“Rambunctious voters boost school funds”
Budget debate was raging before last night’s meeting
Bow residents passed a budget last night that was lower than the school board had hoped but far higher than it could have been.
During a lengthy, rambunctious meeting, voters defeated the board’s request to increase spending by 3.6 percent.
They then thwarted an effort by one resident to freeze the budget, something that school officials said would have forced them to cut staff and suspend all sports and extracurricular activities.
The school had proposed increasing the district’s budget by $850,000, to $24.98 million. The budget committee suggested a slightly lower amount, $24.83 million - the number voters preferred.
The difference isn’t based on specific programs, so it will be up to the school board to decide how to trim expenses next year.
School Board Chairwoman Pansy Bloomfield explained that the board has control over only a small portion of the budget. The board is bound by law to provide certain academic programs, including special education, and it must abide by contracts with its employees.
“We worked very hard to put together a conservative and reasonable budget,” she said. “If we get to a point where we have no toilet paper in the bathrooms, no tissue in the classrooms, that becomes a health issue. There’s a point to which we can’t reduce discretionary spending any more.”
Bloomfield said that the board might have to consider cutting personnel if the budget was reduced. Her prediction elicited a loud, low clap from the back of the room.
Such outbursts were common. Turnout was high, with voters creating parking spaces in snow banks outside and filling the high school auditorium. It usually takes a construction bond or teachers’ contract to draw such a large crowd, but Bow residents were motivated by a budget debate that’s raged all winter in internet chatrooms and letters to the editor.
It played out last night over the course of three hours and a trio of ballot votes.
A few people rose to support the higher budget, but most had savings on their minds. Voters referenced a sour economy and said Bow’s schools shouldn’t be exempt from belt tightening.
“So what if we have to trim some services and programs?” Scott Lucas said. “Isn’t this the issue facing Americans today? We all want more than we can afford. Do we really have to have it all?”
After an hour of debate focused on budget-writing’s most esoteric details, the school board’s version failed, 259-165. An hour later, a proposal to hold spending at $23.45 million failed, 125-275.
An hour after that, the budget committee’s plan passed 274-104.
Between trips to the ballot box, tensions ran high between moderator Jim Hatem and town meeting regular Van Mosher. Early in the evening, a debate over parliamentary procedure devolved into shouting.
“Mr. moderator, my motion is that you follow the rules,” Mosher said. “The secretary of state would be very interested in what you’re doing right now.”
“Sit down!” chorused some meeting goers.
Mosher obliged, but the meeting remained raucous. At one point, a row of men sprang to their feet to shout when Hatem misread an amendment. People debated whether to end debate. When the proposal to freeze the budget failed, the crowd cheered.
At press time last night, several warrant items remained to be decided, including a contract with the union representing the school’s support staff.
Source: Concord Monitor