteristic in the position for custom programmes, customized to organisations’ demands, HEC Paris is a person of 18 in the prime tier. That elite team contains 5 educational institutions from France and four based in the US, together with institutions in Spain, the United kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, Mexico and China.

The mixed position of educational institutions assessed for equally open up and customized programmes is also headed by HEC Paris, adopted by 4 other European establishments: Spanish university Iese, IMD in Switzerland, Esade, also in Spain, and London Organization Faculty in the United kingdom.

These executive education rankings are the 1st the FT has printed due to the fact May 2020. The pandemic brought about sharp disruption as business faculties were pressured to adapt to on the web understanding at small recognize and quite a few organizations cancelled training.

Amongst open programmes, HEC Paris was top rated with an in general fulfillment rating of 9.72 out of 10, position greatest in the perspective of contributors for instructing strategies, high quality of classmates, observe-up, and new abilities and discovering. IMD was judged major for aims reached Ivey Small business School at Western College, which provides open up programmes in Canada and Hong Kong, was rated best for planning and faculty and UCLA Anderson came first for system style.

In the custom made rating, HEC Paris, which available programmes at its campuses near Paris and in Qatar, was prime for planning, instructing methods and supplies, school, new expertise learnt, follow-up, aims reached and price for funds. Duke Corporate Training was judged top for programme design and style Iese for faculty diversity, intercontinental shoppers and expansion and SDA Bocconi for long term use.

To be eligible for the rankings, business schools must be accredited by at the very least one of the two primary businesses, AACSB or EFMD. They ought to also have noted revenues of at the very least $1mn a 12 months from their tailor made or open programmes in get to get component in the related position.

For personalized programmes, educational institutions will have to have a minimum amount of 15 company purchasers that commissioned courses ending in 2021, of which at least five should return an FT suggestions study. For open up programmes, educational facilities post up to two common administration courses long lasting a minimum of 3 days and up to two state-of-the-art courses long lasting five days or additional. At minimum 20 per cent of individuals, and 20 persons, must reply to the study for a college to be regarded.

This year, the ranking was adapted in reaction to responses immediately after the pandemic to clear away the assessment of on-web page amenities. For custom made programmes, responses ended up also weighted based mostly on the seniority of respondents, the sizing of their organisations and the amount of company colleges with which they get the job done.

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Education Beat: Schools board postpones closures after 30 speakers plead to keep Pierce, ALA open; district released from State-imposed Emergency Finance Plan

Education Beat: Schools board postpones closures after 30 speakers plead to keep Pierce, ALA open; district released from State-imposed Emergency Finance Plan

Posted on May 16, 2022

By Harold C. Ford

A six-hour meeting of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) on May 11 began with purported good news that Flint Community Schools (FCS) had been released from the imposition of an enhanced deficit elimination plan (EDEP) by the Michigan Department of Treasury. 

But any euphoria elicited by the EDEP-dismissal announcement quickly evolved into a parade of FCS constituents anxiously and unanimously urging the district not to close schools – specifically Pierce Elementary and the Accelerated Learning Academy.  

The Flint Board of Education listen to members of the public speak during Wednesday’s meeting. (Photo by Tom Travis)

The long meeting eventually devolved into an all-too-familiar row, this one featuring the FBOE president and vice president. 

EDEP disappears, not so indebtedness

“I received a call from Treasury (Michigan Department of Treasury) yesterday,” said Kevelin Jones, FCS superintendent, at the start of the May 11 FBOE meeting. “In that call, Treasury let me know that our district will no longer need to submit an enhanced deficit elimination plan.” 

Flint Community Schools Superintendent Kevelin Jones. (Photo by Tom Travis)

Jones’ announcement generated three rounds of smiles and applause by FBOE members. “This means … the state won’t be looking over our shoulder,” he said. 

The district had been under the watchful eye of Michigan’s state government – specifically its Department of Treasury – for many years. Most recently, two amended EDEPs were sent to Treasury by FCS in calendar year 2020.

“This doesn’t mean Flint doesn’t have a deficit,” Jones cautioned.

