from u/kokoromelodyCan you go into any more detail what your plans would be for higher transparency/ accountability, especially when it comes to how the current and potential future budget proposals are allocated? As a property owner, I'm not blindly against any and all tax increases, but it's frustrating to see that JC has one of the highest expenditures per student that don't seem to translate into student performance or the overall school quality.

This is a very important question. One of the things I would like to do is make sure we are following exactly where the money is going in this budget. I, too, am not against all tax increases, as long as they are justified and can show some results.

One of the ways I think that real change can happen in this district is with real transparency and accountability. So how does the district accomplish this? I strongly believe that this administration needs a Budget Officer. Why? Well, think of the administration as a corporation. The Superintendent is the CEO and the Business Administrator serves as the COO and the CFO. In order for a corporation to run effectively, it would NEVER have one person for two massively important positions. Think about it, our administration has the same person making all of the operational decisions as well as the financial decisions. This hierarchy has led to wasteful spending, bad contract negotiations, nepotism and a bloated budget in our district. As I said earlier, I am not against all tax increases but when the administration submits a $970 million dollar budget and does not disclose what they plan on doing with the money, I think that is wrong. Let’s work together with the administration (and Budget Officer) to create a plan, present it to the public, agree on that plan and then ask taxpayers to “buy in”. This is the proper order of how budgeting and planning should work together.