| Funny how the school budget details reach your mailbox a couple of days before the vote on said budget. I got mine in Saturday's mail and the vote is on Tuesday. Hardly enough time to write an op-ed to the local paper critiquing the "hard work" our local school board did to hold tax increases to around 3.5%, a number that will undoubtedly balloon to around 8% after the equalization rates are recomputed.
Here in Clinton, which is probably the most tony school district in central New York, there is a separate ballot item for new school buses. Clinton wants to buy a total of four to replace (cue the violins) the ones in their fleet that have more than 100,000 miles on them, or are more than ten years old. I have a couple of questions about this, to which there is insufficient time for answers, so I'm just going to vote NO on the damned buses until I get them. |
| 1. If enrollment is declining in Clinton CSD, why are tax levies still rising? I see that teachers are being fired, but the bloated administrative staff all get to keep their jobs. Why do we need three guidance counselors at the high school (one just for freshmen), for example, if there are only around 1400 students? What do they do all day?
2. If I am not mistaken, school buses are built on medium truck chassis and have large commercial-grade diesel engines (Caterpillar or Cummings) in them. They are built to last at least double what the school board is saying warrants replacement. I can only assume, given that the Clinton bus fleet comprises 27 buses, that we'll be asked to replace a couple of them every year, at an additional cost (which doesn't count the new buses they bought last year, or the year before that) of $70,000 a year. What is the average salary of a full-time diesel mechanic whose job it would be to ensure these buses are used to a more reasonable percentage of their expected lifespan?
3. Why 27 buses? If enrollment is dropping, why not just retire one or two of the oldest buses and pass the savings on to the taxpayers? |
