Fired CCSD CFO Says Major Budget Shortfalls Not His Fault
What an unmitigated disaster it is at the Clark County School District right now. Superintendent Jesus Jara was given a fat check to hit the road. Board Trustee and Nebraska resident Katie Williams was forced to step down from her position because, you know, she lives in Nebraska. Now an accounting oversight has schools way over budget and the CCSD CFO got fired because of it. But he, like Shaggy, says “it wasn’t me”.
Why Does The Fired CCSD CFO Say He Was Dismissed Without Cause
Timing is everything, and according to fired Clark County School District Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie says that is what led to the imperfect storm that has the entire district way in the red.
It all comes down to the timing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the teacher’s union (Clark County Education Association), Goudie told News 3. If you remember, the new contract for teachers took quite a while, arguably too long. That’s part of the reason that Superintendent Jara is on the outside looking in.
The new contract wasn’t nailed down until late December. But leading up to the end of the year, Goudie says he had to make projections based on where it was believed the new contract would end up. Those budgets needed to be nailed down before the CBA was finished being locked down between CCSD and the teacher’s union.
It turns out there was a bit of a discrepancy in those numbers, failing to account for an 8 percent increase for professionals. Now it is a blame game.
The former CFO is saying it isn’t him, he did his job. The teacher’s union executive director says the Board Of Trustees President Evelyn Garcia Morales and interim Superintendent (and potential candidate for the inevitable gig) Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell should also be looking at the blame.
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo’s office says they will be investigating the matter to see how something this egregious could happen. All we know is we feel bad dissing the high school kids on not knowing math. It’s alright kids, the adults don’t know it either.