Lynchburg City Council likely to allow schools chance to fix mistakes

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City Councilman Jeff Helgeson says he’ll continue to push for greater accountability and oversight in school management, although he may be alone in calling for further change.

A majority of City Council said they were satisfied the schools realized the gravity of their recent deficit and were sincere in their plans to prevent the blunder from happening again.

Several officials interviewed Wednesday said educators should be given a chance to regain the public’s trust, and council should await the results of those efforts before entertaining any suggestions for broader change.

“They came in with a definite plan, they owned it, and said we want to be given a chance to do this,” said Mayor Joan Foster. “… I think it’s worth letting them have their opportunity.”

School officials came before council Tuesday to explain how they unwittingly accrued a $440,000 deficit last fiscal year — an error discovered only recently when the results of an independent audit were released.

Helgeson said he appreciated the “contrite” tone struck by division leaders, but found their explanations to be insufficient, “almost like they’re sweeping it under the rug.”

“I could understand if they didn’t know, but they were warned repeatedly (this would happen) and they did nothing,” he said. “Quite frankly, if I was a school teacher I’d be furious, because this is going to hurt them in the long run.”

An outside consultant brought in to review the division’s books found administrators were not properly monitoring the budget and made several critical miscalculations, the biggest of which was overestimating their student enrollment, a figure used to calculate state funding.

School leaders acknowledged that, while they knew their enrollment projections were off, they failed to adjust their budget accordingly. They say the mistake cost them close to $1.5 million in expected funding, although Helgeson disputed that figure.

The councilman, who represents Ward III, said the enrollment projections quoted during Tuesday’s presentation were higher than the estimates listed in last year’s school budget.

School officials, who seemed surprised by his challenge, could not immediately respond to the discrepancy but they said they would at a later date.

“You really have to wonder if they know their own figures,” Helgeson said. “There is still, to me, a heck of lot more things that have to be answered.”

It’s been suggested by some council members that greater city oversight is needed to ensure the schools’ finances stay on track. A majority spoke against such a measure Tuesday.

Councilman Turner Perrow of Ward IV was among the minority who raised the possibility of greater city involvement.

“If the (school board) is not going to monitor properly, maybe it’s incumbent on this body to follow up periodically,” he said during the meeting. “Just to make sure the right information is being processed. Not to pass judgment on them.”

The school board, which plans to start reviewing more detailed budget updates and establish its own finance committee, offered to share its financial reports with council in the future in the interest of transparency.

Perrow said afterward he felt that would adequately address his concerns.

“By looking at their reports, I think we’ll get a better idea of the information the school board is getting and we can provide better oversight that way,” he said. “If we see any red herrings (in the figures), we can react.”

As for the possibility of any additional council action, Perrow said, “I think that discussion is pretty much finished for now.”

Helgeson disagreed, saying he planned to push for greater change and stricter oversight despite the possible lack of support from his peers.

“All I can do as one member is suggest what I think is best,” he said. “If a majority of council wants to say, ‘no, we love the job you’re doing,’ a majority of council can decide that. But I have to be able to live with my vote.”

At-large Councilman Scott Garrett — who did not support calls for greater city control — said he had a “comfort level” with the schools’ response to the deficit, but would wait to see the outcome of their work before reaching any conclusions.

“I think they realize scrutiny is on them now,” he said. “The eyes of the city are on them and with reason.”