APS has a new Chief Financial Officer.

A few years ago, an independent auditor revealed that APS' Finance Department was spending more than a billion dollars a year;

• without adequate policies, procedures and regulations, and
• without adequate accountability to such standards as there were, and
• without adequate record keeping.

The audit revealed the APS has never had adequate standards, adequate accountability, or adequate record keeping.

Likely, millions of tax dollars have gone missing; either wasted or stolen. The leadership of the APS refuses still, to answer the question;

did Meyners auditors uncover any criminal misconduct by APS administrators?

In the years since the Meyners Audit, APS has had more than a couple of CFOs. All have been promoted from within. Despite the fact that each was in a position to blow the whistle on the lack of standards, accountability, and record keeping, they were promoted into positions where they could cover not only their own tracks, but the tracks of others as well. At one point, they even declined the offer of additional auditors from the State Auditors Office.

The newbie is an outsider, well qualified and experienced. The conclusion we can draw is that, the leadership of the APS has taken care of all of the worst problems and can now afford to be seen by an outsider.

One might argue; if the problems are solved, who cares how they were solved?

The answer is, if the first priority in problem solving is covering asses, then solving the problem will never be the first priority. While it is a happy co-incidence if the problem can be solved and asses covered, it is a wasteful and inefficient approach. It exists only to protect the corrupt and the incompetent from the consequences of their corruption and incompetence.


APS Supt Winston Brooks steadfastly refuses still, to allow an independent review of standards and accountability in the APS.









He has the support of School Board President Marty Esquivel, who refuses to allow even an open and honest public discussion of an independent review of administrative and executive standards and accountability.




It is not the review of standards that has them running scared; apparently their standards are up finally up to snuff.

They are afraid of an independent review of their accountability to any standards of conduct at all, even the law. They are justifiably afraid that they will not be able to hide the fact that they really aren't accountable to anyone but each other.

They cannot show stakeholders a venue where they can be held honestly accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence against their will.

If they could point to the venue, they would.

It does not exist. Neither does their intention of allowing some independent auditor to reveal that fact to the people who are given no choice but to trust them with more than a billion tax dollars every year and with the education of nearly a hundred thousand of their sons and daughters.




photos Mark Bralley