Majority in Standing Room Only Crowd Call for Budget Cuts
(Note: This February 11th meeting was a “School Budget Public Hearing” where the Budget Committee presented its majority 4-3 voted proposed 2009-10 school budget to the public for their questions, comments and opinion…)
The Bow Citizen’s Coalition is please to reports the huge turn out at last night’s budget hearing. There were several important factors that came from this meeting that will not be reported anywhere else. First thing to be covered in this report is, who came to the meeting. The overwhelming majority at the meeting voiced their displeasure and lack of support for the budget because of its excesses.
It is also important to note that approximately 25 % of those attendees were school employees and the relatives of these employees. This is important to note because this special interest group will be out in force at the school district meeting as well. Lastly there were a small group of vocal people who think the budget wasn’t big enough and that we need to spend more. Knowing that there are people who are willing to raise your taxes even more, should be a wake up call and motivation those who are over taxed to go to the School District Meeting on March 13, 2009 @7:00 PM at Bow High School.
Another interesting development at the meeting was the telling confession of Business Administrator Duane Ford who admitted that even he had made the mistake of leaving off the food service appropriation from the budget as well. We all recall the food service omission was a big brouhaha at last years meeting where the “they are going to starve the children” was a rallying cry for a higher budget. A second startling admission by Ford was, that regardless of the budget figures food service will be in the budget and can’t be omitted. This brings up the question; why didn’t Ford bring up this point at last year’s meeting? Ford constantly interjects with information when it helps the cause to pass a spending article. Why wouldn’t he interject here. I think we all know that question and that is, if he had brought it up he may have been looking for a new job.
Kudos also have to be given to how informed the voters were. Even though Budget Chair George Lagos tried to sell the falsehood that the budget was actually a reduction voters weren’t buying that. The voters noted that the budget was actually an increase because of the huge overestimate on health insurance cost in last year’s budget. Also noted by the voters was the fact that even though there was a significant reduction in enrollment in the elementary school there were no cuts there. The school board found cost savings at the middle school were class room sizes are in the low twenties but decided to burden the taxpayer with low class room sizes in grades K-2. The inequity in their reasoning is mindboggling.
There were so many other happenings at this meeting and we invite those who went to the hearing to put their 2 cents worth in our comments section.
Did anyone notice the title of the handout on teacher’s contract was titled: 2009-2010 BEA Agreement Talking Points: Talking Points can we just get the facts without the editorializing? Speaking of Editorializing I was quit disappointed with the Budget Committee Chairman’s Editorializing after certain people spoke. That was not right.
All the above obeservations from above are spot on. The one concerning Mr. Ford who spoke often was very accurate. Mr. Ford should not fear and speaking up and saying the truth. He works for the taxpayers of Bow and not the politically motivated schoolboard.
I am new to this website and I just registered. It took me only a few seconds, it was very easy. I have been reading all the stuff here and am very grateful for whoever is getting this information out there. I have kids in the school and I do not believe one word that if there is a small cut in the budget that our kids will suffer. That is a talking point of the spending class. I was on a tread of e-mails that had the following comments. The person signed the e-mail but because I am not using my name I won’t publish hers This woman has no consideration for the hardship people are feeling around town. She wants our schools better than private schools, the “best in the state” and doesn’t care what it costs. This scares the living “begeesis” out of me. Probably you as well as you. This is what she said:
From a selfish big spender:
I believe this year’s proposed budget is several hundred thousand dollars less than last year’s budget (I do not know if that figure includes salary adjustments for the teachers.) That reduction concerns me. How will the quality of education be affected and it will be affected? Personally, I would like Bow to have the best school system in the state. Not the fifth best or tenth best. Why not the very best? It is completely up to us. Our vote matters.
The biggest (only?) asset this Town has is its school system. Bow has ranked up there as one of the best, even better than some private schools in the state. If we continue to sit back and allow people to substantially decrease our school’s budget, then the quality of your child’s education WILL suffer – there is no doubt about it. Once the quality of education in Bow starts to go down, people will stop moving to the town and property values will decrease. I realize we are in difficult economic times, but the place to tighten the purse strings is not at the cost of your children. I, for one, will find other ways to save money.
