Government School Caught Overspending Attacks Critics Instead of Fixing the Problem

Public schools aren’t exactly the bastions of spending efficiency. That’s not a new headline.

But when it’s pointed out that in one month – that included Christmas break – Indianapolis Public Schools spent nearly $25,000 on cell phone bills, the monopolistic district fights back.

But sadly, not against wasteful spending. No, instead, it lashes out at the sunlight and scrutiny.

Education Action Group published its findings about the cell phone bills in its Indiana newsletter. The news was subsequently picked up by talk radio and local TV. That’s when administrators with the school district started attacking the watchdog group.

But the problem was that the facts were not on their side, as EAG pointed out in a subsequent release.

The school district has emblazoned across the top of its website: “Children Come First!” That’s great rhetoric – I’m sure it makes the casual observer feel warm and fuzzy – but the district doesn’t come close to walking the walk.

Roughly $25,000 a month is a lot of money to pay for cell phones – in any school district. But when contrasted with a newspaper story a few days earlier of a first-year Indianapolis teacher digging through the garbage of a neighboring district for basic supplies, it’s safe to say IPS has a big spending problem.

But instead of admitting it has a problem and it’s delivering a substandard product to its community, the Big Government school district lashes out at its critics.

It’s just another example of children not being first in far too many public school districts across America.