Jones’ caution has often been expressed by others:

  • “The district projects to remain in deficit until Fiscal Year 2035-36.” –Michigan Department of Treasury, Sept. 2020
  • “You’re definitely not going to be in excellent financial shape for a long time.” –Holly Stefanski, assurance manager, Plante Moran, an auditing firm then serving FCS, Jan. 2022
  • “This (COVID relief funding) gives us the appearance that we are not operating in a deficit. I want to stress … we are still in a deficit.” –Ayunnah Dompreh, then-FCS director of finances, Feb. 2022

ESSER funds provide temporary solvency

Jones said dismissal of the EDEP “is due to the work that the district has done as it pertains to our ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Relief/ COVID relief) funds and having a fund balance. We are in a position that our fund balance is in a space where we need to be at the time.”  

The positive FCS “fund balance” is achieved, temporarily, by ESSER funds from the federal government that total $144 million, an amount confirmed by Keiona Murphy, FCS assistant superintendent. 

“We still need board members to eliminate some debt,” Jones warned. “We still need to make sure we are fiscally responsible.”

Representatives of Plante Moran advised the FBOE in Dec. 2021 that unless affirmative measures were undertaken to address systemic shortcomings – particularly declining student enrollment – by 2024 FCS would likely circle back to a familiar bleak financial profile that has existed for nearly two decades. 

Drains and gains

Powerful forces – both negative (resource drains) and positive (resource gains) impact the economic profile of Flint community schools. Some, not all, are outlined below.

Drains

  • FCS has experienced significant loss of students and resultant aid from the state of Michigan at $8,000 to $9,000 per student. About 25 percent of students that reside in Flint attend Flint’s public schools. “We’ve got over 12,000 students,” decried Joyce Ellis-McNeal, FBOE president, at the May 11 meeting. “They’re just not in our schools.” At the same meeting, FBOE Treasurer Laura MacIntyre confirmed that the FCS student count is, at present, about 3,000. That means that about 9,000 Flint youngsters do not attend FCS schools. Thus, simple math reveals that, FCS is losing $72 million to $81 million annually in state aid due to loss of students. Frequent hopeful statements aside, the FBOE has offered no evidence that Flint’s youth will return to their schools.
  • Aging buildings and infrastructure sap the district’s financial resources. The collective age of Flint’s 11 buildings is just shy of eight centuries. Infrastructure needs – HVAC systems (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), electrical grids, hydration stations/water fountains, internet capabilities, plumbing, athletic facilities – constantly drain FCS resources. Representatives of Plante Morane Cresa, an auditing firm that specializes in real estate, recently told the FBOE the district would need $174 million in the next decade to properly maintain the 11 buildings that currently house its students. A several hundred-million-dollar plan spearheaded by the Flint-based Mott Foundation that would renovate or rebuild all FCS buildings – first revealed by East Village Magazine (EVM) over a year ago in April 2021 – has yet to appear on any public agenda of the FBOE. 
  • Legacy debt from the past includes paying off an approximate $20 million loan taken out by the district in 2014 and some benefits for FCS retirees.

Gains

  • The infusion of $144 million in federal ESSER funds has temporarily boosted the FCS financial profile by establishing the aforementioned positive “fund balance.”
  • A 25-year $30 million fiscal stability bond, passed by Flint voters in March 2020, provides some day-to-day operational revenue and helps pay off some of the district’s legacy debt. 

Five FCS schools honored

In his opening comments, Jones also announced that five Flint schools had been honored as “Capturing Kids’ Hearts Showcase Schools,” a national-level award. Awardees were: Potter Elementary; Brownell Elementary; Freeman Elementary; Accelerated Learning Academy (ALA), and Pierce Elementary. More smiles and more applause ensued.

Pierce Elementary School (Photo by Tom Travis)

But the celebratory mood lasted only minutes as more than thirty speakers paraded to the microphone to comment on the reported pending closures of the ALA (formerly Scott) and Pierce buildings. 

Walter Scott Community School houses the Accelerated Learning Academy on Flint’s east side. (Photo by Tom Travis)

“To close or not to close?”