I am new to this website and I just registered. It took me only a few seconds, it was very easy. I have been reading all the stuff here and am very grateful for whoever is getting this information out there. I have kids in the school and I do not believe one word that if there is a small cut in the budget that our kids will suffer. That is a talking point of the spending class. I was on a tread of e-mails that had the following comments. The person signed the e-mail but because I am not using my name I won’t publish hers This woman has no consideration for the hardship people are feeling around town. She wants our schools better than private schools, the “best in the state” and doesn’t care what it costs. This scares the living “begeesis” out of me. Probably you as well as you. This is what she said:
From a very selfish big spender:
I believe this year’s proposed budget is several hundred thousand dollars less than last year’s budget (I do not know if that figure includes salary adjustments for the teachers.) That reduction concerns me. How will the quality of education be affected and it will be affected? Personally, I would like Bow to have the best school system in the state. Not the fifth best or tenth best. Why not the very best? It is completely up to us. Our vote matters.
The biggest (only?) asset this Town has is its school system. Bow has ranked up there as one of the best, even better than some private schools in the state. If we continue to sit back and allow people to substantially decrease our school’s budget, then the quality of your child’s education WILL suffer – there is no doubt about it. Once the quality of education in Bow starts to go down, people will stop moving to the town and property values will decrease. I realize we are in difficult economic times, but the place to tighten the purse strings is not at the cost of your children. I, for one, will find other ways to save money.
This report is excellent, you will never would have heard a report like this in the Concord Monitor. The money quotes from the Monitor would be those who want to spend more. Look at every CM newspaper and you will see more and more spending. They are not covering the cuts.
Here is something that I pulled from the meeting:
The voters challenged the school board into explaining how they can take approximately $40,000 out of the budget for buses but then tell us that because of the public hearing that they were going to put the buses back in without adding it to the budget. The school board have been telling us for years that the budgets are bare bone but they act like it is easy to find $40,000. Most attendees now know that the bare bones statements in the past was just hooey.
I can just see Pansy at the last few years tell us that the School Budget is Bare Bones. Makes me wonder who is so gullable to ever believe her ever again. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. Now we all know that is plenty of slush money in the budget and this is the year that taxpayers put an end to that.
To Bow Sports Fan:
Here is the problem with that person who thinks that money in large quantities is what guarantees good education: HELLO, it doesn’t! And what they are spending it on today is just so much nonsense that it does not add up to a ‘good education’ simply because the whole purpose of education has been corrupted by the left, and for politically brainwashing kids. Until people get angry about that and set the schools back to teaching skills with no bias, then I would have no objection But then how would all the consultants and snake oil salesmen and workshop providers and education gurus like Lyonel Tracy get their money? They thrive on this and they are a leech on the taxpayer money which flows and flows. EDUCATION IS BIG BUSINESS and it’s a scam I can assure you that FIRSTHAND.
Some of you ought to follow your kids in history classes or even math or at these block scheduling nightmares…
I don’t object spending money on education, I do object to it being spent on 90% of what it’s being spent on now, to line the pockets of the educational ‘reformers’ who give us nothing but failed theories and methods..
Please review the http://www.illinoisloop.org/lingo.html
To taxed2death: You will never get a true story out of the CM. They don’t even deserve to have their side of the story told. To hell with the ‘fairness doctrine!’ LOL.
The print media has been caught in so many lies and biases, it’s pretty much DEAD.
I have no idea what most of this is about. Really. Teacher, you support education, but object to 90% of the spending? 80% of it is salaries and benefits. Add on to that, transportation, food service, utilities and special ed and you’re at 90%. Is that what you object to? This despite the fact that you admit you don’t know what the curriculum is in Bow. And you posted another article from another time zone as if it has some relevance! Tell us about Lyonel Tracy. Say something with substance.
This criticism of Duane too is not only unfair, its inane. Duane is one of the best BA’s in the state. We are lucky to have him. Obviously he’s not afraid of speaking up, he did 90% of the talking! The suggestion that Duane is a fraud or a failure because he didn’t stop the meeting last year after a number was proposed is completely ridiculous. The proposed number was short by the food service appropriation, but no one actually proposed cutting food service! The actual cut would be determined later if the budget was approved. It woudn’t have been food service because that’s mandated by law. He shouldn’t have to explain that if you were informed! And yes, he admitted he made a mistake 10 years ago on the warrant with regard to food service in – another district! Wow, what a real gotcha. Nice detective work. Obviously that proves the whole budget, in fact every word he’s uttered since, is a clever lie intended to raise your taxes. You’ll deny it, but that’s the conclusion you have drawn. I hope the schools are teaching powerful deductive reasoning like this.
