The Hollister School District’s request for a class-size waiver and extension of a contract for an optional fiscal adviser – who acts as a five-figure “final set of eyes” – underscore a cultural acceptance of fiscal irresponsibility.
It is no secret the Hollister district has experienced serious financial tumult in recent years – culminating in late 2010 when it earned a negative certification from the state, which required an administrator to sign off on major budget decisions. Now, with the requirement off the table, the district has extended the contract of that now-voluntary fiscal adviser who makes $200 an hour and comes in on a weekly basis.
The district has contracted Maureen Evans, vice president of School Services of California, since fall 2010. While the San Benito County Office of Education pays 75 percent of her compensation in the deal, the Hollister district pays 25 percent.
The school board this month renewed her contract through May 31. It calls for her lucrative hourly fee plus an array of expenses. Last year, the district paid her more than $49,000. To date this school year, it has paid her more than $21,000, said Jack Bachofer, the school district’s chief business official, in an article readers can view at SanBenitoCountyToday.com.
Bachofer in that interview referred to the adviser as a “final set of eyes” who “makes sure we don’t do things we’re not supposed to do and would jeopardize our financial situation.”
She sounds more like an overpaid baby-sitter than anything.
Incidentally, it is Bachofer who should maintain the responsibility bestowed on the hired fiscal adviser. The former math teacher turned business official – Bachofer made the switch in 2005 – is paid a salary of up to $117,000, according to the latest state data from 2010-11, because he is supposed to maintain the necessary expertise and business savvy to coordinate responsible budgets. Additionally, Bachofer has been the finance director during this ongoing tidal wave of deficits that will only continue if the district keeps disregarding unnecessary administrative overhead.
This is an example of why the district has experienced such difficulty trimming costs and shifting fewer dollars away from classrooms – which will cap out at an average size of 35 students under the waiver requested from the state for the 2012-13 school year. This is why the district has been walking on shaky ground for several years. Simply put, the Hollister School District is paying a six-figure salary and benefits toward a role that drives the financial train – and yet, local taxpayers must pay another $49,000 to make sure the chief business official isn’t screwing things up.
Something is wrong about this dynamic, but it should help explain the rut from which the district is trying to climb.
Either he is a qualified finance director or he is not. The clearly lacking self-confidence from Bachofer – and coinciding distrust from trustees – certainly suggests the latter.
