|
Jun
23
2006
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 23 June 2006 |
I hate covering the Lansing Schools Capital Project Facilities group. Tension runs high and productivity generally runs low. Animosity is obvious and omnipresent. It's what stand-up comedians call 'a tough room.' My sense of it is that it's a fairly accurate microcosm of Lansing at the moment. One side is deeply suspicious of tax increases and spending, with some residents wanting to stop tax rises of any kind at any cost. The other side sees a real need for spending, feeling it is worth it to alleviate over-crowding and unsafe conditions in the schools.
School officials will do well to keep this in mind as they go forward from Tuesday's vote. I have heard some people marvel at the 706-413 vote, saying that it was an overwhelming victory. That voter turnout makes the difference and most people support the budget. But what I'm hearing people say is that the budget was a lousy one that was too high because it was trying to please everyone -- and pleased no one. Many people voted for it because they were afraid of the alternative and what it would do to the community.
|
|
|
Jun
16
2006
|
John C. Comisi, D.D.S.
|
|
Friday, 16 June 2006 |
|
I read the editorial regarding the Lansing School Budget, and would like to make a few comments. I had the chance to attend Tuesday's Special Board of Education meeting. I listened to Superintendent Mark Lewis and various members of the community speak on this issue. I agree that we do have a problem with ever increasing taxes, and many of the speakers made excellent points about needed changes to the way things are done.
|
|
|
|
Jun
16
2006
|
Mike Cheatham
|
|
Friday, 16 June 2006 |
|
The original defeated school budget for the 2006/2007 school year proposed by the Lansing Board of Education (LBOE) was $21,553,679. On Tuesday June 20, 2006 the board and administration are proposing a budget to the voters showing a reduction of the original budget by over $185,000 through cuts in supplies, material, new staff positions, and optional BOCES programs. If this budget does not pass we must by law go to contingency. This means additional reductions in excess of $355,000 are required. The total reduction based on State Education Department formulas would total over $540,000 from the original budget. They would, by necessity, take the form of cuts in staff positions, interscholastic athletics, non-mandatory bus runs, staff and curriculum development, and technology. The musicals and drama productions at the HS and MS would be considered with all the extra-curricular activities, just like interscholastic sports. Some of the art and music classes are required by SED; per Mark Lewis a high school student must have 1 art/music credit to graduate and a middle school student must have 1/2 year each of art and music.
|
|
|
|
Jun
16
2006
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 16 June 2006 |
I'm not the only one troubled by the school budget situation. This is the first time a Lansing budget has failed in recent memory, and it raises questions in a town that has a long history of strongly supporting its schools. I asked former Middle School Principal and District Business Administrator Tom Jones whether he thinks the new budget will pass. He thought for a moment, then said he couldn't predict. He said that a lot of parents with kids in the schools are saying the budget is too high. That is new, and it is worrisome.
That confirmed my own uncertainty about Tuesday's vote. This one is impossible to call. Even with the doom saying about the consequences of being forced to go to a contingency budget it is hard to guess how the vote will come out. The situation is unacceptable, yet taxpayers are going to have to accept something. Here are questions I've been trying to work out:
|
|
|
|
Jun
09
2006
|
Dan Veaner
|
|
Friday, 09 June 2006 |
A lot of people I've been talking to are worried that the 'new improved' school budget won't pass. And there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on whether that would be a good or bad thing. Well, nobody thinks that a failed budget initiative is a good thing. But while school officials have said that going to a State mandated contingency budget would be disastrous, people on the street don't seem convinced.
The School Board is between a rock and a hard place. After the first budget failed they had very little time to come up with an alternative. What they did come up with doesn't seem to have addressed fundamental issues that caused their first attempt to fail. Many people seem to feel that it is the same budget with a few more things taken out. And while the Board made an effort to solicit residents' input through a survey, they had literally hours to fold what they had learned into a new budget before they had to pass it. Realistically it was impossible to use the community input.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Next > End >>
|
| Results 190 - 198 of 260 |
Archive Opinions 
