Fountain Hills Unified School Board member Lillian Acker has come under criticism for claiming that she does not have time to perform the fiduciary duties required of a sitting board member.
Fountain Hills City Councilman Allen Skillicorn, who attended the May 9th Fountain Hills Unified School District meeting at which Acker made the comments, said he was flabbergasted by the admission.
School Board Member Madicyn Reid was asking for more details regarding voucher instructions and said she could not vote to approve vouchers without the accompanying itemized invoices.
In response to Ms. Reid’s question, Acker said, “I have other things to do than sit there and look over every little nitty gritty thing. It’s not the function of the school board to examine every expense.” The meeting audience responded with audible gasps and groans.
Governing Board Member Lillian Acker doesn't examine Fountain Hills school district expenses. Does the @AzSBA also tell #LazyLillian to not examine the sexual agendas in Fountain Hills schools? pic.twitter.com/cuNQmLe44k
— NotInOurSchools (@nopinkschool) May 16, 2023
“As a member of the community and a taxpayer, I was aghast and appalled at this attitude toward our school’s finances. This board member has a fiduciary responsibility to take expense vouchers seriously, according to A.R.S. 15-321.” Skillicorn continued, “What is even worse is this same school board member voted to have a special election, costing taxpayers an additional $41,712.30, to raise taxes by another $25 Million. She does not have the time to look over expenses, but she has time to hike our taxes by $25 Million. How can she ask us to pay higher taxes and pay for a special election when she can’t be troubled enough to see how the money is spent?”
Fountain Hills Councilman Allen Skillicorn says he hopes the Fountain Hills Unified School District follows their own voucher instructions and supplies the itemized vouchers in the future. Voters will decide for themselves on the school’s $25 Million tax hike, but they should also consider Board Member Lillian Acker’s own words about expense oversight.
Dysart Unified School Board member Dawn Densmore posted on Facebook, “Lillian Acker just voted to approve a $25 million bond to be sent to the voters in Fountain Hills. If she’s not paying attention to the budget, how does she know a bond is even needed? Sometimes bonds are truly needed for critical repairs or new school builds in rapid growth communities – but this is what negligence looks like!”