Apr
9
Why SB2 Ballot System is Good
Filed Under Plainfield News, School Info, Town Info, Voting Information | Comments Off
On March 11, 2008 voters cast their ballots for or against SB2. There results were YES: 240 and NO: 254.
That means c.49% 0f voters wanted SB2 all day voting system. Remarkable for our first try.
In Plainfield, money warrants succeed when voter numbers are minimal. Ideally, School Boards want to encourage a maximum # of voters to come and vote for the budget it has constructed. Ideally! Reality? Having honestly struggled for months to compose a budget, a board wants acceptance.
Around the State voter turnout for School budgets is about 25% more or less. And the voters who do come often have a vested interest in passage, v.g. salary increases. So the temptation for a Board is to stack the deck; stay with a system that produces low turnout and acceptance. Minimal looks good!
But why such low turnouts? The faithful 25% who do meet and vote say to the other 75%“Tough if you don’t like it. You didn’t bother to come! It’s your fault.”
But we don’t know why 75% fail to come. Many of the no-shows are our friends, solid citizens; so we can’t attribute carelessness or sloth for failing to meet and vote. Maybe the traditional 200 year old method doesn’t satisfy the modern family and society. And they can inform themselves about warrant articles through other modern means: newspapers, pamphlets, radio, computers, discussions with friends, bulletin boards.
Rather than blaming, let’s support an alternate way to vote. All-day voting sessions on non-meeting days tends to produce 40-50% more voters. The old system doesn’t meet today’s needs. Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) does provide a solution. And today 30-40% of our towns use SB2 successfully. . Board members and teachers openly discourage voting for SB 2. They claim they want to preserve the charming traditional citizens’ meeting and discussion But what about the voters?
The Board’s obligation to citizens (who voted for them) is to provide an accommodating voting opportunity. “The more people who vote, the better. Isn’t that what Town Meeting is all about?”, as Jim Kenyon asks in his Valley News column, p.A2, 02-27-08.
And the beauty of the SB2 system is that it does not eliminate the traditional New England citizens’ discussions on town issues.
Please watch for an upcoming poll on why only 75% of all eligible voters fail to come to vote.
Mar
26
Adequacy and the Future of Education [HB 927]
Filed Under School Info | Comments Off
According to CBN News, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has just ranked New Hampshire among the top ten states for education quality. Education in New Hampshire is still a local function, driven by parent input and administered through local school boards. The cost is still paid for through local property taxes.
In its 1993 Claremont I decision, the N.H. Supreme court decided to change N.H.’s historic education formula when it ruled, “ … that encouragement of literature clause of State Constitution imposes duty on state to provide constitutionally adequate education to every educable child in public schools in state and to guarantee adequate funding.” (Emphasis mine).
The Court’s word “provide,” means the state must assume responsibility for all of the elements of education now accomplished by local school districts including the hiring of teachers, providing and maintaining school buildings, bussing, etc. The implications of state takeover have been studiously avoided by governors and legislatures since the Court’s 1993 ruling.
In December of 1997, the Court further determined that local property taxes can’t be used to pay for what the Court described as the state’s “guaranteed funding,” obligation.
Those happy to dispense with local control and especially with local school property taxes might want to think again. The centralized education model which the Court prescribed for New Hampshire is similar to systems employed by California and Hawaii. California and Hawaii scored dead last in U.S. Chamber education rankings.
Democrats in the N.H. House and Senate have embraced the Court’s education concept. Governor Lynch has embraced the N.H. Department of Education model for education “adequacy.” Lynch’s “adequacy,” preference will cost about $9,000 per child and will require 1.2 Billion Dollars in new state spending. Lynch’s new, guaranteed-to-fail, state-run education system will require the imposition of state sales and income taxes because proposed revenue from other sources, including gambling, won’t produce enough money to fund all this. And, all this, is what Governor Lynch and his legislative leaders are working enthusiastically to achieve.
If you care about quality education for New Hampshire’s kids you should be fighting state takeover tooth and nail.
Sincerely,
Honorable Paul Mirski
PO Box 190
Enfield Center, N.H.
Mar
14
Voting is First Saturday in March
Filed Under School Info, Voting Information | Comments Off
Voters chose the first Saturday in March for the Annual School Budget Meeting.
Saturday won out over Friday with 299 votes to 184 for Friday
Voters chose Saturdays over Fridays in a decisive vote on Tuesday March 14, 2006. The final count of 299 to 184 made it clear that the School Board’s arbitrary decision to ignore the citizens advice of 1981 was unpopular.
In 1981 taxpaying citizens advised the board in Article V of the annual budget meeting that they wanted future annual budget meetings to be held on the 1st Saturday, traditionally in the morning, in March. But in 1996 the board arbitrarily set meeting day and hour to Friday at 6:30 pm. This decision was not only unpopular but detrimental to encouraging full voter participation, because it tended to disenfranchise senior citizens and deter working families from attending an end-of-the work week meeting. But the night time meetings attracted voters with vested interests and led to lop-sided voting on teacher salary raises because of lower voter turnout.
The Plainfield Taxpayers Coalition requested the School Board to offer everyone a chance to express their preference for Saturday or Friday night meetings. You see the results above. Let us watch to be sure the 1st Saturdays in March are not ignored again.