Negotiations Over the School Budget

Representing the BOE – Lindsey Cleese…Representing the BOF – Shirley Palin

CLEESE: Good morning, I’d like to buy a lovely cat.
PALIN: Certainly Miss. I’ve got this terrier. (pointing to a cage)
CLEESE: No. I want a cat …really!
PALIN: Oh yeah, how about that? (pointing to another cage)
CLEESE: No. That’s a terrier too.
PALIN: Well dammit.
CLEESE: Well what do you mean? I want a cat!
PALIN: Listen, tell you what. I’ll file its legs down a bit, take its snout out, stick a few wires through its cheeks. There you are…lovely pussy cat.
CLEESE: It’s not a proper cat.
PALIN: What do you mean?
CLEESE: Well it wouldn’t meow.
PALIN: Well it would howl a bit.
CLEESE: How long would that take?
PALIN: Oh, let me see…er, file its legs down a bit, take out its snout, stick a few wires through its cheeks … (calling) hey Hosmer…can you do a lovely cat job on this terrier right away?

“…the health of our whole Community is at stake because of a few fools. “

It was three years ago that I attended my first Town meeting. It was the Annual budget meeting and I sat there in the audience, listening to children speaking (some even crying) about the loss of their Middle School programs and some of their special teachers who had inspired them. I listened as parents and children alike presented reasoning to defend a good school system in efforts to keep programs intact and plead for more funding. One parent wondered if stripping the K-8 system would eventually have an effect on performances at the Academy. The Headmaster of the Academy, Kent Weaver, stood up and agreed that it would effect their performances at the Academy. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness. How could we help our school system, and why was this happening?

A woman next to me mentioned under her breath that it was all “46″ and that we had a “spending capâ€? and that there just wasnt any more money. I then opened up my copy of the Town budget and flipped through it for the first time ever. I always read from the back- so I happened to land on the Parks and Recreation page. There it was- staring at me. A Town Beach budget of $20,000. Other line items on the page jumped out as well. They seemed silly considering the heart wrenching statements of children who would loose out on their education programs. Read the rest of this entry »