Howell school budget fiasco needs close look

Confusion is a word that does not begin to tell the story of the Howell K-8 School District 2007-08 budget.

It was several months ago when a Greater Media News-papers reporter and editor initially called the Howell school offices to ask when the budget would be introduced and other details about the spending plan. The information seemed to be a closely guarded secret.

While every other local school district introduces a budget and makes its business administrator available to the news media to explain the proposal to residents, you can leave it to Howell to do everything possible to make it difficult to inform residents about how their tax dollars are being spent.

Maybe that is one reason why residents traditionally reject the proposed budget.

That is just what happened on April 17, when voters defeated the proposed 2007-08 budget and it went to the Howell Township Council for review. The council recommended that $1.5 million be cut from the spending plan and sent the budget back to the Board of Education.

Naturally, the board waited until the last possible night - June 6 - to hold a meeting to accept the $1.5 million cut.

And that night, in an amazing admission, district officials announced they also had to cut an additional $2.6 million because they exceeded a state cap.

By one board member's own admission, the panel knew weeks earlier what the situation was, but waited until the last possible minute to make important decisions that will have implications for the school district. Why was that allowed to happen?

The board seems to be saying it was surprised at the limits imposed by the state this year; as we understand it, the new state law or "cap" was on how much the board could collect in property taxes, not on how much it could spend. Other local school districts managed to deal with the situation. Why not Howell?

The Howell school board's explanation of this budget situation is unclear. We would invite any district administrator or school board member to submit an op-ed piece which clearly and honestly explains what occurred with the budget, why it occurred and how their decisions will impact the operation of the district next year.