The Hamilton Southeastern Superintendent of Schools Patrick Mapes has been on the job about 4 months, and provided an update Wednesday with plenty of numbers on academics and financial matters.
On the academic front, here are some major take-aways from Mr. Mapes’ presentation, centering on testing data:
–In English Language Arts, HSE performs at 59.1%, compared to the state average of 40.7%. Mapes noted the state changed the test a few years ago is now more in line with national standards.
–In math, for 2023, HSE scored 63.2%, with the state number at 40.9%.
–The 3rd grade IREAD score was for 88.6% for HSE, state 81.9%. Mapes explained there are students taking summer school now that will retake the test. The 2nd grade IREAD score for HSE was 58%, a very high number.
–Mapes told the board SAT scores may not be a fair assessment, since it is a college-bound test, yet all HSE students take it, but the HSE score of 56% is much higher than the state average of 28.4%.
–Mapes turned to enrollment numbers, which have been declining in recent years and is tied to support from the state. The 2024 HSE total enrollment number is 21,299. Demographer Jerry McKibben, in a report to the board in May of 2022, projected the 2024 student count for all HSE at 21.146, a bit lower than the actual count.
The discussion then turned to financial matters. I will summarize some of Mr. Mapes’ comments, but sifting through all the financial data is quite complicated. I have a link below to Mapes’ entire presentation to the board, including his numbers about new money received from the state and how it has been spent.
Mapes went into what he described as continuing “deficit financing trends” for teachers salaries. The superintendent asserts the District has been “moving money around,” transferring funds, which HSE Schools had been doing for years. He says this is “not fiscally responsible.”
He also voiced criticism that financial books were not closed by end of January, or the first part of February this year.
HSE Schools administrators and HSEA officials will be entering into negotiations over teachers’ compensation in the coming weeks.
To access the presentation by Superintendent Mapes, use this link.
It is a shame Mapes inserted his opinion into a the financial matters. It was completely unnecessary and basically threw the entire board under the bus, after all, they have final approval of the budget. No one did anything wrong as he insinuated. Being a strong new leader doesn’t involve tearing down practices of others before you. I lost a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Mapes last night.
You should thank Mr. Mapes for being transparent. There is a financial problem that was created by the previous administration, Stokes. Kegley, Lakes, and Dowling. The contract with the Teachers Union/Teachers is unsustainable given the current revenue. As a result they will have to cut expenses in the future, somewhere. Not a lot can be done on the revenue side. If they keep losing students, it will become worse as there will be less money coming from the State. Dowling and Stokes were way over their heads on being able to run a corporation this large. Seems the board was in the dark as Dowling was moving money behind the scenes without Board approval. You should have seen Dowling go to the Board and ask for additional appropriations. I don’t recall that happening. Mr. Mapes mentioned they would be coming to the Board with that request. A credible reporter needs to investigate this. Everyone should be concerned about this as I understand the deficit could be 14 million. That should be the take away from Mr. Mapes address. They’re in a whole financially even after voters passed the referendum.
Brandon is spot on. Every teacher and union rep in the room last Wednesday should have been praising Mapes for the transparency and commitment to cleaning up this financial mess without reducing salaries or services for students . The two worst decisions the prior HSE board made were 1) hiring our past CFO, and then 2) covertly extending the contract of our past CFO for an extra year on December 28 as one of their last acts of defiance after being voted out of their board roles in landslide fashion. As we now know, we’ll be dealing with the financial pain of all that for years.