Since Town Meeting last Monday, the dust is settling and I've heard the phrase "what now?" alot. I've also heard anger and concern regarding the consequences of the budget cuts in the schools. It concerns me too. But what's interesting to me, is there seems to be a slight disconnect between how/why the budget cuts occur and how the schools are effected. It's almost as if some people don't believe those two elements have anything to do with each other.
One of the big points of contention is the $700,000 "sitting" at the school's disposals. I agree that is a lot of money, but it seems to me (and again, I need to learn more about it) that it's more responsible for the schools to have what is ultimately a savings account for emergencies and other things that come up during the year. And let's be honest, if the school didn't have any money at their disposal, we'd probably be complaining about that too, because they would have "squandered away" what they had. The school seems to be at the point of a "lose-lose" situation.
So back to the question "what now?".
There are a lot of parents in Clinton who feel the way I do, but how many of you vote? How many of you learn more about how town government works? How many of you are involved in the schools? I'm going to say not enough.
Now before you get angry at me for writing this, I have two points. Number one is: I'm not saying you don't care. Number two is: until last year I was one of the people I'm describing. I do care, but I didn't vote, I wasn't involved in the schools, and I'm still learning how town government works. So I'm not criticizing, I'm simply identifying.
In my opinion, the schools will not get better without improving these three elements. Part of it will come from the school reaching out, and part of it will come from parents being more involved and making more noise.
What are your thoughts?
I wonder if the school draws its budget from the bottom up or from the top down? Redoing their budget from the bottom up will help to isolate those areas that are over funded and under funded. Then resources can be reallocated. It might also help them to see that they can operate within their approved amount or it may help them show the town where the potential override money would go to. Specific warrants may get passed easier by our frugal town.
ReplyDelete...concern regarding the consequences of the budget cuts in the schools?!?
ReplyDeleteThe budget was INCREASED by $600,000! Maybe it wasn't the blank check that the school was hoping for, but let's be clear, their budget was not CUT.
So, if there was a 1 million dollar cut, then the schools got back something like $700k, that would seem like a net loss of $300k, unless my public school education has failed me.
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone posting anonymously? More importantly...
To Anonymous on June 10th - It depends on how you look at increase or decrease. For the actual amount of money (level funding), the budget went up from last year (which was down from previous years). If you want level services, the budget went down. That is why there are going to be loss of positions, because the cost of just about everything goes up, so if the school was to maintain the same services as before, they need more that what they got in the previous years.
ReplyDelete