When the Jefferson County school board met on Friday, district leaders obfuscated how a $563 million bond program voters approved in 2018 went over budget by nearly $200 million dollars — 15 months after an expert consulting firm examined the program, identified significant overruns and offered unheeded recommendations. It’s a big deal, and an obvious failure of district leadership, the school board and the capital advisory committee, which is made up of industry professionals charged with overseeing the bond program that will cost nearly $1 billion.

This is far from the only scandal demonstrating a complete breakdown of independent oversight and accountability. Only half of Jeffco students can read and write at grade level, while just 37% meet or exceed expectations in math. By every metric, academic performance is unacceptable.

Colorado law says each school and district must have an accountability committee, primarily consisting of parent and community volunteers, to provide oversight on academics. No one is a better, stronger advocate for a child than her parents. Accountability committees theoretically empower parents to effect real change at school — but committees are only as good as the tools and guidance their members are given.

“Because the district doesn’t share the Colorado Department of Education’s checklist for accountability committees or provide adequate training, everybody on accountability committees is trying to figure out what they’re doing,” said Carrie Mumma, a Jeffco mom who, as a member of the district accountability committee (DAC), represents several school accountability committees (SACs).

“The DAC has done a somewhat reasonable job at following statute,” adds Tom Coyne, a former DAC member — but not so much for the school-based committees. “SAC training is very poor. Most of their members are well-meaning people who go in and give the benefit of the doubt to school leaders or the district.”

Unlike a school’s parent-teacher association, a SAC’s job is to help the principal determine the root causes of lagging student achievement, where to focus the budget and possible corrective actions. This requires effective training, resources and support. Other current and former accountability committee members agree the district simply isn’t giving adequate training and information.

“All the items on the state’s checklist are interconnected and built on each other,” said Jeffco mom Valerie Leal, past chair of Hackberry Hill Elementary’s SAC. “Ignoring or omitting any portion of the checklist means the SAC will almost certainly be ineffective.”

Jeffco’s accountability committees are supposed to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of Evie Hudak, a former state senator who resigned in 2013 to avoid being recalled. Hudak wrote the school accountability law and has spent years providing training statewide, especially in Jeffco. When Leal had questions after taking over her school’s accountability committee, the district connected her with Hudak.

Leal asked Hudak for advice concerning specific SAC objectives, to which Hudak was surprisingly dismissive. “We know they are in state law, and they are in the DAC bylaws,” she wrote Leal, “but we have decided that these things are not necessarily a priority. …” Not necessarily a priority?

“Laws and policies are supposed to be followed,” Mumma told me. She recalled a similar exchange with Hudak at her first DAC meeting. “What about the legislative piece and holding the district accountable for following policy and law?” Mumma asked. Hudak responded, “While there’s the law, there’s no DAC police.” No DAC police?

When Hudak, who wrote the accountability law, is approached for guidance or with questions, she should provide real answers — not flippant retorts. What message does her language send to parents and community members on these committees? I posed this question, among others, in an email to the district (including to Hudak and Chief of Schools David Weiss) and haven’t received a response as of deadline.

“Accountability committees are the one place you get to ask what resources are being used in a school to make sure children are succeeding academically,” said former Jeffco school board member Laura Boggs.

That means forthright leadership and complete resources — but it also requires full transparency and partnership with parents. According to Leal, that’s hard to come by, too. “There are no internal controls, nor any levels of accountability, around how schools spend parents’ donations and fees,” she said.

When Leal, a former professional auditor, raised questions with the principal about financial red flags she identified, she wasn’t provided with substantive explanations. Instead, she soon found herself forced out as SAC chair. She filed open records requests to understand what happened, and the email records she got back raise more questions about school leaders’ ability to shut down parents asking questions.

“Here’s a parent who’s willing to stand up in ways that other parents can’t,” Mumma commented. “She was asking questions within the scope of the SAC role. Now, she feels retaliated against and targeted — and that’s wrong.”

Mumma shared another instance of a SAC mom whose big concern is elementary school curriculum. When she raised too many questions, that mother was similarly pushed out.

Jeffco’s culture seems to abjure accountability and oversight. If there aren’t any accountability “police,” and parents who try to provide real oversight are evaded and banished, how do we hold school leaders accountable? How many other schools and districts are doing the same — and what must change to put the public back into public schools?

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on News/Talk 710 KNUS. Reach Jimmy online at JimmySengenberger.com or on Twitter @SengCenter.