School Funding

Small businesses awaiting payments held a news conference Monday morning to share frustrations about Baltimore City Public Schools’ payment system and to share ideas about what they said must change.They were really focused on working with the district to make changes that would help students. The business owners repeatedly said the goal of the news conference was about improving collaboration with City Schools, but they also made it clear that accountability was also important. When it comes to payment and procurement, they said the district is currently not accountable to the small businesses with which it works.”We’re not here to bash anyone. If you are here because you genuinely care about the children, then we are in alignment,” said Terry Thornton, vice president of ACT Now Baltimore.| I-TEAM: Third vendor claims City Schools owes thousands in unpaid bills “I never accepted money from a Baltimore City school until last year,” said Gabriel Pickus, founder of Indigo, an outdoor learning program available in several district schools. “I founded a new initiative to gather children outdoors to learn.”As several staff and administration officials from City Schools looked on, Pickus explained the current limitations of working with the district.| I-TEAM: Another vendor says Baltimore City Public Schools owes her thousands “Had we not had additional funding to put up front, we would never have been able to serve the kids when it was time,” Pickus said.Pickus said that if not for the $300,000 his program had from national foundations last fall, his program might have run out of money while waiting on payment from City Schools.”I don’t have time to spend on four different emails over the course of six weeks trying to get the check that’s in our contract,” Pickus said.| I-TEAM: Snowball vendor says Baltimore City Schools stopped paying her invoices Each speaker spoke about the procurement process, getting the district contract needed to hire workers and begin reaching out to students, and late payments. But their tone wasn’t antagonistic, they were seeking common ground with district officials.”I’m not interested in being right. I’m interested in doing what is right for the kids,” Pickus said.Terris King II, founder of Temple X Schools, put it this way: “This is an opportunity for a win. There’s a lot of talk against City Schools, against our leaders. We believe, because we’ve worked with them, that they do care. We don’t think there’s any malicious intent.” Video below: Vendors say it’s time to hold City schools accountable