12/14/11
School district audit shows financial “crisis” never existed
By Marshall HelmbergerWe now know for certain what many residents of the St. Louis County School District suspected from the beginning, that the district’s much-touted financial crisis never actually existed.
As many voters in our area likely recall, during the school district’s campaign for a $78.8 million bond measure two years ago, school officials claimed that the district was facing a $4.1 million budget deficit by the end of the 2011-12 school year. That deficit, they told us, was unavoidable unless voters approved Johnson Controls’ controversial facilities plan, which called for closure and consolidation of schools. Short of approval, district officials claimed that the district would enter statutory operating debt by the end of the 2010-11 school year and would be forced to close three to four of its seven schools immediately, with the rest to follow in short order.
All of these claims are on the record in documents and publications prepared and disseminated by the school district itself…
