I Am Pro-education and I Am Voting No!!
Please post this.
I am proeducation and I am voting no!!
I will vote no and mark my ballot that I unconditionally support education but I want taxes cut. I do not want class sizes increased or teacher cuts-only taxes cut!! I agree the first selectman needs to give back at least part of his salary.
I am voting no because there is a surplus from last year, special education cost savings, a retirement and stimulus money. So, there is actually an increase for education-yeahh!! And, if there is a part time superintendent there will be even more money for education.
I agree with voting yes. I shop at Target, and Walmart and I still go to the doctor’s office and I love education-so much so, I want money in my pocket, from reduced taxes, so that I can send my children to college for undergraduate and graduate degrees.
I respect everyone’s opinions and I would like to stand strong with those voting no who love education and will do whatever it takes to reduce taxes, keep all teacher positions and small classes.
My values are world class education- which is not measured by dollars-if dollars mattered, Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, and New London would have the highest SAT scores and the highest admittance to Ivy League Colleges. I value strong homes where parents are loving and patient and not financially burdened by taxes. I value my neighbors who are struggling more than me-I want them in my community and I want to support them, their families and their dreams. I value the families who have nurtured the wonderful children who have made the school so amazing. First and foremost, parents and families are what makes a school great, followed by excellent teachers, administration and support staff. I value all of you and your opinions and I will continue to respect you no matter your vote. I respectfully request that you stand up and join me with a no vote for this budget and write on your ballot to cut taxes and to leave the teachers and class sizes alone.
I think that I am going to be with you sister.
I can understand and even support your point of view. I DO want my boys well educated.
Thank you for expressing my point of view in words that I couldn’t. Excellent letter.
Great points and great post, Lisa. Thank you and the other parents for speaking up.
I have been busy and bogged down with life-sorry I haven’t been more involved.
I have only skimmed posts and e-blasts lately; but, this one touched me. I absolutely agree. I love education, my family, my neighbors, my town, the teachers, administrators, and support staff and I will vote-NO!!
Taxes are too high and this circumstance does not warrant tapping the reserve.
We can do better and still have the high quality education that we know and love.
Lisa, thank you for taking the time to write this post!
I am not sure how I will vote but I agree with you.
I am voting no and I care about education.
Education is imperative.
I support education and I am voting no.
Raising spending in this recession is irresponsible.
Raising taxes in a recession?
What kind of logic is that?
When people are hurting the most, let’s whack them some more?
Man, there are a lot of for sale signs up in Marlborough
We the Senior Citizens of Marlborough have carried the water for the new 3 schools. We have suffered over 23% in higher taxes in just a few years, and now we are being asked to suffer an additional 10%+++ in the next two?
We are not getting a increase in Social Security this year, because it is a deflationary period. We can’t take it. Please vote no and let me live in this town.
Fiscal responsibility does NOT eaqual anti-education. Some would have us believe that you can’t ask for a sensible budget and be pro-education, but you show us that we can have both.
I truly hope that the members of the BOF read your messages and I hope that your naitivity can hold its own. The budget was defeated tonight and I do not believe the BOF will find a way to decrease taxes without decreasing services to our children. Pasquale Amadeo posted right here on this very blog that the BOF can reduce taxes without reducing services to our schools. I hope he can pull this off…I am not sure that anyone who runs on the “no tax increase” forum and has not attended more than a handful of BOF meetings before this budget mess started (and yes he was a member of the BOF during that time…check his attendance)can really pull this off.
Just remember that 3.1% of the 3.56% tax increase is debt we as a town have accepted when we voted on town projects. If the BOF cuts more than .55% than we are asking the organizations in our town to pay our debt and I can not in good conscience support that. I do not want school services cut, state troopers cut, senior center etc. b/c we do not want to pay the debt we have taken on. Just keep that in mind.
Ken
You are right fiscal responsibility does not equal anti education but fiscal responsibility does mean paying our debt and any tax increas that is less than 3.1% does not allow us to be fiscally responsible!
@Ken Hjulstrom
I agree that we are stuck with the debt. But we need to manage the projects properly and also need to look at every detail of what can be adjusted to look for savings, no matter how small. I don’t think that people are looking to slash and burn, only to minimize the impact as much as possible. I think that the surprise retirement at the school with its $20,700 in savings rubbed people the wrong way when it was on the heels of the BOF giving the BOE the $20,000 from the reserve account.
