Congratulations to reporter Matt Wilson and The Monitor for the expose based on the Weslaco ISD audit (Sept. 26). One can only wonder if these deviations from policy, procedure and good business/personnel practices could have been discovered had the audit been done locally.
Considering that school districts account for about 40% of our local property tax, it is surprising that this type of audit is not required by Hidalgo County or the state every five years.
Based on the poor results, wouldn’t it be prudent for us, the taxpaying public, to demand that there be such an audit of every school system receiving our tax dollars and that it be a state requirement? How else can we remove nepotism, cronyism and questionable financial dealings from our schools?
Schools should not be in competition with each other for students, spending thousands of dollars on congratulatory newspaper photo ops or hundreds of thousands on giveaways for advertising and awards, especially those not related directly to classroom performance.
Let’s go, Sharyland and Mission, show us an audit from the same firm using the same criteria.
Ned Sheats, Mission
