Bacallao: Political games being played to prep for increased school taxes

As a candidate for the FCBOE, I was given a paper copy of next year’s budget.

I have heard repeatedly that over 90% of the budget is salaries, so there is not much room to cut.

However, instruction only accounts for 67.84% of next year’s budget, down from 68.48% last year.

With money spent on instruction down as an overall percentage, what categories have increased?

Pupil services, improvement of instruction, educational media services, general administration, school administration, business services, transportation, other outlays, and debt service have all increased as a percentage of the whole from last year.

So next year we will spend all our reserves but we will spend 7 million dollars less on instruction, but $129,963 MORE on general administration.

Three days were eliminated from the school year. At the last board meeting, several cost cutting measures were proposed such as closing schools and eliminating first grade paraprofessionals.

These were proposed to get your attention in an attempt to raise the millage rate, which is already at the legal maximum.

There are other budget cuts we can look at. Political games are being played and I don’t appreciate using our students and teachers as pawns in a game to collect more money in taxes.

We can do better. We can balance the budget and fulfill our mission, excellence in education for all our students.

Let’s look at the numbers and do our best to keep our school system strong. My name is Mary Kay Bacallao and I humbly ask for your vote on July 31st.

Mary Kay Bacallao