Speaking of logic, you can’t simultaneously say that you believe that there is all kinds of fat in this year’s budget (i.e. they can easily find this $40k without impact) but also that its NOT lower than last year’s because of the overestimate in insurance. Aren’t you saying this year’s is an overestimate too?
I support modest cuts to budget, in line with what many of you have said on here. I will continue to support those. However, I can’t participate any more. Too many otherwise intelligent folks are too irrational and blind to any view point contrary to their own.
Good luck guys.
ProtectingMyInvestment;
Let’s not go irrational on us. No one said Duane was dishonest, No one. I wrote the article that you are so critical about and I happen to agree with you about Duane. I think his honesty is telling.
At the School district Meeting Duane needs to be called upon to speak because he is not a Bow Resident. Duane would need to request to be recognized to bring up the topic of food service.
Not many would risk their jobs in that way. You are totally misinterpreting the article. Duane is the good guy here. Once again it was the people who were screaming they are going to starve the kids who are the ones who are misinformed.
And yes I can say that there is a significant amount of fat in the budget and there are excesses, some of which we agree on. By definition overestimates of expenditures is fat that can be used anywhere.
From this point forward, there won’t be the slightest honest debate about any single point on this “open” website.
Don’t get your knickers in a knot… I only said I had a very bad experience which means I’m not too keen on public education. I think the method of delivery is very wasteful… when you look at those 90% expenses.
It would take me a year to explain why Tracy is a shill for centralized educational systems.
You certainly can look it up — I don’t have time. Do a little research… search for Tracy and Marc Tucker… read about Marc Tucker and his famous letter to Hillary…and then come back and tell me what we are spending money for in public education?
WOW! Here is my 2 cents worth.
What “Public Hearing” did the author of the BCC statement attend? You need to label these type articles as “Editorials” or “Opinion”. I just read with great interest on your BCC home page under the heading at the top of the page entitled, “Bow Taxpayer Group Formed” (pdf-80KB) where you posted the “primary purposes of this Anonymous Taxpayer Group”. Please read the purposes and explain to me when and why you have changed from these stated purposes?
With that said, let me first start by saying that I was impressed with the large turnout at the School Budget “Public Hearing”. It was a real change from the handful that have showed up in past years. I do agree with part of the heading of the BCC statement, “Economically stressed and tax weary” as it says a lot about the state of things today. It definitely shows that due to the economic conditions we are currently in and the unknown of the future economy due to Bushanomics and now Obamanomics, that people are concerned about what is happening locally on both sides of the school budget and education issues with regards to their property taxes.
Secondly I will come to the defense of Duane Ford, the School District Business Administrator, in that he does a very good job for the Bow School District and is a first class person in my mind. When you ask him a question, he is up front, sincere and is a straight shooter with his answers. As much as many in Bow, myself included, disagree with escalating taxes from escalating spending in the school district, Duane’s job is to manage the money we as voters give the school district to spend on education and that he does a very good job at. He has saved Bow many dollars with good management during his time here already.
Thirdly, Budget Chairman George Lagos was not trying to sell anyone a falsehood. He, as chairman, was conducting a “Public Hearing” presenting the proposed budget as it was voted by the Budget Committee in a 4-3 majority vote at their February 2nd meeting (nobody asked what the Budget Committee vote was?) to bring to the “Public Hearing” to present to the public (voters, resident & taxpayers) for comment, questions and opinion from the public which the Budget Committee received plenty of. The proposed budget that was on paper as presented from the Budget Committee had a 1/2% reduction when you include the recently agreed to (School Board & BEA only) teacher’s contract should it pass the vote at School District meeting. Yes it was basically a rubber stamp of the School Board’s proposed budget but those are the facts, BCC, like it or not. That was his job as chairman. I would expect nothing less from the chairman no matter who it was. IMHO, I thought George ran a pretty good “Public Hearing” all things considered.
I think the point the BCC statement is trying to make is when you take into consideration the GMR insurance benefits return from the last budget (2008-09) which returned some $300,000 plus (estimated at 11.5% +/- insurance benefits increase and it actually came in at 1.5% +/- which was a savings of $300,000 plus) and if you subtracted half from last years budget (2008-09) to figure in the +/- percentage that this proposed 2009-10 budget (with a 6.5% GMR) is over the last budget you come up with about a 1% (+/-) increase over last years proposed budget. Sorry I do not have my budget book handy here tonight but I bet I am close from memory.
