Taxpayers upset over Gadsden budget
SAN LUIS, Ariz. ( KYMA, KECY)-Gadsden Elementary School District in San Luis, Arizona was flagged in a May Audit for wasteful spending, according to AZCentral.
The district spent more than $65, 000 in taxpayer money over the past five years on an annual governing board trip to Coronado Island near San Diego.
 “It’s a long audit, they are going to find something, compared to our annual audit that’s a couple of weeks, generally we’ve had clean adults," said Superintendent of Gadsden School District, Dr. Raymond Aguilera.
The district serves about 5, 000 students and in the reports, it states that the district could have violated the open meeting law.
One parent in San Luis, Adrian Siqueiros, tells News 11 that this does not surprise him all. Adrian said he is not able to make the public meetings due to his work schedule, but even if he was able too, driving over 200 miles away to San Diego is ideal.
 “It made me feel uneasy and it got me thinking that it’s the same people that are on the city council, the city administrator, an ex-police officer," said Siqueiros.
Dr. Aguilera said that all arrangements are made by his office. He wants to ensure the parents of the students that it's not a vacation.  “If anything was wrong it was because of me, not the board. The image that’s been created about the training is out of place," said Dr. Aguilera.
The audit shows the district transportation program potentially puts students at risk. And also underlines that hourly employees were paid for time not worked.  “It’s not that they didn’t work or that they weren’t around, it’s that two timesheets were missing and we paid them cause we knew we had to," said Aguilera.
Adrian said that time and time again the district has shown its true colors and that him along with others in the community want change. And by change, they want all those on the board to step down.
Mr. Aguilera is encouraging people to come to the next meeting being held the following Thursday. For more information visit the district's FaceBook site.
