Nash deserves praise for addressing WBCSD problems

Our last WBCSD board meeting showed amazing accounting and transparency because of trustee Kathy Nash’s proposal. She made a motion for a one-year levy for a specific amount that addresses the needs of the students. She then recognized that there was a huge trust factor with constituents. Backing this up she read from the 2022 annual auditors report, page 79, “the Board of Trustees are not receiving accurate financial information throughout the fiscal year.”

Yet, Trustee Paul Turco said that the levy didn’t pass last time because the old board members were spreading misinformation. He also stated that her motion was not realistic because it made comparisons to two years ago which has nothing to do with the next school year. He cited no facts or financial data. Just emotion. He felt it wasn’t appropriate to bring up the dismal financial situation of two years ago. Did he not read the first phase of the forensic audit? It states many problems still exist because of missing data.

The truth is that the previous levy didn’t pass because people didn’t trust the financial reports. The real information, as the 2022 audit states on page 79, is they found “material weaknesses and significant deficiencies.” So people talking about not having adequate data were merely telling the truth which was clear to the majority of the voters.

If the “accounting records were in disarray” (page 79 of the 2022 audit) two years ago and have not improved, and the recent Forensic Audit indicates that it has not, then we do not know how much we need. As the board chair Margaret Hall stated, “we do not have good numbers right now” when she spoke in favor of limiting the levy to one year instead of two years. 

 Thank you, Trustee Nash, for trying to address our district problems in a responsible way.

MAUREEN PATERSON

Priest River