APS' Report Card

A supplement fell out of the Journal recently. It is entitled
Albuquerque Public Schools 2010 District Report Card.

It was apparently prepared by the District; it has APS' logo
on every page. It is nothing more than a press release
presented and distributed as "news".

The problems and issues of self-reporting of performance are
obvious.

Of particular interest is the district's self reporting on
administrative overhead. By picking and choosing what is
and is not an "administrative" slot, the district can manipulate
the final number.

As an example; when the district self-reports the cost of its
Communications Department, the cost varies. When they
reported the expense to the Governor, it was a little more than
$400K, link. When reported for internal consumption, they
admitted the number is more than $900K, link.

According to the APS website, their Operating Budget for SY
2009-2010 was $675M.

In their self-report card, the District presents administrative
overhead, without ever defining "administration" as;

• less than 1% of the total operational budget
• the lowest among the four large comparison districts.

There is yet another way to describe the expenditure.

• the district spends $5,600,000.00 on administration.

Compare them;

• less than 1% of the total operational budget
• the lowest among the four large comparison districts.
• the district spends $5,600,000.00 on administration.

It makes a difference which words one uses. The District spends
somewhere between $440K and $919K every year on a
Department whose job it is to "spin" the truth by carefully
choosing words whose effect will be, to make the administration
look good.

It is not really relevant that the District spends less than 1%
on administration. Nor is it relevant that they are the lowest
among four "comparable" districts. They are both specious
arguments. "Less than 1%" can still include unjustifiable waste.
"Less than comparable districts" ignores the possibility that
comparable districts have comparable administrative bloat.

The only real measure of administrative efficiency and effectiveness is an independent audit that examines the administration looking for ineffectiveness and inefficiency.

The leadership of the APS stands foursquare in opposition to
such an audit. They would rather self-report in their own
self interests.

And the Journal is happy to distribute it for them, in the guise
of news.