Selma school system haunted by monetary issues of past and present
Published 10:44 pm Saturday, February 5, 2011
There’s a lot to be said for the financial well- being of the Selma City School System.
On one hand, the system has proposed closing three schools and consolidating student populations in an effort to save money. They project to save close to $500,000 if the proposed plan is approved.
On the other hand, they have accepted millions of dollars in loans from the State of Alabama to construct a brand new Selma High School.
There are worries about the school system being able to maintain its legally mandated one-month reserve in a few months and, while all of this is going on, they have to face the demands of improving test scores, strengthening curriculum and give our students the education to advance this community and this country. Then comes the news this week the system was reportedly $350,000 behind in payments to Wallace Community College for the Early College Program.
At one time, the system had the money to make a payment, but in essence, they said they didn’t pay the bill because they didn’t receive a bill from the college. If only we could take that same approach with our mortgages, phone bills or cable television bills.
And then, low and behold, it turns out the system no longer owed the money to Wallace because the college had gone out and requested grants to clear the balance.
Does all of this give you a headache yet? Do you have a concern that someone isn’t really watching the till at our city school system? We are certainly concerned.
It appears the problems with the financial health of Selma City Schools isn’t just with the funding it will or will not receive from the state of Alabama this year or next. It’s more a problem of who’s handling the money we do receive.