T.I.F. Failure by District Blasted As Irresponsible: RG SUN Editorial

Wheels Fall off
Teacher Incentive Fund
By R. Braiden Trapp
Published:
Friday, September 30, 2011 11:03 AM MDT
Imagine your boss comes to you at work and tells you he has access to a pool of money that he can disburse to employees who sign up for an incentive program. Your boss tells you if you meet certain criteria over the next year and raise your performance level, he’s going to give you a big fat bonus. You’d probably work hard and check in with your boss occasionally to make sure you’re meeting the bench marks.

Finally, your year is up and you have performed all the tasks your boss set for you. It’s time for that bonus.

But the boss didn’t read the fine print, set aside his share of the money and didn’t really understand how that pool of money should be distributed. No check, no apology, no explanation.

We’re referring to the Española School District.

Teachers five years ago were given the above scenario. Over 200 teachers signed up to participate in the Teacher Incentive Fund. Many of them met the list of things annually and got their money. However, in the fifth year, the District has to pay 75 percent of the cost or about $1 million. The District also has to show student achievement improvement and multiple teacher reviews within the period.

To no one’s surprise, none of the criteria was met, making the District ineligible for the funds. The District didn’t budget for the cost and the Board is clueless as to what was agreed. Further to no one’s surprise, they’re going to try to blame “previous administrations.”

National Educational Association liaison Charles Goodmacher told the District five years ago there would be an issue with the fifth year. The Rio Grande SUN stated pretty much the same thing in a story in March 2010.

We had problems with the Program from the start. The Northern New Mexico Network administers the federal money. It’s a non-profit in Rio Rancho operated by Carlos Atencio. This guy is the poster child for abuse of federal funds. He pays himself $177,576 a year to send checks to Española and Taos school districts. From a $2.1 million fund, his management runs $528,555 and he only distributes $451,752 to the schools. This must be the most lopsided federal fund in existence.

And Atencio is shameless. His beginning salary in 2003 was $94,004. He has raised himself over seven years to almost double his pay. Really, does this guy care about teachers at all? He’s milking this fund for all it’s worth and no one seems to care.

Our school Board needs to step up, address all the teachers personally and explain what happened and how they can possibly make up for it in the future.

Sure, we’re broke. Teachers know that. However, they were led to believe an incentive check was coming. The Board needs to own the problem and make amends. That’s what mature adults do. That’s what leaders do.




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