Last year was no fluke…if the administrator’s NEW contracts are not pulled from the budget, it will be defeated! If the administrators honor the contracts they signed last year, the budget will pass…and then take the money we save and buy new microscopes like Scooter Tedder spoke about. Lets spend any extra money on the kids, not the administrators who already have binding contracts!
Please click on the link to see a history of results…
What’s interesting about these referendum results is that voter turnout had been decreasing since 2007 and then last year there was a jump of 252 votes from 398 in 2010 to 650 in 2011 and the budget passed by only 40 votes. And that narrow passage was done without anyone lobbying against the budget. I believe this year there will be efforts made to defeat the budget because of the so-called “central office” contract extensions and raises. (I say “so called” because there is no such office in the Region 1 School District and it reminds me of the Soviet Union and the poliburo.) Of course, it’s dismaying that just a few hundred people come out to vote rather than thousands. The board chairman expressed concern about lobbying now to get people to vote for the proposed spending plan for 2012-2013, but in my opinion the board should be working to engage the public throughout the year and not just campaign for public support during budget season to get the budget passed. — Gale Courey Toensing
— Gale Courey Toensing