To the Editor:
Well, the RSU 12 budget was voted down again for a fourth time. Now, the school board feels it’s the voter’s fault that the RSU doesn’t have an approved budget. So the board wants to get rid of us voters and approve their own budget. How about that?
As far as I’m concerned, they could have had an approved budget a long time ago. All they had to do is listen to the voters and cut the darn thing rather than increasing it. The board apparently thinks they have the say on what they will pay the teachers, what they will give them for benefits, which in the case of health insurance is outrageous, what they will have for class sizes, etc. There must be something they don’t understand about the word “no.”
The board must think we’re all stupid. The latest, according to reporter Lucy Martin, is they want to give us three tries to get it right and if we don’t, they want to approve their budget themselves. Take that, you voters. Can you imagine them giving us three tries rather than us giving them three tries to get it right? Who’s paying the bill, the board or the voters? They say they want a cut-off point in sending the budget to the voters because otherwise, the voters can repeatedly turn it down. They feel giving us three tries would be a good compromise.
I don’t mind having a cut-off on the voting but after that, the last people I want setting the budget is the school board. They have proven over and over that they can’t listen.
How about this scenario- the school board gets three tries to get their budget approved by the voters. After that, the Town Fathers (Selectmen, Councilmen Etc.) from the eight towns all get together at one meeting and set the budget for the school board. The Town Fathers are more likely to listen to the voters and hopefully would come to a reasonable compromise.
Don’t give up folks. Keep voting and sooner or later the RSU board should get the message.
Dick Grondin
Wiscasset
