Randy, after reading your first post on this subject, I did meet with some of our legislators. I can tell you from these meetings, they are getting pressure from this area of the state not to raise taxes. Both people ask me if I knew and understood the budget in our district. I had to admit, I really didn't know much about it. They asked me questions such as "if the budget is 10 million more than it was ten yrs ago but we have less students, don't you think we have funded enough money for education?" They also asked me what % of our local budget was adminstation salaries, how many adminstrators did I think it takes to run a school district the size of Manhattan? Randy, I was not able to answer the questions they were asking. Both legislators tell me they believe school districts have wasted big dollars and it is time to make them accountable. I do know more about our budget now, but I'm not sure I understand how everything works. It isn't like looking at a financial report from a business. (An example is special ed funding and all the mandates that go with it.)
I'm willing to keep working on this but I need to be better informed before I go back. I'm the last guy that wants to see athletics and activities cut from our schools. If you understand the budgeting process and can help me I would appreciate it. I will see one of our legislators on Sunday. By the way, I am RT.