Now that does not mean that I agree with the outcome of the proposed 2009-10 budget as presented at the “Public Hearing” by any stretch of the imagination. I was one of the three Budget Committee members who voted against this proposed school budget presented at the “Public Hearing”.
o In these economic times we need to be looking at what (the unknown) is coming down the railroad tracks and it does not look good and as a result, I believe there should be an across the board 4 – 5% reduction in school spending in this proposed 2009-10 budget. I do not believe that this would affect the quality of education in Bow one bit.
o I believe that all wages should be frozen at least for this budget (2009-10) and then look at or re-evaluate it again in the next budget cycle in 2010-11 and then again in the next 2011-12. I will not support the proposed $360,000 increase for the BEA teacher’s 1 Year contract.
o Due to the fact that enrollment is declining and has declined steadily for the past 7 years (+/-) and we have increased staff during this same time frame, we need to look at staff and start trimming staff positions to include educators, aids, administration and maintenance. 76% of the proposed budget alone is wages and benefits.
o I also believe that it is time to start implementing user fees in all extra curricular and co-curricular activities as I do not believe that the taxpayers should be responsible or has any obligation to foot the entire bill for this. The taxpayer is responsible for a basic education and not all the frills as we have here in Bow. Those are the responsibility of the parents. There is that word “responsibility” again along side “parents”. I have fought for this for the last 5-6 years but it falls on deaf ears.
o When the private sector is reducing wages and benefits in order to keep their doors open and people employed in this economy I also believe that it is time for the Bow School District as well as the Town Municipal side to start implementing a more equitable sharing of the employer/employee contributions to the benefits packages (or at least a sharing of the annual increases to start with) offered to School District employees across the board. This I have fought for the past 5-6 years as well and it too falls on deaf ears.
o We currently have the last student enrollment bubble going through the high school and in the next 2010-11 budget cycle we will see a reduction of another 50 – 55 student (+/-) decline and in the 2011-12 budget cycle another 80 – 85 student (+/-) decline which could bring us down to well under 1500 student enrollment in the school system.
o With declining enrollments we need to seriously look at combining our high priced SAU with another one or two in order to share the expenses. We will not need our own SAU for 1500 students and declining.
o Why are we not looking at partnering with other school districts in Merrimack county or surrounding towns to Bow and looking at combining into a regional high school? Or regional school system? By doing this we may be able to continue to offer a variety of course selection, be able to juggle good educators around each year depending on various enrollment changes & course requirements, combining resources to deal with the escalating costs of Special Education requirements, the same holds true for giving the gifted students the need challenges in education all at the same time stabilizing or lowering property taxes.
Over the years I see the School District hire all these high priced administrators and educators with extremely good benefits and each year, we the taxpayers reward them with raises, increases in benefits, course reimbursement, development costs, conferences, publications, organization membership dues, step & tracks increases and tenure (now we are getting the mandated EverGreen legislation in future Union contracts from Concord) but I have not seen any significant results from all the money we keep throwing at education in Bow each year?? Why?? Are we getting a dollars worth of education for each dollar we spend?? IMHO I think not. With that said when are we going to start demanding better education? Everyone says we are the best in NH, but compared to what? Nobody ever answers that part of the question. Why can’t it be better? At $14,520 per student it should be better. In 2011-12 with an enrollment down to 1500 students and if budgets stayed status quo (level funded) the cost per student would increase to $16,000 plus.
To quote a resident that spoke to me a week or so ago, “we need to stop spending money polishing our image here in Bow and start demanding serious results for what we are already spending in taxes and give these students a good basic education and less on the extras”.
The Budget Committee meets again on Wednesday, February 18th at the Town Hall at 6PM to discuss the results of the “Public Hearing” and to have a final vote on the proposed budget that the Budget Committee will present to voters at the School District Meeting on March 13th. They will also have a final vote on all Warrant Articles that contain appropriations including the Warrant Article dealing with approval of the BEA teacher’s contract.
If you still have any comments, questions or opinions you still have time to phone or email members of the Budget Committee before they take their final vote on the proposed budget that they will present to voters at the School District Meeting.
To the BCC, get back to your original stated purpose–informing based on the facts.
Rick Hiland
It says ‘last night’s hearing’.. Maybe the admin could add a date, time and place?
