Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.

                                                                           Edmund Burke

The mismanagement and folly of the Pontiac School District Board of Education goes back several generations.  I propose an attempt at explaining, what I consider, the latest generation of mismanagement, misappropriation, malfeasance and misery.  For brevity we will just call it THE MISERY.

The seeds of THE MISERY were planted many years ago however, the germination process probably started on February 5, 1991 when the voters in the school district approved 2 propositions. 

          The first was titled, “Deficit Elimination Proposition” with the stated purpose of “borrow(ing) the principal sum of not to exceed Nine Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($9,200,000) and issue it’s general obligation unlimited tax bonds or notes therefor, for the purpose of funding he School District’s operating deficit or projected operating deficit.”

          The second was titled “School Improvement Bond Proposal”, for the purpose of “Borrow(ing) the principle sum of not to exceed Forty Eight Million Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($48,450,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefor, for thee purpose of defraying the cost of remodeling, equipping, reequipping, furnishing, an refurnishing buildings and erecting additions thereto; purchasing school buses and textbooks; improving and developing sites, athletic fields and playgrounds in the school district and refunding the outstanding bonds of the school district issued asbestos abatement purposes.”

At the time the above proposals were being voted on I recall being at meetings when members of the School Board were saying things like: “This will get us and keep us solvent far into the future.”  “We must do this now, we cannot allow the buildings to fall into disrepair.”  In 1991 I well remember being convinced they were right, in fact I was so sure I voted “yes”.

For clarification, that $57,650,000.00 is the 3.87 mills that expired in the middle of 2015.

Let’s try to “follow the money”.

Before we start down the road of following the money, let me remind you of what happened in May of 2005.  That’s a mere 10 years ago and this is when I think the Pontiac School Board lost their collective minds,  Remember, the student count was still dropping from 25,000 down to the present 4,000. School buildings are being boarded up all over the district.  School District employees are starting to be accused (and ultimately convicted) of stealing money. The economy in general was in a dead fall.  Along comes a proposal asking for a millage increase in the amount of $99,900,000,00 to build two new schools. That’s right the school district has mismanaged it’s self into a sinking ship and they want to take on more ballast.  Fortunately the voters overwhelmingly defeated this lunacy.

On to the money.  So they started the MISERY with what they thought was enough money to carry them far into the future.  How did that work out? Not well. Somewhere between 1991 and 2013 they managed to get themselves in debt to the tune of $51.7 million. The Superintendent claims the District has reduced that debt by $12.6 million, which leaves a debt of $39.1 million.  Here’s the problem, because the school district is so inept and so mismanaged they failed to pay their employee’s, the teachers, health insurance premiums for a long period of time, in the amount of $7.8 million.  In 2013 the courts ordered that the tax payers in the school district had to pay a onetime 3 mill tax to cover the districts inability to pay its bills. I have to assume they counted that $7.8 million as part of the $12.6 million they’ve paid off.  That means they have only paid off $4.8 million.  In the mean time the Treasury Department has made 2 loans totaling $20 million.

When you add up all the numbers and by the way the numbers are their numbers, the school district is now $59.1million in debt.  So in the last 2 years they have increased their debt by $7.4 million.

It’s time to put the Pontiac School Board of Education out of their MISERY!!