APS' $600M bond issue.

In an article about Charter Schools, link,
the Journal lets slip that the leadership of the APS will be
asking for a $600M bond issue;

"APS is expecting to seek approval for $550 million to $660 million worth of bonds in the February property tax election, chief operations officer Brad Winter said."

At the same time, they will be trying to keep secret, the fact
that they will not even discuss* an independent standards
and accountability audit. link.

They steadfastly refuse to allow impartial auditors to look at
their operation. They even kept state auditors out.

Taxpayers will never know whether their tax dollars will be
protected from waste, fraud and abuse, by adequate standards
and accountability in the administration of the Public Schools.

Governor Bill Richardson said, the leadership of the APS
has a statewide earned reputation for their lack of financial
accountability.

Mayor Marty Chavez said, there is so little accountability
in the leadership of the APS, that the only remedy would be
for him to appoint school board members of his own.

Former APS Chief of Police, Gil Lovato said that if the truth
ever comes out, there won't be a single APS senior administrator
left standing.

There has never been an audit of the leadership of the APS
which did not reveal significant issues of standards and
accountability. A recent audit said, the leadership of the
APS has a record of failing to follow up on audit results.

The Meyners Audit revealed that the leadership of the APS
was spending well over a billion tax dollars a year, without;

• adequate policies and procedures, and without;
• adequate accountability to such policies as there were, and without
• keeping records accurate enough to send anyone to prison.

They refuse to answer legitimate questions about the audit;

• Did Meyners auditors find criminal misconduct?
• Will statutes of limitation be allowed to expire as the were in the felony criminal misconduct involving the APS Police Department?
• Will the investigation still be going on more than two years from now?

You can't help but wonder what voters might do, if only
their newspaper of record, the Albuquerque Journal,
found any of this newsworthy enough to tell them about,
before they vote.



*
In fairness, a standards and
accountability was discussed.

The discussion ended when
Paula Maes told the board that
she would never agree to any audit
that identified any corrupt or
incompetent good ol' boy,
by name. link


And then made good on her boast.



photo Mark Bralley