Fiscal facts

It is fun to watch the libs go nuts over finding that the public schools had a large cash carryover, but they are dead wrong when they accuse the bureaucrats of having "hidden" funds.
It says very clearly in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that: "The General Fund total fund balance was $164,674,911 as of June 30, 2011, and represents an increase of $30,576,299 or 22.8 percent as compared to the prior year’s balance of $134,098,612.  This increase reflects the District’s commitment to be fiscally sound by the preservation of fund balance due to the uncertainty of near-term revenue streams."
Finding that fact certainly was no great feat of investigative journalism.
I've been looking at the fiscal facts lately and reporting on them, telling folks what the newspapers never do, which is that the local schools have spent more money every year and the total spending increase has been more than 30 percent over 10 years.
Other pertinent facts about the cash carryover:

• The schools have an annual independent audit, as required by law. It did not criticize the size of the cash carryover, (also called fund balance).
• The state requires the schools to have a 3 percent fund balance for emergencies. Art classes are not emergencies.
• The superintendent and his crew knew the fed spigot was likely to turn off at some point and wanted to be ready, without beating the taxpayer to death.

The state and city governments also have a cash carryover every year. It is standard practice. Only the arcane accounting of the federal government is different. Budgets mean nothing in Washington and follow no standard accounting principles. The government simply spends what it wants to whether it has the money or not.
Greedy libs want to spend every dime they can get, federal government style, whether it is fiscally prudent or not.
School board members who complain of being duped simply were asleep at the switch.
I'm rarely on the side of the bureaucrats but in this case, the superintendent, who is getting booted, did nothing  wrong, in my humble opinion and based on the facts presented to date.