2006
OCT. 6: City auditors issue a report highlighting problems in the School Department's accounting that "lends itself to errors going unnoticed."
2007
MAY 3: Portland city councilors learn that school officials did not cut $500,000 from the $82 million 2006-2007 budget as ordered. The money was used to hire 25 additional people.
MAY 4: Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor says she instituted spending controls in February and expects the budget to reflect the $500,000 reduction by June 30.
ON OR ABOUT MAY 10: According to the city's financial administrator, Paul Colpitts, he notifies the School Department's business manager that there is an estimated $2.4 million deficit in the 2006-07 budget.
JULY 10: Calling it "regrettable but unavoidable," O'Connor announces that the School Department overspent its budget for the previous year by $1.7 million.
JULY 13: School officials warn that the 2006-07 budget deficit may climb as high as $2.5 million after auditors complete their review this fall.
JULY 17: City and school officials agree on a plan to reconcile the previous year's budget deficit and to institute a budget review process. The School Department deficit will be covered by the city's reserve fund. Dipping into the reserve fund might endanger the city's bond rating, unless it can show that there is a plan in place to prevent future deficits.
The committee called Wednesday's executive session with Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor and two other School Department employees on the grounds that a public discussion could damage their reputations and violate their privacy.
Lawyers for the newspaper questioned the validity of those concerns, however, and contended that any discussion related to a "budget or budget proposal" voids the basis for an executive session. They are requesting any records from the meeting under the Freedom of Access Act.
"Discussion of budget process, budget shortfalls and the like must be in public," Jonathan Piper of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios in Portland co-wrote in the request. "This preserves the public's right to know how and why taxpayer money has been spent."
Harry Pringle of Drummond Woodson in Portland, who represents the School Committee and the School Department and attended the executive session, maintained Thursday that any reference to the budget was peripheral to the topic at hand.
"The issue that the School Committee was considering was not the budget but the duties of specific employees," Pringle said. "They, like you and me, are entitled to a reasonable amount of privacy when those discussions are taking place."
Without this protection for public officials, it would be hard to conceive why anybody would work for a public body, he said.
Attending the 45-minute meeting were five committee members and O'Connor, Finance Director Richard Paulson and Human Resources Director Jolene Hart. The three school officials have been questioned about financial management since May, when they first announced a deficit.
The budget gap resulted from $1.7 million in overspending in areas such as special education and an $850,000 loss in revenue in the form of less money coming from sources such as Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income children.
The School Department can use its last $1 million in surplus funds to reduce some of the deficit. The remaining $1.5 million cash deficit will have to be covered by the city's $20 million reserve fund. How much is in the reserve fund affects Portland's rating for borrowing or investing money.
The newspaper said it did not question the meeting's legality until a story ran Thursday that included descriptions of the meeting from attendees.
Jeannine Guttman, the newspaper's editor and executive vice president, cited O'Connor's comment after the meeting: "All of what is known is out in the public. This meeting provided (information) about roles and responsibilities."
Guttman also questioned why the systemic problems that Pringle said could be part of the discussion about the deficit should be kept private. "How they described the meeting, we felt, didn't meet the legal description of a closed executive session," Guttman said.
O'Connor said she respected the newspaper's right to ask about the meeting, but indicated that its request may not turn up much in the way of documents.
As a standard practice, minutes are not taken at executive sessions, O'Connor said.
She said School Committee members are advised during orientation to refrain from taking notes at executive sessions because they may be asked to turn them over under Freedom of Access.
"The general rule of thumb is you're just wise not to do that," she said. School Committee Chairman John Coyne could not be reached for comment.
A response to the request may come as early as today, Pringle said.
Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:
jhuang@pressherald.com
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