Can’t Blame Parents
Via email from “Cut The Budget”
Can’t Blame Parents
I think that the worst thing that has come of the budget debate in Marlborough is the way the BOE and its supporters have torn the community apart to achieve a purely political goal. It’s very important to realize that the BOE wanted an additional $25,000 in a budget of $7M — so they campaigned heavily, smeared political opponents and sent out missions of misinformation in order to vote down the entire town budget for what amounts to 0.4% of their budget.
In reality such a small amount is a rounding error in their budget. It has to be obvious to even the most ardent BOE supporter that this wasn’t about the effect that the $25K would have on our school, it was about whether the BOE could get its way.
You really cannot blame parents for backing the BOE when the BOE used their children as the argument to vote down the budget. What parent does not want to make certain that their child is not provided with a quality education? If you base your decision on the assumption that more money equals better education then you have to be willing to write a blank check.
If you allow yourself a deeper thought process, you have to ask what was gained by the additional $25K.
The May 11th budget guaranteed that no teacher would lose their job and class size would NOT go up – two popular arguments initially put forward by the BOE to squeeze more money from taxpayers. These guarantees were made available to the BOE even after the BOE (without input from the town) agreed to healthy raises for teachers, some of which will equal or exceed 6%. So maintaining class size and teachers jobs wasn’t enough for the BOE — they needed that extra $25K!! Now parents are left to debate the merits of raiding the town’s savings account to provide that $25K.
Was the extra $25K worth voting down the entire town budget and stirring up the anti-tax sentiment that has resulted – apparently the BOE thinks so. Was the 0.4% increase in the BOE budget enough to create an atmosphere where parents shun other parents at soccer games – apparently, the BOE thinks so. Finally was the $25K worth the unprincipled tactics of publicly and personally attacking the BOE’s “opponents” and vilifying Mrs. Gaudinski? Apparently the BOE thinks so – do you?
It would appear the BOE has never justified why they need the extra $25K.
The BOF voted to give them the money without ever finding out what the money is for. Did the BOE try to bridge this funding gap? What about the savings from hiring a part time superintendent? Dr. Menzo surely makes more than $50K a year — I understand he makes about $130K a year. Assuming a part time superintendent get paid even $70K a year (pretty good for a part time job), the BOE would have $60K to offset any lost revenue.
Do you still believe that this is about your children’s education?
I am not sure if you attended any of the meetings or have read any of the budgets proposed by the BOE but your claims are ludicrous! If anyone has made the town divisive it would be the BOF when they originally cut the BOE budget by $350,000….that is what scared the parents of this town. To suggest that the parents are not able to make their own decisions and follow the events that took place is insulting! This is about our children’s education. Do you not think it is awfully coincidental that the original suggested cut for the BOE was $450,000 and was finally voted on a $350,000 cut. Cathy Gadinski stated at the last BOF meeting that having a 0% tax rate would force the BOF to cut $500,000 from the budget….wow that seems pretty close to the amount that members of the BOF wanted to cut from the BOE budget! Do you think that the children of our town should have to sacrifice b/c we (the town) as incurred debt that we are now not willing to pay?
Anonymous:
You are clearly uninformed or simply following the BOE pattern of attacking the BOF and spreading mis-information to make a point. Ms. Gaudinski never proposed a cut of $450K and the dollar amounts suggested at the last BOF meeting were numbers used to show the magnitude of an overall cut to reach lower tax increases. Nobody suggested these cuts would ever be made or that they would be taken from any particular group. Were YOU at these meetings or did you get this information from one of the BOE’s hatchet people sending out mis-information in e-mails.
I have no doubt that parents can make up their own minds or follow events — I just think it is harder to do so when people like you spread false information.
I have been at EVERY single meeting and maybe you should reread what I wrote….I NEVER said that Gadinski recommended at 450,000 cut….I said a $450,000 cut was originally suggested by a BOF member and the amount finally voted on was a $350,000 cut…remember way back when the BOF began this circus of events….although I still have a hard time believing that this was a legitimate vote since one board member did not know he was VOTING on a cut he thought it was just SUGGESTED amount…and please do not say that is not true…I was there when he squirmed out of that one. Cathy Gadinski stated at the last BOF meeting that the BOF would have to cut the total town budget by $500,000 in order to not increase taxes and still pay our debt!
She stated that this would be next to impossible to do!
I do not spread any false information… I listen very carefully…take notes and make my OWN DECISIONS….being a parent I think I am capable of that!
Who recommended a $450K cut?
Sorry, who “suggested” a $450K cut?
Deleted by the editor.
People, keep it civil!
Check the minutes!!!
I will check — what meeting was it?
I do not appreciate my comments being deleted…I have not written one thing out of line…have you, the editor, read some of these comments…”hush money”…”who is in bed with you”…I am beginning to think that the editor of this blog is obviously one sided.
A suggested cut was made the same evening as the voted $350,000 cut…I guess members of the BOF thought this was a compromise…
Editor: You mentioned a person who (I assume is not posting) by name and said they “have an ax to grind”. You can not speak for that person, and I thought it was over the top.
Lately I am not happy with the tone being taken on this website, a number of comments are treading the line. I am not a journalist, I am an engineer. I am learning as we go on this experiment. But little constructive has been gained in this string of comments.
I may have to rescind the ability to post without return email and name.
Anonymous — now that you have attacked everyone who has posted on the blog, you attack the editor??? Please…..
Anonymous — please refer to your careful notes to tell me the date of the meeting so that I can check the minutes…
Anonymous — I just went to the Marlborough website and looked at the minutes for March 25, 2009. Ms Leser made a motion to reduce the BOE budget by $325K NOT THE $450K AS YOU REPORTED IN THE DELETED COMMENT. Now, you have to admit that your information is NOT correct and you should be more responsible with these comments.
This all started many months ago when the Democratic Town Committee’s Chairman called for NO reductions in the BOE budget citing that any such reductions would result in teacher staff reductions and increased class sizes. We quickly got passed that and the BOF presented a budget which had minimal impact on the BOE, but it was too late to avoid the tumult which was initiated by the DTC’s earlier claims. Is this political? It most certainly is.