As with most years, this years school vote is in three parts. There will be a budget for next year, purchase of school buses, and three positions on the school board. The vote itself will be happening Tuesday May 21, 2019 in the Board of Education room (room 129), which is across the hall from the B-Gym. Nearest doors are off Church Street. Make note of the different location. It’s in the same building, but on the opposite side of it.
Quick election recommendations:
Yes to Candidates (Pick 3 of 4)
Yes to Buses
No to Budget
As with last year, there are four candidates for three School Board seats. Three of them are incumbents (David Francis, Stephanie Templeton, and Gary Stottler), while Kelli Eberle is running for her first term. I have every reason to believe they can all do the job that is being asked of them. Which means it mostly doesn’t matter who gets elected, which is a nice thing to be able to say.
Having said that, you should do your own research and form your own opinion as to who to vote for. An unfortunate aspect of our political system is that most of us will never know the candidates well enough to really evaluate them. So we have to piece together clues and tidbits from what we can find. Which is probably why incumbents have a history of winning reelection, they have an established public record. Which is why, as much as I dislike incumbency, I’ll probably vote for the three existing board members this year.
What little I know about Kelli Eberle raises a number of questionable aspects for a member of a school board. She’s a teacher, which creates the appearance of a conflict of interests (or maybe an actual conflict, I’ll leave that to the lawyers). And her career/degree sounds worryingly social justicey, which I do not believe is in our best interests (as a nation, state, or school district). I could be wrong on either/both of the above concerns, but with what information I currently have available, the incumbents feel like the safer options. I should have asked more questions at the ‘Meet the Candidate’ night last week (must remember to do so next year). There is still time, who knows what opportunities for new information may present themselves.
As with most years, School bus purchase is pretty straightforward. ‘Debt’ is mentioned in the verbiage for legal reasons, but in practice the district has a history of paying for buses directly (ie with cash). As they are a needed tool, this is part of a regular replacement schedule, and it won’t be paid for with debt, I approve of this and will be voting in favor.
Which brings us to the complication that is the actual budget. From a practical standpoint, this is the best budget we are going to see for next year. Yet, for reasons stated previously, I don’t believe enough is being done to address larger issues. The focus seems to be too much on ‘this year’ and not enough on ‘long term’. And as I can’t directly vote for/against ‘long term’, I will most likely be voting against ‘this year’.
Again, as with last year, not particularly happy about voting ‘No’ on the budget, but I also can’t really justify approving it. I have heard some of the staff acknowledging the long term issues. Who knows, maybe next year we’ll start planning to deal with them.
And as said at the top, different polling location. Due to construction, the election will be held in Board of Education room (room 129), which is across the hall from the B-Gym. Nearest doors are off Church Street. Election time remains 6AM and 9PM.