MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
032300By
voting, residents will send a message to Bedford School board
To
the Editor:
I haven't decided
if I'm honored or insulted that you singled me out for an editorial.
In either case,
being a watchdog isn't my job, it's yours.
While you sit in
your limousines and clip coupons, the rest of us are working for a living,
paying higher and higher taxes without anyone ever asking, "Are we get what
we are paying for?"
I was a student
in the Bedford Central Schools when the population exceeded
numbers that even the self interested B.O.C.E.S. demographer doesn't forecast
for the peak expected in 2005. We had the same physical plant we had before the
$17 million bond passed recently.
It was in 1993
when I started paying attention to the school districts spending habits. The
1993-94 spending was $46,524,800. After five years, the superintendent has the
gall to ask his board to consider almost a $70,000,000 spending spree.
Will he get it?
Probably not.
But he will have
succeeded in shifting the debate from justifying the increases to what
"cuts" can be made that won't hurt children.
Voting against
this budget will be an effective message if the "NO" vote is coupled
with a "YES" vote to new board candidates who will reject the subtle
stroking and conditioning of the superintendent and pay attention to the real
relief needed by taxpayers.
Philip Christe
Bedford