What Struck Me

Not much to tell. The busing is safe. There’s another meeting tonight during which the decision whether the budget needs to be cut at all, and if so how much, will be made, then they’ll decide where to make the cuts (cuz you just know there will be cuts.) At Monday’s meeting what I said in my previous post was repeated by a few people- that the school budgets get voted down simply because that’s the only tax we have a say on. The system is FUBAR my friends.

Sadly they were taking a hard look at extracurriculars. When we moved here there were no extracurriculars. No band, no clubs, no community service. Now there are a bunch yet they still routinely have to turn away kids because there’s no space for them.

I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know if there even is an answer at the local level, since the problem goes so much deeper- the issue is local control versus fair school funding, and the arguments are strongly felt on both sides. The larger issue is what state funding there is going to a small number of districts (Newark, Jersey City) who let their systems get so messed up they needed rescue. Years later they’re still funded by the state, while we worry about whether our little band program (for 70 kids!) will survive budget cuts.

So, enough ranting. I’ll make my next post fluffy.

Ah, everyone’s in an uproar. The town got revaluated and all our taxes are going up. So, of course, the school budget, the only part of our taxes we get to vote on, didn’t pass.

For the past 4 or 5 years the school board has held the “courtesy busing” carrot over us as an incentive to get parents to vote. Legally, the school board only has to bus kids who live over two miles from the schools, but due to a major highway cutting through and other busy unsidewalked roads, little by little busing was provided to kids who live within the 2 miles- and I promise, most kids do. It’s a teeny town. It got to the point where every kid in town, including those who live down the street, get bussed (damn, is it one s or two? heh, according to dictionary.com it’s either one.)

So, anyway, every year the school board says if the budget doesn’t pass the busing bussing busing goes bye-bye. And every year, whether it passes or not, the buses keep busing. It’s the board who cried BUSSSSS!

Tonight there will be public meeting to discuss what will happen since the budget didn’t pass, thus the uproar. The emergency snow phone chain was activated and all the families with kids in school got calls to please attend this meeting. Because WE MIGHT LOSE OUR BUSING! Or maybe even our BUSSING!

This is the thing. The buses will still run, but instead of tax money paying for it, the families that use it will pay for it. I repeat, the buses will still run. No kids who need transportation won’t have access to it, and families that can’t afford it (who qualify for federal lunches I guess) will be subsidized by the board.

But, apparently some people would rather cut out the music program, the new engineering program, maybe one or two of those spare teachers? So they don’t have to pay for their kid to ride a bus.

Hey, I like the bussing, I love the bussing. It’s very convenient for me. And I do know that for many families it’s just hard to provide transportation to school (for good and not so good reasons.) That’s why the busses won’t disappear. It would just mean that the people who use them pay, not the elderly couple down the street or the family that prefers to drive or let the kids walk.

There’s a lot more to this than I can/will write about here. This thing is pitting friend vs friend, and IMHO it’s just silly.

So tonight I’ll go to the meeting and maybe I’ll speak up, maybe not. Maybe they won’t even threaten to do away with the courtesy bussing (HA!) If nothing else, it should be a good show.

Now who do I talk to about getting the spelling of busses buses bussing busing bussed bused straightened out?