Amidst the steady stream of stories of ineffective bureaucracy, poor tracking, and management mishaps that cost the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) millions, we rarely see a story about the school district failing to pay its own. Just when we thought it could do that part of its job correctly, the LAUSD proves us wrong again.
According to The LA Daily News (August 27, 2007), "Seven months after Los Angeles Unified rolled out a $95 million computerized payroll system, school officials are prepared to pour at least another $37 million into the project to fix thousands of problems as [the district braces] for the start of the school year." We have become anesthetized to absurd figures concerning LAUSD’s waste, the United Teachers Los Angeles President explains, "[However, this situation is] an 8.9 on the Richter scale… It’s very bad[,] and it promises to get worse when [the] traditional school [year] starts."
LAUSD’s interim chief operating officer explains that "the main problem now in the payroll system is [the failure to generate accurate paychecks] for about 49,000 certified teachers and principals. On Aug. 3, the last certified pay date, nearly 4,000 had errors." The nature of these errors is enraging – "about 570 employees…either were not paid or were significantly underpaid." Part of the technical confusion over the payroll is that "[w]ith the annualized pay process, the district pays teachers for 10 month of work over 12 months so they still receive a check in the months they are not working." However, since that practice is standard for school districts throughout the country, the system should have been developed to work correctly with that requirement.
A veteran employee of 30 years thinks that the school district should "[j]ust get rid of it. The employees have to get paid. This is ridiculous…I have to get another job. I can’t stick around." Now, it appears that this pay problem will not only result in well over $100 million dollars being wasted, but also a loss of hundreds of employees who are not willing to wait an eternity for a correct paycheck.
In moves to downplay the gravity of the situation, the superintendent commented that "[t]he old system was way more flawed. [LAUSD] hired some of the best consultants in the country to come in and work with us." The interim chief operating officer admits that the expensive new payroll system, administered by Deloitte and Touche, does not work, but offers another excuse: "The reason we have so many errors every month is that it seems every month we have something new forced into a relatively inflexible system." On the more human level of error, "District officials acknowledge that they simply were not adequately trained when [LAUSD] rolled out the payroll portion of the $95 million Better Tools for Schools system. An audit is also underway to determine whether the companies that designed and installed the system are at fault."
Stating that the old system was worse than the current one does not make the new one any better. It also doesn’t excuse the insufficiencies of a system that will end up costing approximately $132 million dollars (or more). Meanwhile, employees who should be focused on their jobs and improving the failing school district can only focus on their diminishing bank accounts. Who suffers in this situation? Everyone, especially the taxpayers, are paying for the domino effect of mistakes.
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