PLP: School Contract A ‘Disturbing Development’
The decision by the Cedarbridge Academy Board of Governors to award a financial management services contract to Saltus Grammar School is a “disturbing development that merits closer public scrutiny,” said Shadow Minister of Education Walton Brown this morning [Aug 27]..
Last week the CedarBridge Board of Governors confirmed they contracted Saltus to provide the services of a Financial Controller.
“This contract allows CedarBridge Academy and Saltus to realise synergies through sharing the resources of an effective and experienced finance department at a lower net cost to each school than if both independently operated similarly experienced and well qualified finance departments,” the CedarBridge Board said.
Mr Brown said that after carefully reviewing the relevant factors, he came to the “conclusion this decision harms the interests of Cedarbridge, its stakeholders and public education more generally.”
The Shadow Education Minister said, “At a time when many of us are working to build public confidence in public education the CBA board sends the message that CBA needs the help of a private school to manage its financial affairs.
“Secondly, there is the issue of fundraising. Any fundraising undertaken by CBA will be readily known to Saltus. This knowledge can be used to the advantage to Saltus at the expense of CBA—hampering future opportunities for fundraising.”
“Thirdly, there is the related area of sponsorship. Any sponsorship partner secured by CBA can be used subsequently by Saltus in its own sponsorship activities. Because the pool of such funds is always limited there, again, is the potential for CBA interests to be adversely affected.”
“To be clear, I do not believe Saltus had any of these issues in mind when they submitted their proposal in response to a publicly issued RFP process,” said Mr Brown.
“Because the two schools share the same professional space, however, the potential for Saltus to use inside CBA knowledge to its advantage is high. This is another reason why the contract award is highly problematic and the Board should have been more sensitized to these issues.”
Mr Brown’s full statement follows below:
The decision by the Cedarbridge Academy Board of Governors to award a financial management services contract to Saltus Grammar School is a disturbing development that merits closer public scrutiny. I am well aware of the challenges Cedarbridge faced in terms of its financial reporting and related matters and therefore recognize the urgent need to find a workable solution.
Having carefully reviewed the relevant factors, I have come to the conclusion this decision harms the interests of Cedarbridge, its stakeholders and public education more generally. The harm can be seen in three areas.
First is the intangible and immeasurable harm caused by farming out the Controller function to Saltus. At a time when many of us are working to build public confidence in public education the CBA board sends the message that CBA needs the help of a private school to manage its financial affairs. The fact is every other public school has its financial affairs well managed through internal or public resources. A board sensitive to the importance of building public confidence would not have made such a decision.
If the board wanted lessons from the private sector they would know Ace would not contract out its accounting to XL and Cedarbridge should not be doing so to Saltus. When Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank saw an opportunity to save money by working together they formed a separate company to do this.
Secondly, there is the issue of fundraising. Any fundraising undertaken by CBA will be readily known to Saltus. This knowledge can be used to the advantage to Saltus at the expense of CBA—hampering future opportunities for fundraising.
Thirdly, there is the related area of sponsorship. Any sponsorship partner secured by CBA can be used subsequently by Saltus in its own sponsorship activities. Because the pool of such funds is always limited there, again, is the potential for CBA interests to be adversely affected.
Finally, there is the area of overseas affiliations. Any relationship CBA structures with an overseas organization which has a financial component, again, will be known to Saltus and can be used by Saltus to its advantage and contrary to the interests of CBA.
To be clear, I do not believe Saltus had any of these issues in mind when they submitted their proposal in response to a publicly issued RFP process. Because the two schools share the same professional space, however, the potential for Saltus to use inside CBA knowledge to its advantage is high. This is another reason why the contract award is highly problematic and the Board should have been more sensitized to these issues.
The Progressive Labour Party have concluded this decision by the Cedarbridge Board is contrary to the interests of the very school and students who interests they are meant to promote. In light of this, I call on the Minister of Education to take note and act accordingly.
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- Minister Supports Saltus/CedarBridge Decision | Bernews.com | August 28, 2013
WOW, clutching at straws with no evidence to substantiate….. this is scaremongering at it’s finest. Almost up there with the Boogy man
I have to somewhat agree because even though Mr. Brown seemingly raises points that can not be ignored, on the bigger picture I personally think the schools have made a wise choice.
After all if you look at the public sector right across the board there is a lot that is very wrong and not being addressed and we keep seeing these band aid approaches,maybe this is why the private sector has been successful so long and we still have a long way to come close to their mark.
