Superintendent of financially troubled Phoenix school district resigns
The superintendent of a financially troubled Phoenix school district resigned on Thursday.
PHOENIX — The superintendent of a financially troubled Phoenix school district resigned on Thursday.
Mario Ventura said he takes full responsibility for the crisis that is threatening the Isaac Elementary School District’s ability to keep its schools open.
“It is my hope that with my resignation the district will be allowed to move forward with clarity and renewed focus,” Ventura said as he announced his resignation during a governing board meeting.
Isaac Elementary is a 12-school district in west Phoenix with approximately 5,000 K-8 students and 650 employees.
The State Board of Education recently appointed a third-party receiver to oversee the district’s operations, including finances, governance and academic programs.
The Arizona board voted to intervene on Jan. 14 because Isaac overspent its budget by at least $12 million.
State, county at odds over Phoenix school district finances
It’s unclear who will be responsible for providing the funding needed to keep the Phoenix school district running.
The state asked Maricopa County officials to make payments, but the county said it doesn’t have the authority to do so because of how large the debt is.
“The county has met with the receiver and understands the cash flow issue makes this case unique, but a solution will require the state to take legal and financial actions,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Thomas Galvin said in a press release Thursday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Katie Hobbs said her office is working to make sure Isaac’s classes continue and teachers get paid.
“While the accountability and fiscal restructuring process will play out through financial receivership, we must continue to keep the students and staff at the forefront and minimize educational disruption. I will continue to make my staff available to all parties to work towards an immediate resolution of this crisis,” she said in a statement.
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Comments
11 Comments
So $12m/5000 students is $2,400 OVERSPEND per student. Noone has offered a clue as to what this overspent money was actually used for. New band instruments, cute cheerleader outfits, Wilson footballs, landscaping at someones house, or family vacations for all the teachers to Jamaica? Someone is not being very transparent in where OUR tax dollars were spent.
Yet when the next bond is proposed, the voters will be like sheep and vote for it again.
These bonds are for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Why is there no line-by-line description of how the money is spent?
I want to know where every penny goes. If a bunch of money goes to send administrators to vacation spots to "meet". I want to know. Why not use Zoom and save money?
ALL school administrations need to be held accountable for EVERY PENNY they spend.
Then we can see if they are being wasteful. It is really easy to spend money like a drunken sailor if it is OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY and no one is accountable.
Mario's personal finances need to be looked at.