Does The School District Have A Plan?

 

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The District’s Secret Stash

Does the Great Falls Public School District have a plan to grow the local economy and thereby grow the tax base to increase funding for the school district, and perhaps increase student population. How does the district’s do that?

New school board trustee, and Great Falls Development Authority employee, Teresa Schreiner made the following statement on behalf of the Great Falls Development Authority.

“We would like to thank Great Falls Public Schools for your investment ($7,000) this week, placing them at the Leadership Level of the GFDA Honor Roll. We are not donation based but rather our members proactively invest resources to build and strengthen the economic future of our community. Our investors track their resources through tangible, accountable measures and high economic performance. The beauty of economic development is that this investment – your investment – is most palpable and can be most transparent in the work that we do every day.”

“We are Hungry to Grow the Great Falls regional economy, create higher wage jobs, build our tax base, improve our market competitiveness, and enhance the quality of life and economic opportunity for residents of Great Falls, Cascade County, and the entire 13 – county Great Falls trade area.”

According to Jolene Schalper, Vice President, Business Development for GFDA, the school district’s donation did not come from district tax revenues. Schalper also pointed out that the school district has made lesser donations ($5,000) for the past several years.

The obvious questions to be asked are, if the money did not come from school district tax revenues, then where did it come from, and did the school board approve the GFDA donation? Additionally, is there a conflict of interest if Trustee Schreiner voted for or will in the future vote for a GFPS donation to an entity with which she is employed?

The obvious questions to be asked are, if the money did not come from school district tax revenues, then where did it come from, and did the school board approve the GFDA donation? Additionally, is there a conflict of interest if Trustee Schreiner voted for or will in the future vote for a GFPS donation to an entity with which she is employed?

It should also be noted that the City of Great Falls withdrew its annual support of $50,000 for GFDA several years ago. In my opinion the City of Great Falls should be the one supporting economic development efforts, not the school district. Any extra money the school district has, even if it is not from tax revenues, should go to the kids.

A portion of the Great Falls Public Schools Mission Statement:

“District resources and staff are public assets requiring responsible stewardship and community involvement.”

Briefly on another note, in the wake of Superintendent Lacey’s retirement announcement, some have reveled in her departure, while others have accused E-City Beat writers and commentators of a lack of respect and common decency.

Suggesting that critical language directed at Lacey, a public official on the taxpayers payroll, is a sign of deficient moral character is absurd. In fact it is insulting, rude and the epitome of virtue signalling aimed at shutting down legitimate criticism and shaming those with whom you disagree.

And that dog don’t hunt here.

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• Category: GFPS