$9.6 million. Shit!
Sorry Buddy, I’m not going to be putting that series of emails in lincoln democrat that show your terrible cursing. In fact, like last year during the campaign I’ll probably stop reading your emails altogether. I sent you a last email tonight so garbled it would have embarrassed me had I not been so dog tired. I didn’t go and get that wine I said I was going to get when I pushed the send button. I’d already had a couple glasses. My comment to you about not much liking some earthy words like Shit and f***, in the blog at least, were true. My Dad did always tell me to keep them in check until I wanted people to pay attention lest they stop paying you any attention…….. Well, Take a look at how this post begins. I want my eight loyal readers to pay attention now.
I’m still juggling five chainsaws. I tried to go to bed a couple hours ago shortly after I pushed the “send” button. Sleep held off and I just got out of bed wide awake the chainsaws motors having once again kicked in, one in particular. I’ve been trying to remember just how big the deficit was that the District’s finance guy projected at our first Budget meeting back in January. I’d been thinking it was 6 million then I second guessed myself thinking it might have been three million. I hope my daughter comes and sings to me when I get completely demented because it looks like I’m getting there a helluva lot faster that I’d hoped. We were projected to be $9.6 million in deficit!
I spent a week sorting through and organizing a ream of finance papers from miscellaneous sources a couple weeks ago. Then before I put them together in some coherent fashion I got wrapped up in figuring out if we’d stopped teaching half our subjects at our glorious trophy school, Laura MacArthur, to achieve the glory. I’m still trying to figure out how that could have happened under MDE’s nose considering that they put a million-plus into the school to pull off our little testing miracle. From the correspondence I’ve just been given is sure looks like the MDE was none to happy to find this out. We are getting a more vigorous alignment than a sadistic chiropractor would give the Elephant Man.
I still didn’t know the answer to that vexing deficit question which I had set aside during my two-week curriculum detour but while lying in bed just a bit ago I kept coming back will our deficit be. It will be even worse because of some closed meetings we’ve had. Shhhh Harry! Shut your mouth or you will get a good scolding.
I knew I’d posted the figure in a blog post a couple months ago. I remembered that because I remembered complaining in the post that the Duluth News Tribune’s story about the Budget meeting did not mention that alarming figure. I’d been quite exercised that our Finance Dept. had never bothered to print out the projections for us to file away. They were on a power point spread sheet only for about ten minutes. The Finance guys couldn’t get the excel columns lined up so I never got a chance to see how they came up with such a remarkable prediction. Annie Harala had to go over to their computer to show them how to do it. They have never mentioned that deficit since then. I can’t even remember if it was the 2016-17 or the 2017-18 school year that they were supposed to occur. That’s why having a paper copy of it would be most helpful.
I did write a private email to one Board member last night explaining that we faced a big deficit but I think I suggested it was a mere six million. I also noted that it would occur when he/she was running for reelection. I wanted something other than an expletive to get their attention.
If the Finance Dept was to project that deficit now it would be an eleven or twelve million deficit.
I never got those budget docs of mine organized. They have been laying in separate piles on various beds and floors throughout my house as I’ve had to move them from room to room over the last couple weeks. I spent the half hour before posting this getting more recent papers off of them and filed away to reveal the fossilized budget papers below. Now I can add the real anticipated deficit to them in trying to figure out the real fiscal circumstances we face. I’ll devote another six or seven hours to the District’s plight tomorrow, Saturday, which will be a bit shorter than the time I’ve been spending on it weekdays for the past couple weeks.
I’ve got a physician checking my heart on Monday. I hope I last that long.
