BOE 2006-2007 Budget and Second Question

Two questions will appear on the 2006-2007 ballot. The first is the levy (the portion paid by the tax payer) for the main budget of $97,656,217. The second question is for $533,000 for an alternative school.

Our recommendation is to vote NO on the levy for the main budget and YES on the second question for the alternative school.

The Numbers

The budget is for $125.2M which includes the levy to pay the dept on bonds of $5.6M. State and Federal aid comes to $17.7M. There was a $4M surplus from previous years that can be used this year and $300,000 earned interest on money in the bank. This leaves the $97,656,217 levy that must be paid by the taxpayer.

Our Rationale

TUF has approached the BOE for eight months asking them to have an outside and independent review of their operations to look for inefficiencies. They have flatly said "NO". The BOE will admit that the massive budget document is put together in a way that cannot be understood by typical accounting methods and takes the BOE itself nearly 100 hours to read through it.

We then ask, "How can the BOE expect a responsible taxpayer to review it and make an informed decision?" We also ask, "How can the BOE go through it in only 100 hours and be sure that they have made no mistakes?" Their response is that they are so careful they can't be wrong. Yet at "Meet the Candidates Night" Mr. Bonanno said the schools "were a mess" when he started and they are better now but not perfect. So again we ask, "If they are not perfect then why not at least once hire an outside source to look at operations?" Companies both larger and smaller than our BOE do it all the time.

Given that they will not have an outside review of the budget we believe that a YES vote will blindly approve spending. We cannot do that. Until the BOE has such a review we will not recommend passing any budget.

The second question is a different issue. We say vote YES. The second question funds 25 positions in an alternative school (an outside school for children with behavioral problems). With the recent violence in the high school we recognize that the education of most children is being disrupted by a few. Our children need to feel safe in school and not be distracted by other children acting out.

We must say that we find the way the BOE has snuck this in as a second question is inappropriate and irresponsible. The main budget is at cap. That means that this is the highest budget that the BOE can submit to the voters by law (the maximum value is based on last years budget and inflation). To go above cap the BOE must ask for money in a second question. And what do they put in the second question but the most current hot and popular item, alternative schooling. That says to us that they are playing politics with the public at the expense of our kids.

If you do vote YES you should also know that the additional $533,000 is added into the calculation for next years cap, yet the BOE is not required to include the alternative school in next years budget. Finally, we point out that some BOE members have said that the alternative program was part of last years budget but the voters cut it out. For our comments please see our fact check page (4-9-06).