The Rochester City Council has approved a measure calling on the state to take over financial management of the Rochester City School District. The vote in a special meeting Monday afternoon was eight-to-nothing with one abstention (a councilmember who works for the city schools).
The measure was worked out over the weekend by Mayor Lovely Warren and Council President Loretta Scott. In it, Mayor Warren called for the council to intervene in what she calls “chronic mismanagement and overspending” by the school district.
Council President Scott says this is a reflection of the city’s concern that the district’s financial mismanagement will pull down the city’s financial rating. And Scott says there’s no way this is a one-time, sudden problem.
Councilman Malik Evans…a former school board president…says this is necessary for community confidence. Evans says the school district needs help, and this measure will do that.
School Board Finance Committee Chair Willa Powell say she appreciates the talk of support and help…but the district can handle its own problems.
Powell says it was the district that first spotted and reported the overspending.