Strong Oversight is Essential

We must grapple with the budget implications of all decisions.

• Extending 31 days of additional paid leave to 12-month employees is only one example.

• We should examine things like whether new administrative positions need to be permanent, and whether pandemic-era expenditures like virtual on-demand tutoring are providing bang for the buck.

• APS also needs a much stronger and more independent internal audit function, the cornerstone of good public sector governance. Our Audit Committee should be consistent with best practices and have an equal mix of school board members and citizen participants.

We have to pay close attention to how we spend because the need for those dollars in other places is so acute. This year’s Math Advisory Committee report called for APS to hire 34 new math interventionists, based on what the Mathematics Office identified as the scale of the need.

Every dollar allocated elsewhere is a dollar less to provide excellent instruction for our students.