Jones said “two of our schools (are) in consideration of closure.” He was referencing reports and rumors about the possible closures of the district’s Pierce and ALA buildings. 

One day prior to the FBOE meeting, on May 10, WNEM Channel 5 and ABC12 News reported on the possible closure of Pierce. Rumors had ALA’s nontraditional students being relocated within the Southwestern building alongside traditional students as a school within a school. 

“No decisions have been made about any or which schools will be closed,” said Chris Del Morone, FBOE assistant secretary-treasurer. 

School Board member Chris Del Morone. (Photo by Tom Travis)

Nonetheless, speakers paraded to the microphone and expressed concern about the possible closures. Pierce is located on Flint’s near east side in the so-called College Cultural neighborhood, less than a mile from the city’s library, museums and planetarium.   ALA, an alternative school serving students in grades 7-12, is also located on Flint’s east side at 1602 S. Averill Ave., across from Dort Federal Event Center, near the Evergreen Estate community. 

Excerpts from comments by some speakers opposed to closing Pierce

  • “To close or not to close; that is the question tonight … Pierce is not just a building that represents a monetary value to the District of Flint. Pierce is a building that contains the hopes, dreams, love, family and future of many … The best thing for this district and its scholars is not to close more schools … Our students want to come to school, but not just any school; students want to come to Pierce. Closing the school will be a devastating blow to the precious little ones in my classroom.” – Pierce teacher 
  • “What a huge mistake it would be to close a thriving school that just won a national award, a school that continues to have high test scores, a wonderful principal … highly effective teachers – one that has access to the Cultural Center.” — former Pierce parent.

    Handmade signs held by parents and students at the Flint Board of Education meeting on Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Travis)

     

  • “We have well over 100 students … Our classrooms are full … Our attendance rate is 88 percent … As far as academic data, Pierce outperforms the district at all grade levels in both local and national assessments.” — Pierce Elementary principal
  • “I was devastated when I heard … that Pierce Elementary would be closing … Showcase Schools, so if it’s working, it doesn’t need to be fixed. –Youth Quest director, former FCS parent specialist, 1976 FCS graduate, former Pierce parent
  • “I feel like we should not have no more abandoned schools in the City of Flint … Pierce, it’s like family.” — Pierce parent 
  • “We need … to let the parents know in that neighborhood, you don’t need to send your children outside of Pierce, or Court Street. Keep your children there with us.” — retired FCS teacher.

    Handmade signs held by parents and students at the Flint Board of Education meeting on Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Travis)

     

  • “Closing of Pierce creates another traumatic experience for students. Teachers and parents are hearing shock and sadness from their students with many children crying at the thought of their beloved elementary school closing again. Such sudden changes are not healthy for emotionally vulnerable children who have just returned to school following the shutdowns associated with COVID … Another school disruption places more fear, anxiety, and stress on a student population still recovering from the first trauma … For parents and students who live near the school, the closing would mean busing students to an unfamiliar part of town to a school where they are uncomfortable and do not recognize any familiar faces.” –Pierce parent group vice president
  • “If you close Pierce, you’re breaking up a family. We have become family … Cramming these kids in other schools, you’re making a huge mistake.” –Pierce parent 
  • “You’ll be adding to community trauma.” – FCS psychologist
  • “A fish stinks from the head down … Flint Community Schools Board of Education is the head … It is a complete contradiction to refer to our students as ‘scholars’ when we reduce their academic resources each year … Closing Pierce would be a contribution to the educational genocide of our children and community.” – FCS social worker, Pierce parent and parent group president 

Excerpts from comments by speakers opposed to closing ALA:

