- By Dan Veaner
- Opinions
Print 
The School Board is between a rock and a hard place. After the first budget failed they had very little time to come up with an alternative. What they did come up with doesn't seem to have addressed fundamental issues that caused their first attempt to fail. Many people seem to feel that it is the same budget with a few more things taken out. And while the Board made an effort to solicit residents' input through a survey, they had literally hours to fold what they had learned into a new budget before they had to pass it. Realistically it was impossible to use the community input.
Every tax initiative that fails makes it harder for the next one to pass, because people lose confidence. Even though the first version of the capital project was never submitted to the public for a vote, most people see that as strike one, with last month's budget proposal failure strike two. If the Board strikes out when the new budget goes up for a vote on June 20 it is going to make it very difficult to pass a capital project in December, despite obvious need, especially in the High School.
Personally I think the proposed budget is too high. I understand why it is high, but I have two concerns. First, I don't think it is reasonable for the district budget to be proportionally higher than yours or mine. If the cost of living is three or three and a half percent I don't think the school budget should go higher than that. It is twice that.
Second, with such a need for a capital project it seems to me that the Board should have tried to get as close to a zero-rise budget as possible. That would instill confidence in the voters who will be asked to pony up a significant amount in building costs. With fuel and medical insurance costs sky rocketing and built-in rises in teacher contracts I am not suggesting that a zero-rise budget is possible. I'm just saying that it should have been a goal.
Of course it's easy for me to say. Not so easy for them to do. My bottom line is this: the only thing that should not be lost in the process is our kids. I hope the Board will be able to articulate exactly how they define the disaster a contingency budget would result in. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe it would. How, realistically, will kids be affected? Will it truly be better for taxpayers to bite the bullet and pay more than we think we should because it will be of true benefit to our kids? Or is it time to take a stand and stop skyrocketing taxes? That is something I would like to understand before going to the polls.
Schools should be all about kids first. Kids first. It bears repeating.
----
v2i22