The other day, I linked to the Free Press editorial opposing the 9.14% increase requested by the Burlington School District. Free Press Executive Editor Mike Townsend gave District Superintendent Jeanne Collins and School Board Finance Chair Fred Lane a chance to defend the budget. He relays that conversation over at his blog, Twitterings, by Townsend.
Allow me to highlight a couple of gems. (All emphases in bold are mine.)
There are several reasons, all based on the expression of “community values” and not necessarily the capacity of taxpayers to pay more.
Fred Lane called this “a values judgment budget.” Voters see the schools as the key centers for providing a sense of community and social services.
In this sense then, the school budget is based on idealism in the midst of pocketbook crisis.
So, what we are paying for is not a quality education, but social services and community centers.
And that is supposed to convince me to vote for the budget increase? All it convinces me of is that the school board has lost sight of its purpose and is trying to do too much, and that Mr. Lane and Ms. Collins ought to consider getting into a different body that actually deals with such matters as social services, perhaps the legislature.
Collins notes,
The Burlington School District has not been a major contributor to driving up the per-pupil cost of education in the state, ranking second to last in Chittenden County with a base cost of just under $10,000. Hinesburg has the highest per-pupil with $13,000.
Burlington is $1,800 under the state per-pupil average. This budget provides for catch-up.
Dear Superintendent Collins,
You do not have to spend the money just because every one else is. Being under the state average is a good thing – especially since the last reappraisal overinflated the values of our homes.
Love,
The Burlington Taxpayers
Best quote from Townsend (in bold):
Considering the state of the economy locally and nationally, considering the continued loss of jobs and income, how could the district come back with a big increase without any consideration of the ramifications on the pocketbooks of voters?
Collins said, “Burlington’s economy will collapse if Burlington’s schools collapse.”
Of course, Burlington’s economy could also collapse if taxes or fees continue to rise as they have.
Awesome quote by Collins (and by awesome, I mean awesomely funny in a way she did not intend):
Collins said of Burlington schools in spite of the fiscal situation, “We do a damned good job with education. You just can’t look at testing.”
Heh.
Would you trust a mechanic who said, “We do a damn good job fixing cars, just don’t look under the hood”? Didn’t think so.
You have to go read the whole thing, but I will leave you with one last quote, in which Lane pulls out the hard guilt trip.
“I am no way naive about the challenges we face,” in regard to the pressures from the economy, Lane said. “The community can tell us if the values have changed.”
It will be interesting to see how the community will react to this budget. The school district has has very little opposition in recent years. Will the economy change that?
