Still waiting for news on the PBCG settlement

It’s been, what, about 3 weeks now since the board received the preliminary report of the PBCG audit? Three weeks, and the public is still very much in the dark about PBCG’s future financial relationship with RUSD…

Is the RUSD board going to terminate their contract without any further payment, or will PBCG be given a lovely parting gift, courtesy of the taxpayers and the children of the district?

The way I see it is this – the board has 2 basic duties, and each of these duties are equally important. As elected officials, their first role is representing the taxpayers and the children of this community, and the second is representing the district in a professional and positive way. I fear that some board members are having difficulties addressing both of these duties simultaneously.

Trying to terminate the contract without any further payments could result in a lawsuit from PBCG – even though the audit shows that PBCG failed to perform even their most basic accounting duties. Many people believe that they have not held up their end of the bargain, so why should the district uphold theirs? Don’t even get me started on the unbilled incentives based on “revenue enhancements” (BTW, that is a code word for tax increases, not savings!)

However, lawsuits do have a tendency to get ugly and there may be some on the board who would rather try to make this all quietly go away, and spend millions doing so, in the name of bringing some kind of quick and painless closure for the district.

However, this action may have its own unintended consequences. I cannot believe that many of the Racine area residents will take this scenario lying down. Instead of having the RUSD board deal with important issues like grade configuration, busing, and other educational matters – the board may ultimately end up dealing with their own recall elections.

The alternative - standing up to PBCG and not paying them the unbilled incentives from the still unrealized savings and “revenue enhancements” - would be the righteous and noble thing to do, according to many in this community. It’s the “right thing” to do on the behalf of the taxpayers, and it’s definitely the best for the children within this district. Terminating the PBCG contract and paying them the contentious bonus will only take more money from all the classrooms in the district.

Let me put it this way – I’d rather have the district take their chances in a court fight then pay PBCG any kind of settlement outright. At least then I could respect the board for trying to represent the best interests of the taxpayers, the children they serve, and the district they represent.