  • “I’ve taught in three buildings, under 13 principals and ten superintendents. I am so proud to work at Accelerated Learning Academy. We truly have the most caring staff I’ve ever worked with. Our students are experiencing success and are truly blossoming … Most of our students who come to ALA have experienced multiple traumas … Students can’t learn if their brains are in a survival mode. The students need a safe space … the hallways in Southwestern will never be a safe space for ALA students to learn. I vehemently urge you to find resources to allow ALA students to remain in a separate building. –ALA high school science teacher
  • “According to the Michigan Alternative Education Organization and the National Center for Dropout Prevention, there are 37 best practices for alternative education to support nontraditional students. Among these practices, a separate facility is highlighted … Additionally, there are approximately 19 schools that operate in the Genesee County area as alternative options. Not one of them operates as a school within a school … In 2017-2018 … we had 859 referrals (for misconduct); this year we’ve only had 302 … 98 fights (the last year ALA was located with another facility) we’ve reduced to just 20 this year … In 2017, when we were a building within a building, we had only four graduates … this year … we have 17 on track to graduate with three (others) possible.” — ALA principal
  • “I have moved within Flint schools 14 times due to downsizing … Students are successful here, students are independent, academically challenged, happy to attend school again … It’s a great place to teach … To move us into Southwestern, we will lose students again … Moving means losing student funding. — ALA high school English teacher

    Handmade signs held by parents and students at the Flint Board of Education meeting on Wednesday. (Photo by Tom Travis)

  • “Everyone knows what their role is in the building and how they can support our students … When you walk through the halls, there is a sense of belonging, a feeling of safety, and strength of a family … Our students understand and demonstrate inclusivity with race, gender, and sexual identity through every activity and every interaction.” –ALA social worker
  • “We really built a family here … I know I’m going to win as long as I’m at ALA.” — ALA student
  • “Since I started at ALA, it’s been nothing but good vibes … We have one-on-one time here … Every student at ALA feels like if we switch schools, we’re going to fall off track … We are family here … Please don’t choose money over our education.” — ALA student
  • “They (ALA students) have built love for each other and have made this a home. I do not think you should take this away from us. We have become successful because of the bond we have created with our teachers, support staff, even security guards.” — ALA student
  • “I have some very deep concerns about the potential for the school board to attempt to relocate the Accelerated Learning Academy into Southwestern Classical Academy … That would result in a serious reduction of enrichment activities that are offered at both Southwestern as well as ALA … In my estimation this would be a grave mistake … Consider … that one in every three scholars at Southwestern has an IEP (Individualized Education Program, a plan for impaired students) Fully nine classrooms at Southwestern are dedicated to the legally sanctioned needs of these children in form of resource rooms and self-contained classrooms.” – Southwestern Academy principal
  • “ALA students are always moving … Leave my kids alone!” – ALA teacher
  • “We vote for millages; we also vote for elected board members … When you dog us … you reap the consequences at the polls … You just remodeled Scott and now you’re going to close it. It devastates communities when you close schools.” — Community activist

Commentary about vacant school buildings:

  • “If you decide to close any of the schools, you must have criteria for why you are closing those schools. You must also have a plan for what to do with these schools after they’re done. We have too many schools in this community that have been burnt to the ground, are breeding grounds for prostitution, drugs, and vandalism. Former schools which have taught the future of Flint have been turned into cesspools.” –City of Flint councilperson

[Note: Remote attendance by this reporter prevented full, accurate identification of  speakers.]

In the end, no building closures or accompanying staff layoffs were announced at the FBOE’s May 11 meeting. FBOE members stated in previous months that teacher layoffs had to happen by April 30 per contractual obligation with the United Teachers of Flint (UTF), the labor organization that represents its teachers. “Now we’re locked into contracts,” admitted Carol McIntosh, FBOE vice president.

FBOE responses to public statements 

Board members had varied responses to what they heard from the public. A sampling:

  • McIntosh: “If we’re not going to close buildings, we definitely have to look at revitalizing what we have and making it attractive for our students.”
  • McNeal: “On my watch, I do not want to see schools closed … It seems like we’re always choosing money over people.”

    Flint Board of Education President Joyce Ellis-McNeal. (Photo by Tom Travis)

  • Allen Gilbert, trustee: “In my mind, schools will have to be closed … The only enemy that we have in this city is that we’re not willing to take on the tough tasks of making the tough decisions.”
  • MacIntyre: “This whole discussion of closing schools … was a mandate from the state. It was a requirement … under the Financial Emergency Manager Law which has done our communities in the state of Michigan so wrong for so many years. The EDEP … was one of the stages of the Financial Emergency Manager Law (an) antiquated, draconian law … We’re being extorted as a district.”

