fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Communication problem

by William Dendis
April 13, 2016
in Uncategorized, Voices
0

Last year, when the first school budget went down by a 2-1 margin, the board concluded it had no shot at passing anything above the state-mandated austerity level and went straight to a contingency budget. Many in the community were angry they didn’t get the opportunity to vote on a budget somewhere between the original and austerity, and trustees got an earful. So this year, after the first budget once again was defeated, the board decided to put a second proposal to public vote.

Second-round votes tend to have a smaller turnout, and the prevailing wisdom is that low turnouts favor ‘yea’ votes due to the ability of the many teachers and other district employees who live here to mobilize their friends and family. If this budget is approved, there will be no significant further cuts to programs. Actually, there will be a restoration of many, including sports, art and music, that were cut in last year’s budget and subsequently brought back through community fundraising.

But I’m concerned about what will happen if this budget goes down. This proposal comes in at roughly the same level as austerity would be, so voters are essentially getting to say yea or nay on what is usually an automatic fallback. Although the board has not discussed what it would do in the event the budget goes down again, it seems logical that it would take such an outcome as an indication the community wants to see a budget significantly under austerity level. Otherwise, why would it go to through the time and expense of holding a second vote? But this has created a problem: residents don’t know what they’re voting for if they go against the budget. Lacking this knowledge, many are confused and fearful. This is not good.

I can’t help but think it’s a communication problem. Trustees and advocates for a first-class K-12 education are not making the right pitch to voters. (One could say they shouldn’t have to, but in our system voters make the call here, and voters need to be persuaded by someone.) The pitch for education is not hard to make. The difference in tax rates can be framed in terms of a daily cup of coffee, usually cheaper. In a time when many public schools are feeling the pinch, charter and private schools are booming in urban and suburban areas. There, the rich kids are getting a good education and everyone else is struggling to keep programs intact. Each year, instead of new initiatives to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technology in the growing parts of the economy and the new ways today’s children learn, public school districts are being forced to play defense, just trying to maintain what we already had. It’s not sustainable.

Being a small-town district in a rural area, there is no charter-school option. If we can’t find the money, we risk a future of diminishing returns that could strangle our town’s vitality.

Voters need to understand this, and this case needs to be made frequently in public. I can’t think of a better place than this newspaper’s letters to the editor and op-ed sections, yet this year we received very little input – especially for this second vote. Absent these affirmations, voters, struggling to pay the bills and uncertain about their own financial futures, have a tendency to cast the few proponents of the budget as a self-interested district insiders looking to assure annual raises and (relatively) generous benefit packages. Many American teachers are scratching their heads. Their salaries used to be widely regarded as modest, even joked about as such, and now they find themselves criticized for making too much.

A cynic once said that Democracy is a theory that the people know what kind of government they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. Well, Saugerties knows it deserves a first-class school system, but we need to do more than know: we need to say it, and we need to say why.

 

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Letter: School budget unsustainable

Next Post

School budget defeated again

William Dendis

Related Posts

Is the Moon the perfect shape?
Columns

Is the Moon the perfect shape?

February 2, 2023
Tyre Nichols,  Joule Community Power, “enslaved people” and more letters from our readers
Letters

Tyre Nichols, Joule Community Power, “enslaved people” and more letters from our readers

February 1, 2023
The history of race: America’s collective subjectivity
Op-ed

The history of race: America’s collective subjectivity

January 30, 2023
America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork
Columns

America has been good to the Curtins from County Cork

January 27, 2023
Calamar, Terramor, a song request and more letters from our readers
Letters

Calamar, Terramor, a song request and more letters from our readers

January 25, 2023
Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles
Education

Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles

January 22, 2023
Next Post

School budget defeated again

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.5k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 1.8k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.4k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.1k views
  • Three-story, mixed-use building proposed for Agway property in New Paltz 1k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 709 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
5°
Cloudy
7:06 am5:13 pm EST
Feels like: -11°F
Wind: 13mph WNW
Humidity: 45%
Pressure: 30.27"Hg
UV index: 0
SatSunMon
23/18°F
46/32°F
45/25°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing