Our current School Board members probably felt this was going to be the last best chance to grant District employees their expected raises. All Board members chose to put District employee monetary wants above their own elected fiduciary responsibility.
Entrusted
One could look at some of the members’ rationale for making these unsound, risky financial decisions as being, in part, personal, especially if they had their own re-election in mind. They probably even took into account the six-month period before the election that would help the public’s collective memory to fade, before next November’s election. Still, these incumbents put their own electability ahead of their entrusted financial responsibilities: To keep our School District on a solid fiscal footing.
Utmost Importance
Look at this way: Had these District employee raises not been granted earlier this month, the incumbents might not be so assured of union support during their upcoming campaigns. I, too, might have considered voting for these raises, especially if my winning re-election was of the utmost importance to me.
Unbalanced Until 2020
Due to the Board’s latest salary actions, our District will go on deficit spending for at least five to six years. Our District budget probably will not be truly balanced until 2020.
So Close, but No Cigar
Yet wasn’t Supt. Dave LaRose trying to bring the District’s budget back into balance for the first time in how many years? I wonder what ran through his mind as he sat there and watched the Board pay for employee raises by increasing our District’s deficit spending by 250 percent over the next two years.
Our Need for Trust
If we cannot trust our public servants to be honest, candid about their decisions in our District’s financial matters, we need to elect people who understand the public’s need for government openness and accountability.
Doubts Confirmed
Awhile back, I wrote in this publication that I was starting to doubt the Board’s ability to oversee and handle our District’s financial affairs. This last round of employee raises only confirmed my doubts about the Board’s lack of sound fiscal reasoning. Any member who voted for these unsecured, ongoing raises should not be re-elected.
Board Chutzpah
These same Board members are going to have the audacity to seek our further trust with spending millions upon millions more of our tax dollars by asking the community to impose a 30- or 40-year bond measure and possibly asking for the renewal of our local parcel tax?
The only thing I can honestly tell you about re-electing these Board members and in voting on these possible measures is to …Just Say No!
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
