Taxpayers don't trust the districts because they know they increase health retirement benefits that go up 10-20 pc per year, to 80-100k per employee, leaving no money for roofs.

Shortchanging kids and taxpayers is no way to run a school ditrict.

Actually, justoneof I was planning on running for my town board, but maybe school board would be better. I too hate complainers that offer little for ideas and I apologize for that. Most of my ideas will involve ways to try and reduce school or towns dependency on the state and federal government. I would like to try and remove that dependency and in doing so, it may remove some of the authority they have over localities. Would you be for or against something like that.

Confronting the Challenge of Privatization
in Public Education
.
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
.
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/pnpriv1....

it does not matter which board i am on, but its people like you that get everybody mad about things but offer NO new ideas, but complain about what is happening. but do not put your name on the ballet. you more than likeally dont even vote.

justoneof, I said "before a Referendum" please don't twist my words. What school board are you on? Ok, pot meet kettle.

If everyone HAD to serve a term on the school board these referendum would never even come up. Things like this would just get done and the tax levy would go up. I'm sure a school board who didn't want reelection would not bother asking voters.

No actual politician wants to be directly responsible for raising taxes no matter how good the reason is. They prefer to defer responsibility by holding a referendum.

The money they found to get this done this time had to come from somewhere. So what problems are we letting linger now, so we can fix this problem we let linger before. Why did the old roof only last 15 years? Maybe because we cut back on maintenance staff during the last financial crisis. In ten years we'll be having another referendum to try, in vain, to fix the problems we are causing today.
This cycle will continue until we have the courage and tenacity to stop it. In the meantime these rural schools will continue to deteriorate. Their students will continue to seek open enrollment elsewhere, driving down their funding even further until we get to a point that these schools are no longer financially solvent. Then the residents of these districts can look forward to sending their children on hours long bus rides to larger schools. What effect will that have on property values?

i also attend my school board meeting and i know they get BIDS on jobs before they do them.
once again i say if you know it all try to become a school board member and really get to know how things happen rather than sit on the side and JUST RANT ABOUT HOW THINGS SUCH WORK. but most people like you would rather complain about the job being done but would never attempt to do the job. then tell how things work.

Public Schools: Make Them Private
.
by Milton Friedman
.
Milton Friedman, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976.
.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-023.h......

I have been to many of my local board meetings. I have never seen any bids happen before a referendum. NEVER. Everything is guessed on by the local admins. Do you guess when you take out your loan or do you go get some bids first? Maybe if competitive bids were done beforehand it would be different.

i have a comment for jcommon why not go to all of your local school board meetings to try and find out how the schools are looking at everything to try to save money where ever possible. when a referendum does not pass and things still need to be repaired. but if you need a new roof for your house you go to your local bank and borrow money.
i know that in Orfordville they had many town meeting to try to explain why they need the money and what they wanted to repair, they were very open with the people there. but the people didnt see it that way. people think it is simple to cut costs but never come to meeting do not understand what the board members are trying do. costs of insurance are still going up, everything else are going up, but the state keeps cutting the amount that they are funding the schools. to go to referendum is one way to keep the schools going to offer the programs that the kids need to make it in this world.
so jcommon if you know so much about how you are being cheated, i challange you put your name on the ballet to try to become a school board member to find out that it is harded that you think it is.
if everybody had to do one term as a board member these referendum would pass alot more.

Sorry,
I meant to say "not trying to pick on Brodhead."

The problem here is TRUST. Taxpayers don't trust that their money is going where the schools are saying it is going. The new roofs prove this exact thing. For instance, the referendum for Brodhead was for 1.76 million, but it only cost 516,000 for the new roof, Why did they need 1.76 million? That is over 3 times what was needed. What was the rest of the money for? I am not a taxpayer in either of these districts, but I sure do see that there has been waste where I live also. Brodhead had a 15 year old roof. What happened to the warranty on that? If this new roof has a 25 year warranty, they better start budgeting for it now. I am trying to pick on the Brodhead School District, but it is a prime example of why voters get disgusted with tax hikes.

I remember when a piece of the roof DID fall and Parkview District voters still did nothing. I was in fifth grade when the old part of Footville elementery was literally crumbling around our heads. In that year the district floated a referendum to fix the school that, as I recall, amounted to an additional $26 on average to every property tax bill. It of course failed. That summer the building was condemned, so I spent sixth grade in rented space in the basement of the Footville state bank.

$26 to not send our children to an asbestos filled crumbling death trap? No. Too much money. We should be embarrassed to have allowed such a thing to happen.

A new roof should never be a referendum issue in the first place. There's a minimum standard that needs to be maintained by the tax levy. I think safe, functional facilities fall well within that minimum standard. In other communities referendums are for things like state of the art computer labs or bonuses for teachers. Here we have a referendum to decide if we want to keep the buildings safe for our kids? How backwards is that? And what does it say about us that we constantly say no?

If these problems exist because the majority of voters have no school age children and therefore feel no responsibility for the schools upkeep, then that is a real shame.

Shame on those voters for not realizing the important financial impact good schools have on a community. Good schools are IMPORTANT TO BUYERS! People will not buy your house if there are no good schools.

And shame on those of us who do have young children for not voting in greater numbers, we after all have the most to gain.

Behind you 100% jcommon!!!

Well,
They did just what they had to. Budget cuts! If I need a new roof I don't beg my employer for a raise, instead I find other areas to reduce spending. I think that is exactly what the taxpayers wanted. So again, did they actually need the referendum? NO.

Jcommon - what would you have the Board do? Let the roofs leak - creating mold and other huge problems that will cost millions to abate? Kudos to the Boards for finding away to accomplish the absolutely necessary work despite voter stupidity.

So did either of these schools actually need the money from the referendum? Or was it just a try at getting a little extra money at the expense of the taxpayers.

No, jcommon, the taxpayers' views don't matter when the taxpayers don't give a rat's behind if the schools in their towns have leaky roofs. How would you know that the taxpayers' views DID matter? If a piece of the ceiling fell on a kid and something awful happened, would you sit back with smug satisfaction knowing that "the people have spoken" and their will was done?
I give a lot of credit to the school boards of these districts for finding a way to do what had to be done despite the selfish stupidity of the voters. How are "voters" so disconnected from the schools in their communities? Who are these voters? Oh, right, the rate of voter participation increases with age. Young people that might still feel some connection with their schools and young parents sending their kids to school vote in smaller numbers than cranky old folks, who just wish they could go through a day without seeing any kids from their front porch while they wait for their government check to come.
It's not that I hate old people; I just hate hypocrisy. If such a person existed that in good conscience voted against a school referendum because he or she thought it was bad fiscal policy, but actually showed they care about students by volunteering at the school, I would kiss their behind in the town square on the Fourth of July. What I believe is these old fogey voters just don't care about the schools and wish they would go away.

I guess the taxpayers views don't matter anymore.

How can those guys stand to be roofing in the heat? I feel for them.