I just want to commend Rick’s excellent post but before we get too lost in that we need to take a quick look at what Bowsportfan wrote. I am very concerned that there is a small minority of people in Bow that want to give the Bow School System all the bells and whistles of a high priced school private school and they don’t care how much it costs or who they bankrupt.
Has anyone seen how many For Sale signs going up in Bow.
This person’s e-mail in Bowsportfan is planning on getting people to the school meeting that thinks like her and that is incredible scary. We need to talk to everyone we know and get them to the meeting on March 13. People don’t expect someone else to work hard getting people to the meeting you have to do it. It is just a matter of starting a conversation with your neighbor and talk about what is happening today and mention the importance of going to the meeting if you are concerned about your taxes.
Don’t be fooled about what is being said about the budget trust me if they think they can raise it at the school meeting they will. We need to be there to lower it to a more reasonable amount.
From an e-mail to Paul,
I heard about your web site and was just on it. It is good to see people are taking notice. I have printed out 30 copies of the flyer and plan on handing them to everyone I know. I noticed you had asked people why they don’t go to budget/selectman/school board meetings.
Well, the water/sewer ramrod is a perfect example of why I DO go to the Town Meeting and why I DO NOT go to the others. You see if I go to the Selectmen’s meeting or the Budget Committee Meeting they will ask for public comments and after listening they will say something like “thank you very much” and “we will certainly take your comments into consideration.” It will be said in a friendly manner and when you leave they will do whatever they want anyway.
But you see at the Town Meeting they have no choice but to listen because OUR vote determines what they HAVE to do. If I thought that going to the Selectmen or Budget Committee meetings would help believe me I would go, but I could have gone to EVERY SINGLE Selectmen’s Meeting and EVERY SINGLE Budget Committee meeting and last May we STILL would have shown up at the high school with the exact same budget and I would have had to get up and ask that the figure be adjusted by the same amount. I am a pragmatist and so I don’t waste my time. Why go to 25+ meetings when I can accomplish my goal by going to one, the Town Meeting. Maybe they ought to turn the question around and say to themselves “maybe if we submit a budget that is reasonable we won’t have to have a 2 session town meeting.”
To the BCC
I agree with ProtectMyInvestment and Rick Hiland with regards to getting back to being an informative web site. This site has started out to be a great site to see good discussion, comments and debate on local school and town issues that you do not get in the local newspapers. These recent biased unsigned or un-authored opinion articles like the one at the top of this page serve no purpose except to turn people looking for some information off. I want to know what really happened at these type of meetings, not someones biased version and critique of various people in attendance.
Please get back to presenting a good forum for disseminating information to those of us who do not have the time every week to attend all the various meetings in town but still want to be good informed voters and stop this nonsense.
I do not want my taxes to go up this coming year so I am looking for good reasons to support reductions in spending on both side of town.
I am not sure what about the meeting that ‘really’ happened is not portrayed in the above piece? Obviously the writer attended although I wish there was a date on it.
Who would you consider unbiased and qualified to tell what happened at meetings? You can get the minutes from the town and school, but they might leave things out too. And the papers don’t always sign their editorials either, and are not exactly unbiased. I’ll bet they would have left a lot out that this writer included…which is why the media is ‘dead tree’ LOL
As you said, you won’t get this good debate in the local papers — they are too busy pushing the school’s agenda. And unless your comments are really out of line, you can disagree and won’t be censored like the dead tree media. Frankly I’d rather not hear what they have to say, it’s so predictable and nauseating, even from a teacher’s standpoint!
Site admin, (or whoever) take note! Keep writing..
Rick,
You are my favorite budget committee member. I am too busy to go to budget meetings but I do read the minutes that I get from links from this site and your comments are well researched. Your comments on this site are also well researched and I was hoping to hear some of that knowledge at the budget committee meeting on Wednesday 2/11/09. That is what I came to listen to. Because I am so busy I have to pick the critical meetings and budget hearings are critical. I will attend the school district meeting as well. Rick, I hope we hear from you at the school district meeting I hope you won’t remain silent there?
As for your comments on this article I was there and unlike you, I can’t find anything that wasn’t accurate. Rick even you confirmed most of the info in the article. Did the article have a slant to it, yes it did but it was accurate and got you thinking? Most newspapers have a slant to their articles and people don’t get a chance to make comments like they do here.
