Petitions circulating for Joplin R-8 School District state audit

Petitions are circulating for state audits of the Joplin R-8 School District and the City of Joplin.

While the momentum for a city audit came in the aftermath of the firing of City Manager Mark Rohr and seems to be a result of a political feud more than anything else, the more recent push for an audit of the school district comes as more and more questions have arisen concerning the use of money that was donated to the district following the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado.

Questions are also being asked about Superintendent C. J. Huff's signature program, Bright Futures, with both a Joplin R-8 chapter and Bright Futures USA, which is said to be independent, but which has operated out of the Administration Building at 32nd and Duquesne, with people who work for the school district playing key roles.

Out-of-control spending has also been a hallmark of the Huff Administration as pointed out numerous times over the past year in the Turner Report.

The most recent instance was the revelation at the May 27 Joplin R-8 Board of Education meeting from CFO Paul Barr that the district had spent $8 million for "might as well" items, items that were not included in the package approved by a 45-vote margin by district patrons in April 2012, but simply things C. J. Huff wanted and figured the district "might as well" have them. Examples provided by Barr included extra tennis courts, artificial turf for all football fields, and lighting for athletic facilities.

District patrons have also grown concerned about the dwindling reserves,something that had not really been revealed to the public until former Irving Elementary Principal Debbie Fort, even before she filed for her successful run for school board, mentioned during the public comment section of an R-8 Board meeting late last year.

Whereas the recommended reserve level is 25 percent or enough for the district to maintain operation for three months, Mrs. Fort noted at that time that the reserves were low and were predicted to dip into single digits, something which subsequently continued with no end in sight.

Huff and then R-8 Board President Jeff Flowers said there was no need to worry since money was coming from FEMA and SEMA, but that was before the May 27 board meeting, when the board approved spending approximately $45,000 to hire a firm to come up with a proposal to borrow more than $13 million to keep the district afloat- $5.4 million to cover unexpected occurrences that popped up during construction and could not have been anticipated, Paul Barr said, and a long-term financing to cover the $8 million in "might as well" spending..