School Vote-What is the message?

Thanks to all that came out to Vote.  Both the YES votes and NO votes are telling.  What did we learn?

Firstly, the community overwhelmingly supports public education, with a historically high percentage of supporting votes for the budget and bond there is no dispute of this fact.  We want our children to have the best within reason, a broad program in a safe, clean and healthy environment.

Secondly, based on the percentage of YES votes and support of the School Board Selection Committee slate it is clear that we support the effort to keep the budget and bond as tight as possible.  Nobody wants to see their taxes go up, but the public understands that the increase is not just the cost of operating the schools, but actually the reduction in values of their homes.  The board and administration understand that it is hard for the public to justify spending more on schools when their home values are going down.

Thirdly, the unions should have gotten the message.  Reelecting Nichinsky to the board is a clear statement of support in the position that has been taken to take the contract to arbitration.  It is imperative that the union understand that the public wants a sustainable solution for the future.  As hard as it is to eliminate employees as we were forced to do with the Transportation outsourcing, this board is prepared to make the hard decisions to keep the school system viable.  Six-seven percent annual increases to cover our employee expense is not just beyond the tax cap, but simply unacceptable to the community.

As a member of the Citizen's Financial Advisory Committee (CFAC) and as someone who has worked on the long range projections, I can tell you this was the “easy” year.  Each year beyond this without a sustainable solution for employee costs will result in staff cuts, class size increases, elimination of non-mandated programs such as private school bussing, extracurricular activities and sports.

Let’s all hope that the parties can come together to keep the quality of education we want and expect from our schools.

Stay involved, stay informed and donate your time and expertise to a solution for our children’s future.