    School Board Treasurer Laura MacIntyre. (Photo by Tom Travis)

  • DelMorone: “Sometimes you need to close buildings because of the dramatic loss of population … If a decision was to be made about closing a school, or schools … we needed input from the public … I’ve learned some things from the public.”

“Legal battle of our life”

Intra-board tension dominated the final hour of the six-hour meeting. It began with a proposed motion by McIntosh seeking pay for an attorney assisting Charis Lee, the district’s new legal counsel. 

“We’re in the middle of the legal battle of our life,” McIntosh explained. 

Prolonged exchanges between the board’s top two officers, McNeal and McIntosh, devolved into tense exchanges and name-calling. Some of the dialogue:

  • McNeal: “If you’re going to represent me, I need to see who you are.”
  • McIntosh: “I’m trying to get this attorney we voted for paid … He’s not getting paid.”

    Flint Board of Education Vice-President Carol McIntosh. (Photo by Tom Travis)

  • McNeal: “We do need proof of work. But we got to stop this … people putting anything on an invoice … If we do it for one, we got to do it for all.”
  • McIntosh: “He showed up in court, so we can back it up.”
  • McNeal: “I don’t know that.
  • McIntosh: “The court know.”
  • McNeal: “You got to get me some correspondence. I don’t know what you’re doing … We need some backup to what you’re saying … I like to have documents.”
  • McIntosh: “We’re having a hard time with the communication from legal and the board … It was a time with myself and Ms. Green (FBOE member Danielle Green) whenever legal gave out an opinion or anything dealing with the district legally, they sent the emails to the entire board. Suddenly, we don’t get that anymore … I want to hear from legal on several issues.”
  • McNeal: “What I’m saying … is Ms. Lee (district’s counsel), according to policy, responds to the (board) president and the superintendent.”
  • McIntosh: “She’s the board’s attorney … You just don’t want us to hear. Why you lying?”
  • McNeal: “There’s nothing that I know that she (Lee) has done that I don’t want you to hear.”
  • McIntosh: “Then why everybody can’t get the emails like you do?”
  • McNeal: “What emails?”
  • McIntosh: “Whatever she sends you … When you lying we don’t interrupt.”
  • McNeal: “This board has been charged with threats, conflict of interest, intimidation, working in a hostile environment … It is my responsibility to look after everyone … I don’t know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth … I had to go and find a factfinding investigation … I had to get a third party … to do this investigation to keep us out of litigation … I’m trying to work this thing out … The investigation is going forth; I’m going to bring it before the board.”
  • McIntosh: “When?”
  • McNeal: “I just told you, I just got the information back … You shouldn’t be (copying to) everybody.”
  • McIntosh: “Why not? If the president does an investigation, she’s supposed to bring that before the whole board. Furthermore, if you gonna have a meeting with the board attorney, and you done decided by yourself, just you and Kevelin (FCS superintendent)? You done make them decisions by yourself?”
  • McNeal: “You’re twisting all up.”
  • McIntosh: “I ain’t heard nothing about this investigation.”
  • McNeal: “I just detailed to you, when I got this information, I did legally what I thought I should do … I just needed to know what I do.”
  • McIntosh: “We do. What do we do?”
  • McNeal: “What we do as a board.”
  • McIntosh: “But we don’t know nothing about it.”
  • McNeal: “You’re going to get it. Everything doesn’t just happen like that overnight … I just got in this seat; I didn’t ask for it … What do I do?”
  • McIntosh: “Lean on your board … When you decide to fact-find, you’re supposed to share that with us.”
  • McNeal: “You going to have to do it your way; I’m doing it the way I understood it.”
  • McIntosh: “Those are the rules. Transparency is part of the rules … You can’t … making decisions to investigate, to fire people, and to hire people … There’s a lot of illegal activity been going on. Furthermore, I don’t trust you … We have a right to hear the opinion from the attorney for the district, all of us at the same time. Cuz you might mess it up … Why everything a big secret ‘til it’s time to vote?”

