estherspeaks Anonymous

As a taxpayer of Lancaster, I believe that good schools increase the tax base and the housing market in our area, but all that being said, until the district provides the citizenry of Lancaster a manager that will guard and protect our financial interests, no taxpayer should entrust this to the present superintendent and his financial wizards. The board of trustees must open their eyes and realize that this vote was not a vote against the schools but rather those in charge of the schools. We realize our schools are growing and new buildings will need to come, but this superintendent has not kept his promises to be a good steward of our tax dollars and therefore does not deserve our trust or money,

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

interestedcitizen Anonymous

Other taxes are coming. Have you checked your property tax appraisals? When is the last time you have seen a city or school district drop the tax rate in the face of rising property appraisals? They don't do it. They just expand the budget to spend what they consider a windfall. Now, we have three city projects under way. We voted for the bonds. The bonds have been sold. The debt service is going to hit our pocketbooks this fall. The city tax rate will rise along with increased property valuations. The minor school tax relief we will experience from HB1 is going to be replaced with higher city taxes.

All governments need to be lean and mean. Just give us basic services without the frills. We can join country clubs if we want something a little more upscale. The same goes for schools. Laptop computers, luxurious stadiums and press boxes, and an indoor practice field that exceeds even the Highland Park stadium have no place in Lancaster.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

queensheeba Anonymous

Interested persons, go check out LISD 05/06 audit on the TEA website. Our administrators are living the good life by the looks of it. The budget went from $1,700,000.00 to over $4,000,000.00 for administrators in our district. Too bad we did not use some of that money to get a finance dept. that knew what was going on in 05/06. If the person that did such a wonderful job finding where all the money went in the late audit,and if I am not mistaken, she worked for district at that time, why did it get so bad? Could it be that we had students in the summer work program helping our in finance department?? Surely that is just a RUMOR....

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

jefmelch Anonymous

Sheeba? Summer interns? Surely there has never been any allegation that Larry Lewis would involve his district in a “Monica Lewinsky” -type situation?

Rumors have no place in serious news. And PegasusNews is not the Drudge Report. If, Sheeba, you have some sort of stained blue dress for evidence then pull it out of the closet. Otherwise let’s keep focused on facts that can be documented, measured, openly attributed, and fairly responded to.

Regarding the Lancaster ISD deputy (now acting chief) financial officer; Dr Lewis and senior auditor Fred Smith have both in public meeting praised her for being the only person in the finance office who knew what was going on. Dr Lewis also says the deputy finance officer (DFO?) was the one who advised AGAINST electronic funds transfer for payroll checks when the Pentamation system went live. He reported to the board that, in hindsight, he should have taken her advice and avoided all that trouble last summer. (All WHAT trouble? The consequences of last summer’s EFT / direct deposit payroll actions has not been recorded in the Trustee’s public minutes either last summer nor at the recent audit hearings. Anybody who wants to know what trouble can ask Dr Lewis and he will gladly explain … that anyone can file an open records request for that information and he’ll provide some tangentially related documents in 12 to 15 calendar days…) In any case the former DFO now acting Chief Financial Officer should, in this commentator’s opinion, be offered the title and salary of her predecessor. Otherwise the LISD will look pretty sexist. If the DFO is not qualified for the post, (and the former CFO was ) it would be interesting to know just what the job description and qualification list for a school district CFO looks like.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

canuhearme1 Anonymous

You know, I must stop torturing myself! I thought there were some intelligent people in this city, but I find that the more I read the articles and comments on this site (if that is what one could call them), the more I learn that ignorance is alive and well, and resides within the Lancaster city limits.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

queensheeba Anonymous

The school district did hire high school students last summer, and students will be hired again this summer. It is the summer work program that Royce West began. It is to help high school students get jobs for several weeks, to get experience in the work force. There were students assigned to work at the administration offices and did several duties, one being to help in the finance dept. Now Jefmelch, get your mind out of the gutter. I never said or ever suggested anything concerning a stained blue dress. We have great students in our district. I think the summer job program is great for our students and the district. I just do not believe students should be helping imput confindental information or anything regarding finance.

1 year, 3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )