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Revisiting the Same Issues

With increasing concerns about rising costs in the face of closing a school and declining enrollment, I have been monitoring the Board of Education (BOE) meetings and what actions it is taking. After the presentation of a maintenance budget with a shocking price tag of $100 million, I was surprised to hear Superintendent of School Tom Scarice’s comment that even if it was an $80 million budget, there was still need of a plan. Is the plan $80 million or $100 million? Twenty million dollars of Madison taxpayer money is significant.

In this same meeting I was surprised by the discussion around bylaw changes, in particular because this was a repeat of an issue that took four months for the board to debate and was finally put to bed with a vote on Feb. 13. What kind of leadership has this board continually talking about how to do business instead of actually getting it done? This is the second time we’ve seen this happen this year, when some members of the board wanted to revisit the approved budget a few weeks after the board voted on it.

Why does the BOE keep revisiting the same issues? It doesn’t feel like an efficient way to spend its time, particularly when there are major changes happening in the next year. It hasnot accomplished much as a board under its new leadership. Why isn’t there a special meeting devoted to the discussion of safety concerns, which several residents have requested publicly at meetings? Why isn’t there ongoing discussion about ways to decrease the budget?

The BOE needs to accept its own decisions and move on to the work of the district on behalf of the people who voted for them.

Alexander McKissick

Madison