They seemed to be better in curriculum,administration and definitely in the area of economics.So if the board of Governors at Cedar Bridge feels they have made the right choice they should stand by it and no amount of bullying should persuade them to rethink their position.
Duane, you are making a lot of sense.
two thumbs up
I would assume that such information about sponsors and donations would have to be made public in their accounting anyhow? Can anyone substantiate?
The schools aren’t competing with one another, so the insurance and banking examples are apples and oranges.
And the insinuation that saltus will somehow hijack fund raising initiatives from cedarbridge is quite a stretch given their financial position and saltus already has numerous overseas connections with many higher education institutions.
Sorry Mr. Brown, but I have to agree that the above is simple fear mongering with no basis in reality. But I am glad that you acknowledge the past difficulties experienced in regards to CBA and their financial accounting/reporting capabilities. At least something is finally being done to address this issue.
Actually, they ARE competing with one another (and the students are competing with one another), in different ways. If they are not competing, then way is CBA having certain students take the GCSEs like the private schools? Also, both schools attempt to make partnerships with the private sector to boost the students and the school’s profile – that’s competition too. Resources are scarce in this Island right now.
You make reference to the financial position of Saltus – well, I don’t know what that financial position is exactly, but I do know that:
1) enrolment at Saltus has decreased significantly in the past few years. Part of this is due to expat families leaving the Island, and part of it is due to financial strain on local families who can no longer afford to put their children there.
2) Saltus made several teachers redundant not too long ago, no doubt an attempt to keep pace with the loss of revenue from #1.
3) Saltus got this contract because they applied through an RFP process. So they applied for a job and they got it. They are not doing this for free – they will receive payment. Why seek this extra source of revenue (and to lower their own accounting costs) if the school is financially robust?
I don’t it is fear-mongering for the Minister to raise valid questions that were not addressed by the Education Minister or the CBA board to begin with.
If you want to ascertain the financial position of Saltus, go look at their financial records.
Don’t be so lazy !
Yes this article is nothing but fear Mongering.
And where might I find that? I didn’t see it when I searched their website, unless I missed it. Can I, as a alumni of the school, call up and ask for a copy of their stats?
And what was so lazy about my statement? I gave a reasoned opinion based on facts available to the public – you gave a one-liner (“scare-mongering”) with nothing to back up such a statement.
Its on the website
Well said POrtia, Strong Points put forward, keep it up, I always enjoy reading your comments. They are always spot on.
Portia, seriously, chill out dearie. Don’t jump down people’s throats so quickly.
This is a costs savings scheme, anyone was able to tender, and they were hardly the most likely winners so they must have done something right. And if it it brings two widely different schools together, then that has to be a good thing. Or maybe not in your world.n
Yeah well done Portia.
Here is a way of saving money on back-office functions. It frees up resources that can be used to actually teach children. And you and your f..king idiot PLP friends can find nothing to say about it except for stupid questions about the “financial position of Saltus”. What frikkin difference would it make Portia. You idiots are just pissed off because it’s a good idea.
It’s good for the kids Portia. The Cedarbridge kids. Get that into your thick head.
They publish the financials in a magazine that gets sent to parents and I believe alumni if you’re on the mailing list.
all schools in Bermuda are registered charities, aren’t they? so financials are public.
Erm…when did Mr Brown become a minister?
The Shadow Minister has a valid point if we consider the historical differences between private and public education. Additional detail should be provided about whether an independent entity will be providing accounting services to both schools or whether Saltus employees will be providing the services.
If Saltus employees are providing the services, they will have a reporting duty to Saltus which has a significant risk to Cedarbridge.
What “significant risk” to Cedarbridge? Can Saltus steal Cedarbridge’s source of funding? No. It’s funded by the government. Can it steal business from Cedarbridge? No. They serve entirely different segments of the education population.
It is a way of saving money on purely administrative functions. It means resources aren’t wasted. And all that means there is more to spend on actually educating children.
It ain’t that frikkin hard to understand.
Clearly Mr. Brown is finding it difficult to understand.
What really scares me is the fact that CBA felt that they had to use an outside Controller – why couldn’t they use the government finance department to provide this function. Additionally, if a water tight contract is put in place then there should not be any worry about Saltus poaching on CBA’s ideas – this can also work to CBA’s advantage but obviously this hasn’t been considered as it doesn’t create enough fear in anyones mind.
I’d be more concerned if I was a Saltus parent as to why the school is straying from its mission in this way. Saltus families pay taxes for the public system (which they do not use) … are they also subsidising CBA’s finance function?
CBA ha sold out their school and most important the children
You are not a genuine educator to draw that conclusion. Busted !
