Editorial: Risk assessment right direction for Collier board

Collier County School District has requested to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit

In 90 seconds at the end of a recent Collier County School Board meeting that went deep into the night, a topic that has proven contentious in recent years was expeditiously handled.

The decision was significant, but smart – clearly an important step in the right direction.

For a study in contrast of the worthwhile proposal to hire a consulting firm to conduct a risk assessment of the school district, just watch the recording of that brief discussion six hours into the board’s June 13 meeting. Then compare it to the protracted discussion of the same subject matter at an April 11 meeting in Everglades City. If you watch the April 11 session, however, we’d strongly urge that you have headache medicine ready as it will send your head spinning.

A School Board has two critical roles in our view. One is to set policy for a top-notch superintendent the board hires – in Kamela Patton the Collier board has one under contract until June 2021. The other equally important duty is to be fiscally responsive to taxpayers within the complex budget-restrictive controls the state imposes on school districts.

New direction

The prior board rejected proposals to put some independent financial review system in place, a process directed by the board as a check and balance to the fine work done by administrative staff. We believe this newly constituted board should go a different direction to live up to 2016 campaign promises and further fulfill its duty to be fiscally responsive to taxpayers.

We’d salute the strides made in recent years by district staff to identify and present during the budget approval process the millions of dollars of cost-saving measures they’ve identified so far. We acknowledge the existing district auditing process and the recent reaccreditation findings that lauded Collier schools for efficient use of its resources.

Yet this is a nearly billion-dollar budget and the district is one of Collier County’s largest employers. At some point, it’s a good idea for fresh eyes from the outside to look at financial and procedural practices if the board is going to meet its budgetary obligations to citizens.

Despite the vitriol we’ve seen arise between Collier County government and its auditor, the clerk of courts, there has been some taxpayer comfort level that a locally based, independent check and balance is in place.

Our editorial board’s recommendation to the prior School Board was that it appoint an advisory committee to assist with its budgetary responsibilities. Given Collier County’s wealth of financial gurus, retired chief executive officers and former school administrators, we believed a group could be empaneled that could navigate the state maze that is school district financing.

However, we like even better now the suggestion that’s unfolding to hire a risk assessment firm that could lead to a determination whether a board-directed auditor is needed to explore certain subject matters.

Risk assessment

During the recent 90-second exchange, Patton suggested appointing a board member to work with staff toward soliciting requests from six state-approved firms that could do the risk assessment. The board would choose one based on proposals received.

The mere existence of the list convinces us this is a recognized practice. Board-directed auditing certainly exists elsewhere in Florida.

Board Chairman Roy Terry turned to Vice Chairwoman Erika Donalds, and who better? Donalds is chief financial and compliance officer for an investment management firm. This is her expertise. It’s time for the board to follow her lead on this issue.

Conducting a risk assessment isn’t a preconceived notion that something nefarious is occurring, Donalds subsequently told our editorial board. It’s simply a best practice, she said.

It’s an analytical one we urge the board to pursue. The initial cost of tens of thousands of dollars is a small fraction of the district’s budget and should be included for 2017-18.

The absence of any independent board-directed budget analysis was political fodder in 2014 and 2016. We urge the board to get this process moving expeditiously in this nonelection year so it doesn’t dominate the 2018 campaigns for three board seats.