On Your Side

Nampa School District investigation: Part 2

CREATED Oct. 28, 2012

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  • Tina Jensen investigates. Video by IdahoOnYourSide.com

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Nampa School District acting superintendent Josh Jensen was overseeing the district’s finances – and now he’s overseeing the entire district.

He’s in charge as the district wades through a projected $4.3 million deficit at the end of the school year.

"What got us here is overspending revenue. Our biggest expense is on people - salary and benefits," he said.

Jensen's own salary saw a big increase between the last school year and the current one.

According to public documents, he was earning $102,000 a year. Then signed a new contract with a raise for the 2012-2013 school year, with an effective increase of close to $9,000 a year.

He says he gave it back when the deficit was discovered.

"We did pass along increases to staff and I was part of that,” he said. “Once I heard the news though, I turned it back,” he said.

But the latest payroll numbers don't reflect that change back to his original salary.

Budget docs show at the end of July, the school board paid him $9,200 for the month - which reflects the raise.

But at the end August, payroll documents just released show he earned the exact same figure.

I left messages for Jensen asking for comment, but as of Sunday evening, he hadn’t returned my calls.

Meanwhile, some people are calling for Jensen's resignation.

The school board asked the community to submit suggestions for how to fix the deficit.

In the responses, Jensen's name comes up several times.

He wouldn’t say whether he’s going to resign.

"Right now, I've got work to do. We have 15,164 students in this district - two of them are my own,” he said. “I care deeply about this district and right now I'm focused on helping get us out of this and right the ship, so we can make sure this doesn't happen again."

Comments about this story? Email Tina at tijensen@jrn.com.