LCPS Efficiency Study Released

Deriding the School Board and LCPS administration for inefficiency and waste is a popular pasttime among many of Loudoun's citizens. Not a week goes by when I don't read or hear from somebody about it, and about once a month someone suggests ominously that all LCPS needs is a good audit to finally expose parade of financial skeletons.

And so it would seem that a comprehensive year-long look into LCPS operations (PDF, 1.8MB) would be noted with great interest, yet the community seems to have met the oft-cried for review with a big yawn. Of the five local newspapers that I read regularly, only two (Washington Post, Leesburg Today) carried articles about it. A third (Loudoun Times Mirror) covered it in a blog post. I encourage you not to satisfy yourself with the articles. Read the report's 10-page executive summary. Those reporters who did write about the study focused on the net $2.2 million in savings that the study's authors estimate could be saved over five years if all of their recommendations are implemented (most of which would actually require changes by the Board of Supervisors to the land use approval process and not by LCPS).

The study includes a long list of commendations but also a number of solid recommendations. Much of the first chapter (Administration) focuses on how the School Board can improve, and they are sensible recommendations. This report will help us to improve if we can avoid getting bogged down in day-to-day worries to focus on long-term strategies, and I look forward to a further review together with my colleagues.

Ultimately of course, LCPS and the School Board answer not to the experts who conducted the study, not to the state government that oversaw the study and not to the national media who rank LCPS among the best. We answer to the people of this community, and the conclusions of this study are just more information that you can use to assess whether LCPS is meeting the challenge given to it by the community it serves.