Want to change the outcome? Move the special election date, move the school board election date to Primary day. The only ones that get out and vote is the people that are involved in the local issues. People that sit at home on their apathy have no right to complain. Yet they do, they bitch, moan and complain about everything, yet try to get them out to vote… We need stickers that say, If you didn’t vote, Shut Up!

Oh! So Close

There was great joy and jubilation in the educational establishment when the vast majority of school budgets passed.

Some school boards presented budgets that were at the rate of inflation, others took a chance and offered budgets that called for increases at two to four times the inflation rate. Many of these budgets passed by just a few votes. Looking at the district-by-district return, we could see how most of the budgets would have gone down to defeat if there had been any organized resistance.

A number of years back, citizens feeling the heat of increased taxes banded together and created a union of taxpayers under the banner of TaxPac. TaxPac did have an effect on a number of budgets where its members were active.

TaxPac was viciously attacked by the educational establishment and blamed for every ill. Some members became discouraged. Those were the days when school districts would put the same budget up for a vote three or four times. TaxPac forced school boards to sit up and take notice. The boards became careful and more prudent with their spending plans.
The Legislature gave credence to the tax movement by establishing a day for all school boards to hold their balloting. School boards had to get their budget passed on the first vote. If the budget was presented a second time and it was defeated, the school budget had to operate on an austerity or contingency budget.

Former Governor George Pataki heard the cries of the TaxPac groups and recognized the fact that the taxpayers did have the ability to organize, and he created the STAR program in response. The STAR program was a good idea, but the program was gutted by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver insisted that there be no cap on spending by a school board.
After a massive infusion of state aid and passage of most school budgets, schools are contemplating substantial increases in curriculum and pay raises for teachers and administrators.

Guess what folks, they will probably get away with it if there is no organized taxpayer group. TaxPac is still active in a few western communities. If you are concerned about taxes in your district and would be willing to accept a leadership role in organizing a taxpayer group in your community, visit www.taxpac.net.

If you want to see spending on education reined in, organize now while you have the chance. A few weeks before the school budgets are due is not the time to try and put together a solid organization that would have earned respect.
And why not?