On July 11, the Newberg School District swore in five new members. At that first meeting, the chair of the school district’s budget committee, Kat McNeal, made a public comment. Kat sounded the alarm, saying right off the bat that she had, “abstained from passing the budget committee due to many concerns.”
That got our attention. When the chair of the Finance Committee expresses multiple concerns about the current school district budget, we want to know why. Not only is the wise use of taxpayer money by our public schools a moral responsibility, it’s a practical concern to make sure our tax dollars are helping our students succeed. McNeal called for the new members of the board to bring integrity and transparency to district finances.
Just two meetings later, at the September 12 board meeting, Director Renee Powell asked that McNeal step down as chair of the Budget Committee, claiming a “conflict of interest.” Is Director Powell trying to silence the whistleblower? This topic–the fate of McNeal–is now on the agenda for the October 10 board meeting.
McNeal is knowledgeable and experienced, having served on the budget committee for ten years. She has been the chair of the budget committee for the past five years. Her tenure on the committee has spanned several superintendents and boards, including the Dave Brown-led board that caused the district so much turmoil. She was approved to be chair twice by that board, and has served countless volunteer hours assuring that the district’s budget is transparent, so that community members have a clear sense where the district is spending its money.
This year, McNeal stated she abstained from voting to approve the district’s budget because of concerns she had about the district and lack of transparency regarding fiscal issues, its use of money for attorney fees, and the absence of a strategic plan–a document that should guide monetary priorities for the organization.
McNeal has suggested that the district undergo a forensic audit to assure that money is being spent appropriately, and to compel the district to be forthcoming about its financial liabilities.
Instead of heeding McNeal’s concerns and agreeing to transparency, Director Powell suggested that McNeal needs to resign.
“So it’s come to my attention that the Budget Chair Committee is in a lawsuit right now against the District,” Powell said on September 12. “And I think that’s a conflict of interest. And so I think that shouldn’t the Board advise that she steps down, because that’s a conflict of interest.”
It’s true: McNeal is part of a lawsuit. McNeal and the other plaintiffs, all NSD parents, are suing the district and four individual board members (Powell, Director Trevor DeHart, former chair Dave Brown and former vice chair Brian Shannon), attempting to prove that these four intentionally and willfully broke public meeting laws. If they win, no money goes to the plaintiffs. Instead, they are asking that the individuals compensate THE DISTRICT for illegally spent dollars.
Far from being a conflict of interest, McNeal’s actions are on behalf of the district and for the good of the district.
This civil lawsuit has been ongoing for several years and is set to go to trial next month, in November. Powell knew about the suit (being named on it and all) when McNeal was approved by the board two times.
McNeal hasn’t kept hidden her role as Budget Committee chair, even as the suit has made its slow crawl through the court system. Instead, she has worked countless hours to make sure that district budgets comply with the law, as well as holding government officials accountable for how tax dollars are spent. She does this work because she is passionate about public education, and about assuring that our community’s children can get the best education possible.
Which is why she has asked hard questions about the current budget, and about serious discrepancies that exist in the budget she was asked to approve–and declined. At the July board meeting, she highlighted several potential problems with the budget:
- The district didn’t have a strategic plan. They hadn’t had one for two years. A budget should be informed by a strategic plan, and that didn’t happen.
- Actuals that had passed and were audited for the past few years were not matching with actuals that were shown in this year’s budget.
- State funding to the district was suspended from January to May, and it’s unclear how the district made payroll without those funds. There had been talk about bond money being used during that time, but this is not reflected in the budget and she wanted to know if this was the case.
- There are concerns about taxpayer money from the school district paying for individual board members’ attorney fees. The budget shows money being paid to the Thenell group, even though that law firm was not representing the district or one of the district’s attorneys of record. Billing to another law firm, which represents both the district and the individual board members, did not clearly show that district money was only covering district fees and kept separate from the fees of individual board members.
- McNeal was concerned that even though the previous board already had one lawsuit about breaking public meeting laws, there were additional actions (like the creation of the parents’ rights policy in May) that also run the risk of more expensive lawsuits for again violating public meeting laws.
- A policy outlining the superintendent’s evaluation–and its connection to contracts–was removed from the district policies, opening the doors for a fairly extravagant superintendent contract, which we talked about here.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better School Board has come out of its hiatus to express support for McNeal, and to question whether Director Powell’s desire to make McNeal resign is just one more way to quell dissent in our district. Time and again, we’ve seen people ask questions of district leadership, only to find themselves silenced.
McNeal is asking very good questions about our district budget. If the leadership really wants the best school district possible for our community’s children–and if they have nothing to hide–they should be willing to provide clear, compelling, well-documented explanations. But asking a talented budget committee chair to step down is not the answer our district needs.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better Community 