I think Jonathan Welch’s criticism of Tim Boyd was a little over the top. Mr. Boyd understands that the people in his district demand accountability from the school board if they are going to consent to a 29 percent tax hike. As such he is doing the due diligence demanded of him by his constituents.
I wonder if Mr. Welch asked Mr. Boyd where he received his numbers from? Mr. Boyd works for the County Commission and not the Hamilton County school system and as such he either had to of received the information from the school system itself or from the last public publishing of such information. I would say if they are giving Mr. Boyd bad data then the shame belongs on the school system.
Mr. Boyd is no different than any other taxpayer entitled to this public information and if the school system felt the numbers needed to be explained maybe they should have done that when they handed over the data in the first place.
Matthew DeGlopper
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Mr. DeGlopper,
Mr. Tim Boyd is not like any other citizen, as you stated in your posting. When one becomes an elected official, they are rightly held to a higher standard of making accurate statements. I know that doesn't happen but that contributes to the confusion we now have.
As has been stated by Dr. Welch or Gil Highlander, the amount spent by Hamilton County Schools on administration is far less than many other systems or local businesses.
What is so hard to understand about that? What is so hard to understand about the federal government mandating some of these positions and paying for them into the school's budget? And as Dr. Welch indicated the state requires many of those Central Office positions Mr. Boyd disdains.
And yes, this information has been explained over and over in past decades, past years and as recently as Mr. Smith's town hall meetings. But to quote a teacher axiom: we're going to keep doing it until you get it right students.
Ralph Miller