Forget C. J. Huff's threats; this is why we need a state audit

People care about teachers.

Why do you think C. J. Huff and his CFO Paul Barr decided to use the threat that they would have to eliminate two teaching jobs if the district has to spend $70,000 to $100,000 on a state audit?

People would not get upset if he said the district would have to forget about its video scoreboard.

None of us would get our torches and pitchforks out of the closet if Huff and Barr decided to eliminate just one overpaid person from the bunker at 32nd and Duquesne.

No, we would say go right ahead, we don't need them.

So, the man who has driven more than 200 teachers out of the district in a two-year span and is looking at another triple-digit exodus this year, plays the teacher card.

If you vote for an audit, we're going to get rid of two teachers.

A door-to-door signature-gathering campaign begins tomorrow (Friday), so C. J. Huff is already pulling out all the stops in an effort to derail a state audit that even if it does not reveal wrongdoing, appears almost certain to reveal educational malpractice and incompetence in the first degree.

At some point, if his track record is any indication, Huff will send out a heartfelt e-mail explaining the harm, without putting it in that word, that a petition audit could cause. He will give the indication that no jobs are safe if this audit takes place.

He will send the subtle, unspoken, but clearly indicated, message that we are watching to see if you or any of your family members sign this petition. And of course, as always, Huff will end the e-mail with a breezy "for the kids."

Huff will use his friends in the local media, especially Joplin Globe Editor Carol Stark, to push the idea that an audit is unnecessary and will bring financial ruin to the district.

What people need to understand is that a state audit of a school district is not just to see if every law has been followed. A reader noted earlier tonight that if no criminal activity is found, then David Humphreys should have to pay for the audit.

That is ridiculous.

Even if no laws have been broken, the district is in desperate need of a state audit, not just the annual local audit, but an audit by trained forensic investigators who can determine not only if the school district has been following the law, but if it has been handling its affairs in a manner that best serves the taxpayers.

If anyone was paying attention, and I know Turner Report readers were, the same man who made the threat about the teachers on KOAM tonight, CFO Paul Barr, provided ample evidence that a state audit was needed during the May 27 Board of Education meeting when he said that the district needs to go into long-term debt to cover $8 million in "might as well" items. In other words, items that were not what R-8 voters approved when they, by a 45-vote margin, passed the biggest bond issue in district history.

The auditors will look through all documents, bills, board minutes, anything else that exists, to determine why this $8 million of spending took place. Auditors look for best practices. Going into debt $8 million on non-essential items that administrators decided they "might as well" have does not sound like good stewardship of district funds.

While they are at it, there are other things the auditors will examine.

-We know a German furniture company paid for Angie Besendorfer and Jason Cravens to go to Germany to try out its furniture. It did not cost the district a cent, but the subsequent awarding of contracts to that company sure smacks of conflict of interest. That is the kind of thing state auditors examine.

-C. J. Huff has indicated that $89,000 of district money was used for a thank-you tour in which Huff and other R-8 officials (but mainly Huff) went to other communities, some out of state, and thanked them for helping the district after the tornado. I have always questioned the $89,000 figure, but even if it is accurate, is that the kind of approach that best serves the taxpayers, when a 21st Century Skype conversation would have served the same purpose and not cost a cent. Whatever happened to thank-you letters?

-Millions of dollars came through this district after the tornado and we have all heard stories about money that was not used in the matter in which it was intended or had not been until district officials were called on it. Once and for all, let's have a donation-by-donation accounting of where the money went and how it was spent.

-State auditors might also question why a school board would approve an action plan that calls for reserves to dwindle to single digits, but not call for any cuts in travel, purchase of new technology equipment, or hiring expensive administrators. Or for that matter, how so much money could be used for public relations and community outreach.

-The auditors will likely question how the district could claim in its Race to the Top application that it needed $10 million to hire a number of non-classroom personnel and to add iPads for eighth graders, get rejected, and still pay for nearly everything that was on its wish list.

-The wisdom of continuing to pursue grants that require substantial matching funds and then continuing the programs even after the grants have expired might be questioned. That has been the consistent practice of the Huff Administration.

-The auditors might also question spending $3,000 to invite business partners to celebrate the achievement of a high graduation rate, when a compliant media, which C. J. Huff certainly has in Joplin, would have been happy to have publicized the accomplishment and saved the money.

-The auditors will also question any financial documents that R-8 officials are required to sign for the Missouri Ethics Commission. Both Huff and Barr are required to sign financial disclosure forms under penalty of perjury.. Huff did not list his speaking engagements as a source of outside income even though the Washington Speakers Bureau said he spoke frequently for them and charged $8,000 per speech, plus travel expenses. Even Huff told the Joplin Globe he had made one speech for the Washington Speakers Bureau, yet he lists no speaking compensation for the last three years. I am sure the auditors would be interested in a list of every speech Huff has made, who paid for it, and, of course, prove that there were no occasions where Huff was paid for a speech and also claimed expenses from the district.

The best step for the Joplin R-8 Board of Education and C. J. Huff at this point is to join David Humphreys in calling for an audit. An audit could not only clear the names of Huff and other R-8 Administration officials of any wrongdoing, but it could also provide some advice on how to run a school district without running up $8 million in "might-as-well" spending.

As Paul Barr knows, that $8 million could have paid for 120 master teachers, or maybe kept another 120 from fleeing the district.