After an hour of interruptions, muttering under breaths, and raised voices, McIntosh’s motion was passed by a 4-2 vote of the board. McNeal and MacIntyre voted against the motion. 

In the meantime, multiple existential crises faced by Flint Community Schools remain unresolved.

The public tete-a-tete seemed to originate during discussions about legal matters with the district’s counsel during closed sessions. “We discussed it during closed session,” McIntosh confirmed at the start. 

The public and the press are left to speculate about the particulars of the McNeal-McIntosh fallout as ongoing litigation is discussed in closed sessions, not subject to provisions of the Open Meetings Act. Nonetheless, FCS legal machinations are plentiful:

  • FCS has been sued by its two most recent, former superintendents – Derrick Lopez and Anita Steward – who were abruptly dismissed by the FBOE. 
  • One of two lawsuits brought against the district by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan likely remains unresolved. 
  • In Nov. 2021, the district’s new legal counsel, Charis Lee publicly alleged “unnecessary work … conflict of interest, double-bill(ing) for overtime … breach (of) fiduciary duties and overcharge(ing) for legal services” by The Williams Firm before it parted ways with the district. 
  • Additionally, an alleged physical assault by former FBOE president Danielle Green has, effectively, led to her exclusion from the board – the result of a PPO (Personal Protection Order) granted to MacIntyre, the alleged victim of the assault. DelMorone’s request for a legal judgment from Michigan’s attorney general about the PPO was turned down at the board’s Apr. 20 meeting.

The next scheduled meetings of the FBOE are: on May 18 (regular meeting); June 8 (Committee of the Whole/COW); June 15 (regular meeting).

Meetings take place at Accelerated Learning Academy, 1602 S. Averill Ave., Flint, MI 48503. Special meetings are frequently scheduled; interested persons should check the FCS website for information.

Meetings normally begin at 6:30 and can be seen remotely by registering, in advance, at the district’s website. Recordings of meetings can be viewed on YouTube. 

EVM Education Beat reporter Harold C. Ford can be reached at hcford1185@comcast.net

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NGPF’s 2022 State of Financial Education Report shows access to personal finance courses is expanding in U.S. high schools

NGPF’s 2022 State of Financial Education Report shows access to personal finance courses is expanding in U.S. high schools

12 states now warranty Personalized Finance classes before significant faculty graduation

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Following Gen Individual Finance, the foremost nonprofit supplier of totally free money training curriculum and qualified growth, has published its 2022 Condition of Financial Training Report in collaboration with Dr. Carly City of Montana Condition College.

The assessment of over 11,000 higher college class catalogs reveals that national access to economic education and learning is strengthening. In 2018, just 5 states certain standalone individual finance programs for all high schoolers. Now, 8 have totally carried out statewide ensures and 4 are commencing implementation. Just in the previous calendar year, over 300,000 extra college students have acquired entry to assured monetary schooling inside of their significant colleges. Nationally, certain obtain to own finance courses expanded to almost 1 in 4 general public substantial college pupils in 2022, and will maximize to 1 in 3 in the coming several years primarily based on the states at present implementing new state-wide laws (Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, and Rhode Island).

“Our 2022 report demonstrates large momentum throughout the state as additional states recognize the significance of guaranteeing this study course for higher college college students. Major gaps continue to be, on the other hand, that will have to be tackled by educators, lawmakers, and condition departments of instruction to continue on to boost access for all pupils,” shared Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of Following Gen Own Finance.

Though considerably development has been designed, there is nevertheless home to increase. Subsequent Gen Individual Finance outlines how educational institutions can begin their journey toward guaranteed monetary education and learning below. While nationally, virtually 1 in 4 pupils have guaranteed accessibility to the class, in the 42 states that now you should not assure the training course, a lot less than 1 in 10 learners are guaranteed to choose a Own Finance study course.

Accessibility is also unequal for students of colour and learners in reduced money communities. Class catalogs reveal that in educational institutions with better than 75{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} Black and Brown pupil populations, only 1 in 20 college students have guaranteed access. The identical is accurate in faculties with better than 75{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} learners eligible for Absolutely free or Lowered-price Lunch.

