Rambling Cell

Odyssey Charter School American Fork Utah Budget Time

It is that time of year when the Administration at Odyssey Charter School in American Fork is submitting their budget.  At first glance, the proposed budget seems to increase already heavy administration costs considerably. 

I need to do some further research and get some clarification as to some of the Administrative related numbers but luckily the Supreme Court in Utah just made that easier with their ruling regarding Sandy City and the Salt Lake Tribune.

In comparing Odyssey Charters Schools budget with that of Alpine School District, it looks like the Charter Schools spends a much higher percentage on administrative staff than Alpine School District.  Interestingly enough, based on a quick glance, it looks like Odyssey spends more actual dollars on administrative staff than Alpine School District does for similar jobs.  This is interesting as Alpine School District has thousands of kids versus the 450 or so at Odyssey.   Then consider that a parent at Odyssey is asked to put in 40 volunteer hours to help provide more resources for their child’s education.

Another interesting area was that of extra curricular activities.  Alpine shows spending roughly $36,000 on sports teams, etc.  This money benefits hundreds of students who participate in these activities.  Odyssey on the other hand does not have sports teams but according to my understanding, spent over $18,500 to send 10 or so kids and their chaperone’s to Rome this year for a week (next year it will be $30,000 for 30 kids).   What makes it even worse is that based on what I know, the 8th grade (the ones that took this trip), do not bring in enough revenue through State income to cover the cost of their grade to start with (teachers, supplies, activities, etc).  As a result, this trip to Rome for this small number of students was taken at the expense of the other 400+ students at the school.  This could have paid for multiple field trips, programs, etc. benefiting the student body as a whole. 

More to come on this once the budget is passed and my requests regarding some of the numbers is responded to.