In a statement at the end of the East Penn Board of School Directors meeting July 8, Lynn Donches defended her proposed budget cuts from the last meeting and credited her lack of information to her fellow board members voting to deny her requests.

Donches believes she is not receiving sufficient information on expenditures to fulfill her responsibility as a board member.

In addition, Donches said she was ambushed and accused of ambushing. According to President Charles Ballard, "For her, she is ambushed every time her views are challenged." Ballard insists unfair tactics are being employed to score political points and Donches's technique for analyzing the budget would not stand with any organization of people who regularly handle and develop budgets.

When the board approves its bill list, Donches abstains on the grounds she does not have the information she requests. On a regular basis, Donches asks board secretary Cecilia Birdsell for the exact accounting codes used in identifying each purchase made in the district, down to items as minute as beakers for the chemistry lab. Birdsell provides Donches with the accounting codes and a summary of what items or services were purchased.

This information is generally rolled up into an expenditure line item on the bill list with little or no indication of its purpose other than a phrase such as "supplies" or "communications."

Ballard says Donches's requests have eaten up thousands of taxpayer dollars in the man hours necessary to literally dig up the files and purchase orders pertaining to specific checks in the bill list and classify them under their individual accounting codes. In order for each check to be so accounted for, the district would have to hire a part-time clerk devoted exclusively to the task. The board voted the suggestion down in a prior meeting.

"It's not the purpose of the board to run the district. We set the policies," Ballard said in a statement after Monday's meeting.

Vice President Alan Earnshaw believes it is inappropriate for board members to analyze each invoice and purchase order to decide whether it is appropriate spending. "If you want to manage the budget on a PO-by-PO basis you're not living in harmony with the school code." Earnshaw went on to explain that one of the powers of the board of directors by the school code was to approve expenditures, not individual line items.

Board member Kevin Bacher said Donches is misrepresenting the board by insisting it is the board that continues to deny her request for information.

The conversation ended abruptly when Francee Fuller suggested the meeting close. Donches said after the meeting she was not sure when she would raise the issue again, but insisted her request is very simple, suggesting a computer program could provide her with the numbers she needs. To date Donches has not asked the financial office or administrative staff how the information is compiled.

Ballard believes allowing the "use it or lose it" idea to dominate general opinion is disastrous for organizations like the district. Budgeted funds that remain unused at the end of the fiscal year roll into the general fund, becoming part of the new budget on July 1. Donches insists this remaining fund balance is too high ($9.5 million accumulated over several years, according to her statement).

In its agenda business, the board approved changes in the dates for the school level plan previously approved in December 2012 for Emmaus High School since the school did not meet adequate yearly progress in 2011-2012 as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. The plan addresses the following concerns: A 67.44 percent graduation rate in the Latino/Hispanic subgroup of grades 11 and 12; an 82.05 percent graduation rate in the economically disadvantaged subgroup; the failure to meet the mathematics performance target in all subgroups of 78 percent (EHS got 65.6 percent); and failure to meet the reading performance target of 81 percent in the economically disadvantaged subgroup with only 64.8 percent scoring proficient or average. These percentages are based on the 2011-2012 scores in the PSSA tests. Scores for 2012-2013 have not been released.