To master far more about the state of economic education and learning in the U.S. sign up for Dr. Carly Urban, Florida Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, and Jen Lehmann, a individual finance trainer at H. Frank Carey Large College (NY) for a investigation presentation and panel dialogue on Tuesday, Apr 26 at 4:00pm ET by way of Zoom. Sign-up here.

See more below: The entire NGPF Condition of Money Education and learning report is out there right here.

About Next Gen Particular Finance 
Subsequent Gen Personalized Finance (NGPF) has turn out to be the “just one-quit store” for extra than 60,000 educators hunting for superior-high quality, engaging private finance curriculum to equip college students with the competencies they need to have to thrive in the potential. Far more than 12,000 academics have invested 300,000 hours in NGPF skilled progress, which involves reside virtual periods, certification classes and asynchronous On-Demand from customers modules. The non-profit has been recognized by Popular Feeling Schooling as a “Top rated Internet site for Lecturers to Come across Lesson Plans” and “Most effective Enterprise and Finance Game titles.”

Media Contact 
Christine Yoo
[email protected]

Supply Following Gen Personal Finance

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How schools teach Gen Z to make, manage money

How schools teach Gen Z to make, manage money

When 17-year-old high school senior Rhyan Diaz started his cashiering job, he spent $3,000 in the first two months on clothes and other small items. He used to be “terrible with money,” he says.

Then he began taking a personal finance class at Canyon High School in Santa Clarita, California. Now he budgets meticulously to save for college — and eventually, a down payment on a house. “So I don’t have to struggle as much,” Diaz says. “I have seen my family struggle with certain things and almost wanting to give more but not having enough to give.”

Diaz is among the growing number of teens learning about money in school.

Rhyan Diaz says he was “terrible with money” before taking personal finance at Canyon High School.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

During the 2020-21 academic year, 7 out of 10 public high school students had access to a full-semester of personal finance, as either an elective or graduation requirement, according to Next Gen Personal Finance. That’s up from 2 out of 3 the prior year.

The number of states that require or will soon require students to take a semester of personal finance has doubled in the last three years, from 5 to 11. As of early April, about 20 states are considering more than 40 bills promoting personal finance education, according to NGPF.  

“We’re creating a wave right? Of action and motion across the country,” says Yanely Espinal, NGPF director of education outreach, who as a Miami resident, played a major role in Florida signing into law this spring a new bill mandating personal finance education in high school.

Diaz meticulously tracks his expenses using a budgeting notebook.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

“It’s going to be slow progress with the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th state,” she says. “But then progress will become a lot more rapid. By the time we have 30 states requiring this, then your state is embarrassed to be left behind.”

Even more movement is happening at the local level: The last school year marked the first time more students were required to take a semester-long personal finance class in states that don’t mandate it than in states that do, according to NGPF. That’s thanks to passionate community stakeholders.

Explaining to students how choices can help ‘make you a millionaire’

Diaz and the other 17- and 18-year-old seniors I met at Canyon High School in Santa Clarita, California, are already making strides toward short-term and long-term financial goals. They’re learning about saving, budgeting, debt, investing, careers, and more.  

Dahlia Aldaz says learning about budgeting has been the most life-changing for her. For instance, she stopped spending $35 every other day at Starbucks, to save up for a car.

Joseph Rendon says he recently spent $400 in one month on dining out. Now he’s saving more so he can one day invest in stocks and cryptocurrency. “It’s basically passive income,” he says. “Your money is working for you.”

Dahlia Aldaz says learning about budgeting has had the greatest impact on her financial habits.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

Since I was bad with money until my mid-twenties, never saved for future goals and only recently considered investing, I was impressed by what I witnessed in their class.

I was present as the students’ teacher, Marina White, demonstrated the power of investing and compound interest. “This one decision, to give up a couple Starbucks every weekend and each morning you walk in here, can make you a millionaire by the time you retire,” she says.

Many of White’s students are “in shock” when they learn that their behavior and choices can so strongly influence their financial future.

