DiPatri weighs in on e-mail exchange; blasts Ellis

The public e-mail exchange between Amy Kneesey and Scott Ellis just got ratcheted up a notch with the following response from Brevard Superintendent of Schools Dr. Richard DiPatri:

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Subject: Public Education Enemy Number ONE!

Amy,

I am writing to you after just having read the most recent e-mail from our esteemed Clerk of the Court, Scott Ellis. I am amazed and astonished by his one-sided, negative of course, assertions about our budget and spending. This from a man who maintains the second highest budget deficit (more than $3 million) of 67 counties in Florida and a public official who criticizes every other public official, local and county, yet refuses to share his financial information and audits with the public (see Judy Preston’s e-mail of 4/2/09)! Does he actually believe that we have only been reduced by $7 million during the past two years rather than almost $100 million? In Ms. Preston’s e-mail of 4/2/09, she provided Mr. Ellis with the revised third calculation as one of the sources which alone reduced Brevard’s 2008-2009 funding by $10.1 million. Yet, he persists in stating that you didn’t provide the information and that we were only cut a total of $7 million during the past two years. This is just another example of how Mr. Ellis distorts or ignores the facts presented to him. Another example is when he questions your veracity on data published by the State Department of Education; data showing that Brevard is 66th of 67 districts in district administrative spending and 2nd in classroom spending (Note: For the fifth consecutive year).

Notwithstanding the information above, I am really writing to thank you for your willingness to confront and challenge the never-ending false statements and accusations of Mr. Ellis, clearly public education enemy number ONE. You have shown great courage in taking him on publicly because it is always risky and hurtful to debate a person who relies on false information and innuendo and distorts or ignores facts that don’t support his arguments. In effect, he is nothing but a school yard BULLY surrounded by like-minded peers who cheer him on.

I am still waiting to hear a response to his $3.4 million deficit on a $17.4 million budget. Does he deny it? No! He just gave you a bunch of excuses such as he can’t borrow money, therefore he can’t balance his budget. If he worked for the School Board and carried deficits for six years, he would be fired immediately. In a recent Florida Today article in which he was ordered by Chief Judge Clayton Simmons to provide services to the courts, his response was; “They don’t really understand the financial situation.” This is from a public official who has run a deficit for six consecutive years. The judge who oversees the Clerk of the Court “doesn’t understand the financial situation.” How ludicrous! He accuses you of not providing data yet it is clear that he either refuses to or cannot provide information about his own budget in response to the judge’s order. On that same issue Judge Simmons told Ellis he would not lift the order until Ellis can, “definitively demonstrate with meaningful data why it would be a material cost savings to the clerk’s office to suspend clerk services during the court sessions outlined in his undated memo.” Apparently, the only one who “doesn’t understand the financial situation” is Scott Ellis.

But wait, it gets worse! As stated earlier, the Clerk of the Court has a current deficit of $3.4 million on a $17.4 million budget, the second highest deficit in the State of Florida. This is the 6th consecutive deficit submitted by Mr. Ellis and this year’s deficit is $1.4 million more than he submitted with his original budget. In effect, he continues to spend significantly more than he has.

BRAVO to you again for your courageous public stand in defense of the School Board and education in Brevard County. Your courage does not go unnoticed to the people in Brevard who support public education and who provide the children of Brevard a first rate education at a reasonable cost.

Dr. DiPatri
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Here are the e-mails to which he was referring from newest to oldest (Editor’s note: clicking on the link to the original pdf in the upper left corner of the viewer improves readability dramatically):

From April 9th:

From April 2nd:

From March 5th:

From March 3rd: