Strange, strange budget process

I’ve never seen a budget process like that being followed by the MMSD and board.
Without having a budget, the board appears poised to close schools and lay off teachers. Who or why would anyone make these types of decisions out of context, that is, without a budget, with out even looking at options other than those recommended by an administration hell bent on preserving as much power and as many positions as possible in the Doyle Building?
It’s just insane, and supposedly rational people on the board think that it makes sense! Do they check their brains at the door when they walk into a board meeting?

4 thoughts on “Strange, strange budget process”

  1. Ed,
    You just don’t understand! This budget process, where the BoE has no clue as to the overall budget, is the way they’ve always done it. And, on previous Boards, the majority liked it that way.

  2. It makes perfect sense to me, if your purpose is to scare and upset a lot of people so you can elect people who won’t questions the status quo. It’s the same sort of misdirection that’s been used for lots of years here.

  3. As I reflect back on the budget hearings that I have sat through over the last four or five years, I am furious that we haven’t made any forward progress on managing our District’s finances, that our administration and board have not been engaged in long range planning. Each year members of the board and the administration have told the public that “we stopped cutting fat years ago and now we’re cutting bone.” Well, why have they been so willing to cut bone year, after year, after year? Why hasn’t this administration and previous boards been more active in finding ways to stop the hemorrhaging? Why do they put us through this awful ritual year after year, pitting one group of parents against another? I should add, that if I have to listen to one more budget presentation that begins by telling me how important our adminstrators are, I’m going to scream.
    Yes, it distracts us, it divides us, and it demoralizes us. I want change, and I want it now.
    We need independent board members. Members who are not part of the establishment status quo. Members who will demand accountability from the administration on financial matters. Members who will demand a budget that is transparent and comprehensible.
    I have a vote, and I’m going to use it.

  4. Jeff,
    I suggest you post your comment to WSJ and CT letters to editors.
    Wonderfully said, but perhaps also suggesting who the right candidates are.

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