Holden on MASB Spending: Stop Tripping Over Dollars to Pick Up Pennies

The $940 of school district money spent to make Trustee David Zimmer an MASB-certified board member was better than par for the course, according to running mate and fellow Trustee David Holden.

the Saline Area Schools Board of Education meeting enacted a moratorium on school board training expenses. During the discussion, it was revealed that the district had spent over $1,000 for Zimmer to take classes with the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Tuesday, armed with more data than was available at the April 10 meeting, Holden vindicated his running mate.

“I think that data shows that Mr. Zimmer accomplished his MASB certification in a very efficient fashion and is to be commended for that,” Holden said.

Zimmer achieved MASB certification in three months Board President Lisa Slawson and Vice President Chuck Lesch are Saline’s other certified board members.  Todd Carter, who took office in 2011, is one course short of being certified.

The numbers show that Zimmer, who took most of his classes online and therefore avoided hotel and mileage costs, achieved certification for less money than Slawson and Lesch.

"It is unfortunate that the April 10 meeting degraded to the point where a trustee's integrity was brought into question. What is further disappointing is that claims made against Trustee Zimmer were not based in fact,” Holden said. “It is time for the board to stop tripping over dollars to pick up pennies and focus on resolving the District's structural budget deficit and securing the educational future of our children."

At the April 10 meeting, Trustee Amy Cattell grilled Zimmer on the expenses.

 “I’m looking at this and I’m wondering how this happened. In the last two and a half months, Mr. Zimmer has incurred $1,135 in expenses. How did this happen?” asked Trustee Amy Cattell at the April meeting. ““So this is fiscally responsible?”

Zimmer said he was taking the classes to follow a board directive that all trustees become MASB-certified.

Over the five-year period, the district spent less than $16,000 on board training. The district has an annual budget approaching $50 million.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Slawson said that while she sees value in the MASB training, she thought cutting spending on training was a symbolic gesture to the district’s employees, who will be asked to sacrifice in the coming in collective bargaining negotiations.

“I can’t thank the district enough for what it’s done to help be become an (MASB) master board member. Because I am a master board member, I’ve sat on two state-wide committees, I go to conferences and I represent Saline,” said Slawson, who calculated the district has spent $1.43 per day to train her. “That’s how much I cost the district a day, and I hope I give that back to them.”

Slawson said she would like to see the Saline board become an MASB “Board of Merit,” which would require each board member to become a certified with the MASB. But she said her view on paying for the training has changed with the district’s difficult financial challenges.

Slawson said she was disappointed to see the motion turn into an issue.

“It’s sad that people felt this was personal. This was a gesture to our staff,” she said. “It should be a non-issue.”

Here is the breakdown of board training expenses over five years.