How exactly? Utter nonsense
The PLP is some kind of desperate. The CBA Board has found a way to save some money in their accounting. That money can now be redirected into a needy department. Good move on the Boards part. Saltus has been a very successful school standing on its own. CBA cannot lay claim to successes anywhere near Saltus. If parents payed for education through a Government voucher system for parents to send children to schools of their choice, Saltus would win every time. CBA would cease to exist. Saltus, or other private schools would be renting classroom space from Government at the CBA & Berkley.
As this contract stands CBA stands to learn something from Saltus, not the other way round. The PLP should be praising the CBA Board not criticising them. But hey, the PLP is going to do what the PLP does best, be the Opposition. We can expect no better from them.
Saltus has been around for 125 years – of course they are more established. CBA has only been around since 1997; they are still relatively new in the education system, so that’s not really a fair assessment.
Saltus has also had the advantage of generations of wealthy alumni donations and patrons; CBA has to be content with whatever the Government of the day deems to throw their way in terms of funding, resources and quality of teaching.
Yes, perhaps CBA can stand to learn a thing or two from Saltus – but Saltus is not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts – this is a JOB to them, and in the end, THEY plan to financially benefit as well.
And yes, I would expect the PLP to comment on this arrangement – just as the OBA commented on everything the PLP did when THEY were the Opposition.
Well Said Portia, you are right on the money. Great points put forward.
I would say alum donations are minimal hence the cost to send a student there. Bearing in mind that the school is non profit every cent is put into improving the school.
What is wrong with reducing costs for both schools?
Mr. Brown should stay quiet and stop stirring up nonsense
Portia you know nothing. Alumni Donations to any private school goes primarily to bursaries. To help fund the education of capable students whose parents cannot afford tuition. You will be surprised no doubt to learn that 1/2 the children who attend Saltus are on busaries. So not only have alum paid for their own education, thru un-used taxes they have paid into the Public Ed system and now for whatever personal reasons they DONATE back to their school to help yet another child get a proper education. You could learn a few things from those actions.
Wats really scary is that this Berkeley Alumni didn’t have the guts to oppose the dismantlement of his Alma Mata…..now its a well equipped underachieving shell of its past academic history. At least WA Alumnus supported saving their school
I think it is time the PLP shut the h**l up and sit in the corner you are the reason for so much hardship in the last humpteen years and now you want to kick complain murmur and bite about everything positive and new you need to stop Sit back and look at our education system, the lack of finances for our childrens learning and now somebody has seen the light and you are running your ars*s off at the bit as the ole folk would say gad to hell and stay there The BIBLE says that satan comes to steal, kill and destroy I trust you all see yourselves in that, because you have done it all and are still trying to do worse OBA seek the Lord in all of your doings and let Him direct your path.
Is this man serious! What is possibly wrong with this Mr.Brown!? U complained about the UBP’s educational plan and when u got in u did NOTHING 2 change it BACK! Because u see a private school and public school working together to help OUR children, there is a problem! What! The PLP= 14 years of doing NOTHING! And u say ya for da “people” my A**!!
Here is my issue;
The Shadow Education Minister said, “At a time when many of us are working to build public confidence in public education the CBA board sends the message that CBA needs the help of a private school to manage its financial affairs.
As far as I’m concerned any affiliations that the public schools have with the private schools is a good thing. The transfer of knowledge (both ways) is a good thing. Let us acknowledge that are private schools that are doing some things right and the public schools could benefit from that experience. If anything, we need more interaction, not less.
Being affiliated with a private school does not hurt public confidence in public education. The following things do;
1. Graduating students that can barely read or write
2. Declining graduation rates
3. Children being poorly equipped for the competitive world that we live in
4. Gang violence, and drug dealing in our schools amongst our children
I could go on but we get the gist. We need more connections between public and private and not less.
my issue, is that there isn’t a shortage of qualified persons on this island (Bermudian and non Bermudian) who could competently carry out this role.,
I don’t know enough about the constitution’s of either school to comment, but I will say it seems a bit strange to making this “synergy”
Sharing resources to save money isn’t strange. It was open to anyone to bid for and who better to run a school finance department than another school? At least they know the work better than any other person or accountancy firm.
Here’s a thought, why not outsource it to a company in India or similar as HSBC did and kill off a couple more jobs? That would reduce costs.
If the PLP win the next election,now that would be disturbing.
I would imagine that the Cedarbridge Academy Board made this decision freely. Why is it then that so many people are doubting that decision.
Probably because of Mr. Brown’s nonsense.
Perhaps the BIU should contract Saltus.