I realized last night at the Public Hearing for the 2007-2008 budget, that there’s some confusion about budget matters within our community. Probably in most communities. Topics that people need to hear more than once to really understand. Things like the library increase that’s tied to our public vote being confused with coming from school taxes. And the idea that things happen at the Board level behind closed doors, when in fact they’re happening at the workshop meetings just prior to the Board meeting and that all sessions are open to the public. Or the outlandish idea that the increase in aid coming from the Governor which understandably increases the budget (even though there’s a less than zero increase to taxes for our taxpayers) might be a bad thing. Who would possibly consider NOT using the increase planned for us to make things more equitable and hopefully, more assuredly, increasing the quality of our education and therefore, our results? And the taxpayer who says that one $48,000 item like an SRO returning to the school could be considered a deal breaker for members of our community.
Seems to me we need a superintendent’s blog. One that can answer each of these questions in a separate, easy to understand post. This would be great PR and a way for the superintendent to get the facts out. I don’t know anyone better to do this than our own superintendent. He’s the guy who explains everything about school finance to me. It’s his thing. He’s good at it. He’s also a good teacher, especially when it comes to these topics.
So yeah, you’re reading it right. I’m calling him out. This community of readers needs that information. After all, that’s largely why we read, because we’re a community of learners who want to understand. Superintendent of G-Town, this is your opportunity, we need your voice here.