The ONE Thing No Delaware Legislator Or Candidate Will Touch During Election Season

The Delaware General Election is in five days.  As citizens of The First State cast our votes, we think of many issues that affect how we decide.  It could be education or taxes or environmental issues.  Many of us vote just for the political party we belong to.  But there is one thing that no Delaware elected official or candidate will even whisper because of the firestorm that will be unleashed upon them if they do.

17 Who Will Make An Impact In 2017: Delaware State Auditor Tom Wagner

Tom Wagner is going to have a VERY busy 2017.  Why?  Because I’m going to make sure he does.  Everyone and their mother is talking about education funding and how to change it.  But all of these funding advocates aren’t bringing up in the elephant in the room.  Do our districts and charters in Delaware spend the money they already have for the benefit of children?  Is that foremost in their minds when they spend their money?

Indian River School District, Family Foundations Academy, Delaware Military Academy, Academy of Dover, Providence Creek Academy, Odyssey Charter School, Sussex Academy, Charter School of Wilmington, Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security, Delaware College Prep, Kuumba Academy, and Pencader Business School have all been investigated by the auditor’s office and found to have some pretty major financial issues.  The extremes, outright theft of tens, if not hundreds, of dollars which should be going toward the kids.  And they were the ones that got caught.

I believe, no, make that KNOW there are others.  I’ve been investigating an educational establishment the past few weeks.  You can ask, but I won’t tell you who.  There are not enough flags that would trigger an audit by Wagner’s office.  So I will create those flags and I will plant right in the middle of Wagner’s office.  The days of playing with school funds are over.  And if anyone should start to feel bold, I’ve made arrangements to make sure information gets out no matter what.

We live in complicated times with no clear direction of what is up and what is down.  This is the world we have created.  We can sit and talk about education until the cows come home but we have already slaughtered those cows and served them for dinner.  Everyone wants to feast on the scraps.  Tom Wagner’s office is, by law, supposed to audit every single school district in Delaware.  But he can’t.  Because our General Assembly won’t fund his office to do the work needed to hold our districts accountable for how they spend money.  Which is why I find it VERY ironic that certain charters and districts want to go after certain things in their quest for more money.  I find that to be completely despicable and if it continues I will not rest until that conversation ends.  Because NOTHING would tick me off more than something going forward with one particular certain thing.  If you thought I was a pain in the ass about opt out, that will be an episode of Romper Room compared to THAT.  Out of respect, I am not going to make that public at this point but it is a fair warning.  And I will say it is not even remotely connected with the charter school lawsuit against Christina and the Delaware DOE.

So, Tom Wagner, my plan is to keep you so busy that you will have no other option than begging the General Assembly to beef up your staff.  And I will have an apparatus so this won’t just be talk coming from you.  Our General Assembly will be VERY aware why you are so busy.

Someone has to get in the dirty and ugly trenches and dig around.  That’s me.  If you don’t like it, too bad.  If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.  If it isn’t good for kids it isn’t right.  As for Wagner, there is one thing you need to resolve once and for all.  We both know what it is.  I’ve dug around in that abyss as well.  And it reeks of corruption.  The tide is high.