Get Out & Vote Yes To OCS On May 18
We're coming up on another school budget vote. Having watched the Onteora Board of Education wrestle with shrinking revenues and increasing costs for the year, we have to applaud them for keeping tax impacts to a bare minimum. We urge everyone to come out and vote for this budget, even if some of the necessary cuts have been difficult to take. It's the only way we can counter that element in our community, and American society of the day, that seems to want to vote down any educational budget that comes their way. Remember, turn out is key to these matters... if you don't want to see even more draconian cuts taking away almost all your extra-curricular and sports programs via a contingency budget, get out and vote yes on May 18.
And no, a librarian is not getting cut, as erroneously reported last issue.
Furthermore, we don't think teachers or other educational workers are overpaid. Consider the years of training involved, as well as the complexity of the jobs at hand. If you think THEY shouldn't get more because you don't want them earning more than you, or getting any of your hard-earned money, think how much you invested in your own education. And ask yourselves why, if there's so much money around in other arenas, should we take our economic fears out on those handling our kids' futures? It doesn't make sense... Just as the recent Fox News poll seeking responses to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill's 85 percent call for even more drilling makes no sense at the moment. Vote with your heads, and not just your guts.
Also, consider running for the school board in the future, and actually working with others in the republican process of decision-making by compromise and consensus, instead of just using one's ability to say no as your sole means of taking democratic action. The fact that this represents the second school board election in a row without any races is troubling... not because of any fault of the board that's working so hard on all of our behalves, but because it seems to represent an abdication of responsibility on the part of the district's stakeholders.
People like to talk about liberty and freedom, but such gifts also involve civic involvement. Which means participation in the only systems we have for self-governance beyond simply voicing off and voting. It means volunteering. It demands involvement.
See you at the polls May 18!