This ball was started rolling by Shawn Fisher, Beth Petroni, Lauren Gragg and others who called for NO cuts to the BOE budget as far back as last November. They got people worked up and I truly believe that if all the atttention and scare tactics had not been put into gear we would have passed the original budget on May 11th. After all, that budget trimmed a quarter million off the bOE budget without any impact on teachers or class size. But that ball was started rolling down the hill and it has now become an avalanche. The “VOTE YES” letters last week, from the very same people who previously said VOTE NO, failed to slow that ball down.
Perhaps the exit poll will shed more light on what needs to be done to come up with a solution.
One question, who will be reviewing the exit polls? Will it be the BOF or the BOS?
Town calendar lists a BOS meeting tonight @ 7:00. Might be interesting to go and hear what’s discussed.
@David Durel
Why can’t someone set up a webcam and stream it?
Hey it’s 2009!
@David Durel There is also a BOF meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening to be held in the Community Room. I think the BOE is meeting as well.
@Editor
Does Town Hall have publicly accessible Wi-Fi, and would they allow someone to stream it? Why isn’t this stuff being video taped then uploaded to YouTube?
@David Durel
Yes, they do, but it’s 25 cents a copy.
And you have to file a freedom of information request and it takes 2 week for the request to be filled.
@Editor
Meaning, I just can’t show up there with my laptop and a webcam, or video camera and just record the thing and broadcast it, right?
And everything that is transmitted is viewed upside down!
@David Durel
I honestly don’t know.
It would be an interesting experiment.
If you want I could be outside and record you getting thrown out.
I like that community TV broadcasts the meetings, but the delay to airing is too long.
@Editor
LOL! Well, it’s too late now. I got stuck with work stuff and would miss the public comments section, so there’s little point now. I’ll call Town Hall tomorrow and see what the rules are on videotaping, recording, etc.
Regardless, I will go to the one on the 16th. I have some questions on the legality of the probate court merger with Glastonbury, especially after leasing a building for five years, that they won’t use. I also want to address the WPCA ordinance violation, but that may be rectified tonight as I see it’s on the list of things to do. Not sure if that’s because of the stink I made, or if it was on the agenda anyway.
Regarding the public TV thing, I sit there for 10 minutes watching their schedule list go on and on and never see anything about Marlborough. Putting this stuff on the net would be so much gratifying.
@ David, Yes – any resident can audio record or video tape a public town meeting. At one time, all of the BOS, some of the BOF and the All Boards meetings were videotaped and then ran on a rotating schedule on the commmunity voice channel. Not sure why they stopped video taping important meetings other than they really don’t want that much transparency…
Not sure if there’s any rules about broadcasting it via the web or cable, such as, do you need to make sure you capture the entire meeting in the public interest.
Ken
I certainly hope that your beliefs are correct…looking at further spending and ways to save are fine but we need to pay our debt and yes I aagree that the $20,000 for the retired staff did not go over well—very understandable—but all I read here is cut, cut, cut spending…which is fine but only a little more than 1/2 a percent is an actual increase that can/should be cut.
@Ken Hjulstrom
@Reality Check
Thank you. I will double check with the town tomorrow, as I’ve just been informed that a BOF meeting is scheduled for tomorrow regarding the budget. If this is correct, I would like to go and tape it, then broadcast it on my site the next day or same night if possible.
I’ll let everyone know what I find out.
@David Durel
Yes, a BOF meeting is on the town calendar as of now.
SPECIAL
Board of Finance
Community Room
7:00pm
@TOTN I agree that there is not a lot to play with when it comes to the BOE budget, unless you get into staff reductions. That is why the parents should have supported the original budget on May 11th. However, a vocal few got them all worked up and they helped to shoot that budget down. Now we are into a fiscal game of ping pong trying to go back and forth to find a compromise that will appease 50% + 1 of the voters. Who knows where that will end up, but I bet it will show that the May 11th budget would have been a better deal for the BOE.
@Ken Hjulstrom
Yes I agree – the May 11th budget was a good budget. As an acquaintance of mine who does not live in town has said, NEVER vote down a budget because you want to RAISE taxes. It will not work. I guess many people are learning that the hard way. Now there is no where to go but down.
Based on what I heard ,ast eveing it sounds as though we are swinging to the opposite extreme, which again will satisfy some and displease others. To those who voted down the first budget because they sought a little bit more for the BOE it brings to mind the saying “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”