I was at last year’s school district meeting and I remember vividly what happened. Most knowledgably people know that the person who had the courage to make the budget cut request didn’t know the food service info was left out. That is something that Duane explained that he made that mistake also. Yes the article showed Duane as being the good guy and that is something you and RLB, and PMI are missing. I am for one am not blaming Duane for not wanting to loose his job. It took courage to even bring it up.
yeswecan:
Let me remind everyone that Feb 11th was a “School Budget Public Hearing” where the Budget Committee presented its majority 4-3 voted proposed 2009-10 school budget to the public for their questions, comments and opinion….. not a “Budget Meeting”.
I, as a member of the Budget Committee, was there at the “Public Hearing” to answer any questions asked of me and to LISTEN to the public in attendance.
I guess that we will have to agree to disagree about the high points of the Feb 11th “Public Hearing” with reference to the above (op ed) article.
Enough said.
Thank you… it has been duly noted and marked correctly now.
For the record, the Bow school budget hearing was held on Wednesday February 11, 2009. Even though I mentioned it in an earlier post there was no, none, zip, zero, nada intention to paint Mr. Ford in a negative light, just the opposite. If Mr. Hiland thinks differently then he does not know my heart and he is free to interpret my article in any way he chooses but I am telling him he is dead wrong. I stand by the accuracy of my report but will listen to the feedback of those making comments on this site to make improvements in future articles. I doubt reporters in newspapers use readers input to determine what they write but I will. The goal of every article I write is to get people to think. If the article doesn’t get people to think than it isn’t worth writing or reading for that matter.
This will be my last post on this matter. Lets move on.
Not to mention that everyone is given voice here by virtue of the open comments so please feel free to add the facts and impressions of what you saw at the meeting if you think these were not covered.
I am home with a sick kid so I decided to check out this site again. The discussion is interesting but I have to confess that at last year’s school meeting I was one of those who changed their vote because of the food service blow up. The group of people around me were very upset about that. I was as well. It is interesting how you respond to things in a group setting.
I am glad that Duane Ford said something. Knowledge is power, Thanks BCC.
Bowsportsfan, I am curious, do you talk about your property tax concerns with other parents with kids in school?
My property taxes have more than doubled since I moved to Bow in 1999. A few years back I made the mistake of complaining about my taxes in a certain group and I was treated like a pariah for months by some of the “dominant moms.” I won’t make that mistake again. I have been forced to whisper with people I trust. Let’s put it this way I am glad they requested the secret ballot at the school meeting last year. I have actually not voted because we had to do a standing vote.
“Dominant Mom” is a term that I made up and may not mean anything to anyone else. It is a mom who has to give you their opinion on how they think you should raise your child. For instance my son’s birthday is in August and one of these moms said that I should hold my son back a year. She suggested it again a couple of years later when I slipped and mentioned he was a little behind in reading. My husband said he had the same problem when he was young and caught up quickly as he developed.
We ignored this lady and kept him in the same class and now my son is doing great and he likes his classmates. I can’t imagine how my son would be doing if I listen to this lady. Sorry for going on.
I know there was a big debate a few years ago about SB-2 but I wasn’t paying attention. I heard bad things about it at the time but decided not to vote at all because I didn’t know enough to make an informed decision. I have seen positive things on this website and want to know more.
Bowsportsfan, welcome to the silent majority. Unfortunately the reason we are silent is our of fear. I have experience this same thing. I have also not voted because of a standing vote because of fear.
This is why we need SB-2.
I am courious again, what is a “dominant mom?”
Bowsportsfan,
At one time there was an SB-2 fact sheet on this website (I put it there)and if I can’t find it I can’t expect you to possibly find it.
I don’t know what the “bad things” you were told about SB-2 were but I can bet you didn’t like the fact that you were afraid to vote during a standing vote. SB-2 totally gets rid of that intimidation factor. Every vote is take in the privacy of a voting booth or if you are away from town you can vote absentee. You can vote from 7 AM-7 PM which gives everyone a shot at voting.
Here is my attempt at recreating that document there is so much more to discuss:
SB2 is more representative of the population.
Allows for seniors and working class to be able vote at their convenience.
Absentee ballot for the military, the sick, the elderly and the traveling businessperson.
Town meetings are very exclusive if you don’t go you don’t get a chance to vote.
The privacy of the voter’s booth.
Zero intimidation with SB2
Time of town meeting @ 7:00 PM after dark. This is a very inconvenient time for many.