Students work on a group assignment that demonstrates the power of long-term investing.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

The students I met are among the more than 4,700 seniors who have taken or are currently taking personal finance in the William Hart School District in Southern California, since the first class launched at Canyon High in 2015.

The course counts as one semester of math but is not required to graduate. 

Communities fighting for personal finance education

What happened in the Hart district is a model for how personal finance education is increasingly spreading at a grassroots level, even when it’s not required by the state.

California is one of just three states, plus Washington, D.C., that do not include personal finance education in their K-12 standards, according to a 2022 report from the Council for Economic Education.

Statewide, under 1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of students in California were required to take a semester of personal finance, during the 2020-21 academic year, according to NGPF. More than half of students in California learned personal finance as part of another course — usually for just a few weeks in an economics class. One in 5 had no access at all.

The 2020 to 2021 school year was the first in which more students were required to take personal finance in states that don’t mandate it, than in states that do.

Next Gen Personal Finance

That’s why former Canyon High teacher Kim Arnold and local personal finance coach Brendie Heter took matters into their own hands. 

Concerned about her students being crippled by college debt, Arnold persuaded school and district administrators to let her start a personal finance class. The problem was, she says there was no money in the school or district budget to fund the course. 

That’s when Arnold was introduced to Heter, who was already championing personal finance education at Santa Clarita schools. “But being an outsider, no one she talked to at the district office or at several of the schools she had called was interested,” Arnold said. “She needed me, and I needed her.”

Marina White teaches Canyon High seniors a lesson on investing and the power of compound interest.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

To start a personal finance class at Canyon High, Heter donated the $2,000 necessary for the curriculum and textbooks.

“Rumors spread fast,” Heter says. “Students were having a great time in class. They took the information back to their parents. Their parents started talking to their friends and their friends started asking each other, ‘Well, why doesn’t my son or daughter have this at this school?’ And we started getting calls almost every single day or weekly from parents all over.”

Funding classes at the district’s eight other high schools was a team effort. The Hart district provided about $19,000. The Heter family and another donor, real estate agent Sam Neylan, donated about $18,000. Arnold also secured a grant of around $10,000.

“I’m hoping that my district will be a beacon for the rest of the state,” Heter says.

‘Status quo is very powerful thing when it comes to public education policy’

Studies by numerous economists show that financial education improves financial outcomes: Credit scores increase, non-student debt falls, student loan repayment increases, and credit card delinquencies drop.

Still, changing the education system is far from easy. “Status quo is very powerful thing when it comes to public education policy,” says California Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk, who previously served as vice chair of the CA Senate Education Committee.

One of the challenges is that high schools are in the business of preparing students for college — traditionally the surest path to the American dream. 

“Schools’ funding is based on their attendance. So they want to make sure that they attract students to their schools, and at the high school level, that means providing lots of AP courses,” says Joshua Mitton, director of programs at the California Council on Economic Education. “Versus thinking about how can we, as a public education system, prepare students for the rest of their lives, whether or not they go on to college?”

These students are among the 4,700 seniors who have taken or are currently taking personal finance in the William Hart School District in Southern California.

Helen Zhao | CNBC

Personal finance faces competition from other subjects vying to establish a permanent place in the school curriculum, each of which has its own passionate constituency. Think classes on mental health, geography, ethnic studies, and nutrition, among others.

“Everyone wants a piece of the school curriculum,” says Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’ve had a century of adding things onto what we want schools to teach, all of which is completely worthwhile.”

And when you require a new course, something else often has got to go, because there just aren’t enough hours in the school day. Then you’ve got backlash. “There’s already people who have a have a vested interest in it. So you’re rolling the boulder uphill, all the time,” says Wilk.

Requiring a new course can also be costly. For example, California will soon require students to take a semester of ethnic studies. The state estimates it could cost more than $270 million each year. 

Still, Wilk says the cost of personal finance education would be worth it. “If people are financially literate, they’re going to make better choices,” he says. “They’re not going to be a drag on greater society. And we’ll give them the tools to work to build wealth for themselves.”

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