Stop The School Board’s Revenge: SAVE OUR ELECTIONS

The Clinton Township Board of Education is going to decide whether to eliminate our right to vote on school budgets.

Attend the School Board meeting!
Speak up to SAVE SCHOOL BUDGET ELECTIONS
Monday, Feb. 13 —  7:30pm
Clinton Township Middle School

Do you want to save your right to vote on school budget elections?

Almost every single school budget of the last 10 years was rejected by voters due to a lack of faith in school financial management and questionable actions of the board. Now the Board of Education is going to decide whether to eliminate school budget elections.

What is this — revenge against voters for rejecting so many school budgets? The solution is to take away elections?

This seems to be what some BOE members are thinking, while others want to protect our right to vote.

The “explanations” from those who want to take this action are quite a wonder:

1. “We’re doing it because we can.”
   (That’s right — the BOE votes on this, we don’t. So you’d better show up and speak up if you want your right to vote protected.)
2. “It’ll save money if we don’t have budget elections!”
   (That’s a good one. Let’s just end elections because they cost money. Knock-knock: It’ll save more if we do vote, when taxpayers decline higher taxes.)
3. “Great news! Budgets will be approved automatically if they stay under the cap!”
   (Except there’s no definition in the law about what the cap will be — the cap can change. The cap could go higher. And many big items are exempt from the cap. Who protects taxpayers then?)
4. No other government budgets are voted on — that’s why we should end taxpayers’ right to vote on school budgets, too.
   (Say what? Maybe all budgets should be voted on. So protect our right to vote on school budgets.)
5. Most people want school budgets approved — they just don’t vote when they should! This fixes that!
   (You’ve been hearing this one every April at school election time. It’s still stupid.)
6. There’s nothing for you to worry about — let the BOE decide how much of your money to spend every year!
   (No thanks. I’d rather vote. Voting is our right. If the BOE wants to regain the respect it has lost, it will stop fooling around with the public’s right to vote.)
7. Lots of other towns have already eliminated school budget elections. We’re just joining them!
   (We tell our kids that even if their friends are doing drugs, they should not. Nuff said.)
8. TRUST US!
   (Nope, not yet. We have a mostly new BOE, but it must earn our trust. First, show us some budgets we will support! Meantime, don’t take away our right to vote.)

Those are the “explanations”…

…about why elections should be taken away from us. None of it makes any sense — in fact, it comes across not like what’s good for us, but like “The BOE’s Revenge” for all the school budgets that voters rejected over the past 10 years.

There are some new BOE members who seem to oppose this new “initiative.” They need our support. Show up at the meeting, speak out, tell the rest of the BOE to SAVE OUR SCHOOL BUDGET ELECTIONS.

If some of the BOE members really think they’re “doing what’s best for the community,” then they should STOP this and produce a budget that we will support in a budget election in April. THAT is their job — NOT to eliminate our right to vote on budgets.

ATTEND THE MEETING — SPEAK UP, or don’t complain about school budgets and taxes. Your right to vote is in danger.

7:30pm Monday night, Feb. 13, Clinton Township Middle School.

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