SB2 Ballot voting from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM is very convenient.
Structure of town meeting
Moderator abuse allowing the school board to rebut taxpayer comments
Long and drawn out school board presentations.
Abuse of the reconsideration vote; Where a small amount of voters can reverse the will of the voters at the end of the meeting or get a revote at a later date if they don’t like the results. Even if a restrict reconsideration passes earlier in the meeting. There are way too many ways to cheat at a town meeting.
Confusing rules, inaccurate information, confusing and contradicting information
Meeting pray more on the emotions of the vote and less on the facts.
No electioneering with SB2
May meeting will give us a better idea where our undesignated fund stands.
Information: The Biggest myth about town meeting is that people who go are a informed voter. This far from the truth.
Town meetings add more confusion than true pure information. The voter has No time to find the real facts. Misinformation runs rampant at town meetings.
SB2 gives people time to find out the facts in ways that work for them
I think what you are looking for his here:
http://www.bowcitizenscoalition.org/pdf/SB2FactSheet.pdf
Thanks for the info on SB-2. At a glance, what I was told about SB-2 is not true. I really like it so far but I may have a lot of questions in the future if you don’t mind.
Help, I am confused. This is a great fact sheet but I have to ask about the May/April thing on the fact sheet? I read the petition to the school board and it said the first Tuesday in March, perhaps someone can clarify that?
What I really like is the fact that with SB-2 that I can vote the way I want to vote, in the privacy of a voting booth. I also like the fact that I have one month to research how I will vote. I will get my facts in areas I trust. I have too often been told one thing and it is the opposite and I have had enough of that.
Got to go. I still have more questions.
Bowsportsfan,
Great observation! That fact sheet was written in 2008 because we had submitted a petition to the school board with the May date. The Bow school denied our request to put it on the ballot because they said we submitted it to late. State law is ambiguous concerning the specifics of this because Bow is unusual. They have their school officers elections in May but they hold their school meeting in March. The case was taken to court and the Bow school board won more or less on a technicality. The judge said our case was strong and he suggested that we take the case to the Supreme Court. He ruled in favor of the school because it wasn’t enough time to SB-2 on the ballot (the ballots were already printed by the court date. The SB-2 case was argued without a lawyer. The Bow School Board had a taxpayer financed lawyer.
We decided not to pursue the case any further because of cost to us and the town.
Back to your observation, this year we decided to go with the March date so that we don’t change from the current date. I will try to up date the fact sheet as soon as I can.
bowsportsfan-print out and hold on to the fact sheet. When we get to late March and early April thru to election time the Anti-SB-2 lies will come a flying. You can count on that. They want to make sure you don’t vote during that standing vote at the town meeting.
FYI:
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING – 10:00 A.M.
SAU CONFERENCE ROOM (NEW)
MARCH 2, 2009
SCHOOL BOARD WORK SESSION – 6:30 or 7:00 P.M. (NEW)
Time will be determined at a later date and re-posted.
SAU Conference Room
Purpose: Prepare for Annual District Meeting
There was a good example of the anti-SB-2 myth in today’s Concord Monitor. The author of the anti-SB-2 letter used the “uninformed voter myth.” Here is how the uninformed voter myth works if someone votes against your pet project they are an “uninformed voter.”
In this letter there was a combination of myths. He (I think his name was Hans) used myth that using capital reserves does not affect the taxpayer. So his argument was that because this article was using funds from a capital reserve than the voter was not informed for voting against it. Capital reserves are saving accounts put aside by the voters for a larger purchase. So his argument was that because it didn’t affect the taxes this year they should spend the money regardless if the project was unwise. So the taxpayers allowed their taxes to go up over the years to pay for a big project but a majority didn’t think it was wise to spend their money on this project and it was defeated. So let’s say that capital reserve was like a family savings for a new car and they had enough money to buy a Yugo. The majority in the family decided that a Yugo was a piece of junk and continued to save for a better car. That isn’t misinformed it is smart.
Watch closely for more anti-SB2 myths they are coming.
Why not write a counter article so we can post it in the main section?
“SB2 Myth Busters”
I am almost a SB-2 convert. I love the Yugo analogy. I am will be watching this closely.
Admin, the person who wrote the anti-SB2 letter is from Epsom. They a to keep SB-2 in Epsom. We don’t get into the SB-2 fight until May or late April. I was just pointing out one of the Myths.