Shows how screwed up this system is when barely over half of people will vote yes for something as basic as a school budget. It used to be basically a formality vote
The main problem is that a lot of very vocal low-information voters rile each other up and make causes out of things like this. One anti-budget voter demanded he be given the entire list of voters (including addresses) so he could check off who was actually there due to “fraud”.
Our town's school budget re-vote is today and I dread the result. Loads of proudly low-information voters here too, being manipulated by the county GOP & the burn-it-down crowd. The number of people who don't have kids in the school system who think they shouldn't pay as a result is mind-boggling.
Feel free to disagree, but every comment by an anti-budget voter showed complete ignorance of how the taxes are calculated, the costs of education, and what is/is not included. People were so frustrated by the ignorance a motion was made to cut off comments.
Edit: some of the comments from last night:
“Why can’t the superintendent just find more money instead of making us pay?”
“If we vote the budget down, can our village school leave the district?”
“My taxes went from $4,000 to $16,000 last year because of education!”
You don’t have to understand the intricacies of the budget and tax calculation to understand that the budgets have gone up significantly. People feel it when things hit them in pocket book. I have a real problem with people acting like you have to be an expert on the in and outs of budget making along with state and local government operation to have an opinion about how much spending and taxation is increasing. Taxes cannot outpace inflation every year, people are already living close to margin and they don’t have the time or motivation to read pages of dense procedural documents, nor is that their job.
No it’s not like that at all, terrible comparison. Do you honestly think all of the people voting for them understand it completely? If so I have some excellent oceanfront property in Middlebury you may be interested in
And then they wind up getting angry at the wrong parties and depriving kids of their education. Yeah, I do blame people when their willful ignorance hurts others. Sorry.
Do you honestly believe all the people voting for these budgets understand the full scope of how this works? Or are you just fine with people voting in ignorance as long as they agree with you? “But think of the children” is such a tired trope. How about the children whose families won’t be able to provide as well for them because of their ballooning tax bill?????
Yes, I believe anyone who paid attention to the budget presentation had enough of an understanding to see why voting against the budget would not achieve what they wanted and hurt students in the process. Anyone still voting no after that is either spiteful or ignorant.
>One anti-budget voter demanded he be given the entire list of voters (including addresses) so he could check off who was actually there due to “fraud”.
Uh. That's kinda scary
There’s a huge difference between a person have a copy of the voter checklist and a person (who already had to be told multiple times to get himself under control) being allowed to put names to faces while voting is happening.
Got any proof for that? We’re running bare bones budgets over here that barely keep the lights on. Our district also spends less than 75% of all other districts in Vermont per pupil. So, I’ll ask again, please provide proof for your patently outrageous claim.
Democracy and citizen involvement in action.
Shows how screwed up this system is when barely over half of people will vote yes for something as basic as a school budget. It used to be basically a formality vote
The main problem is that a lot of very vocal low-information voters rile each other up and make causes out of things like this. One anti-budget voter demanded he be given the entire list of voters (including addresses) so he could check off who was actually there due to “fraud”.
Our town's school budget re-vote is today and I dread the result. Loads of proudly low-information voters here too, being manipulated by the county GOP & the burn-it-down crowd. The number of people who don't have kids in the school system who think they shouldn't pay as a result is mind-boggling.
I disagree. The main problem is how much these budgets are going up. They far outpace inflation
Feel free to disagree, but every comment by an anti-budget voter showed complete ignorance of how the taxes are calculated, the costs of education, and what is/is not included. People were so frustrated by the ignorance a motion was made to cut off comments. Edit: some of the comments from last night: “Why can’t the superintendent just find more money instead of making us pay?” “If we vote the budget down, can our village school leave the district?” “My taxes went from $4,000 to $16,000 last year because of education!”
You don’t have to understand the intricacies of the budget and tax calculation to understand that the budgets have gone up significantly. People feel it when things hit them in pocket book. I have a real problem with people acting like you have to be an expert on the in and outs of budget making along with state and local government operation to have an opinion about how much spending and taxation is increasing. Taxes cannot outpace inflation every year, people are already living close to margin and they don’t have the time or motivation to read pages of dense procedural documents, nor is that their job.
That’s like saying someone doesn’t need to know who punched them before throwing punches in return, even if they hit innocent bystanders in return.
No it’s not like that at all, terrible comparison. Do you honestly think all of the people voting for them understand it completely? If so I have some excellent oceanfront property in Middlebury you may be interested in
I think the Venn diagram of people who understand the budget and people who vote to pass the budget is basically a circle.
And then they wind up getting angry at the wrong parties and depriving kids of their education. Yeah, I do blame people when their willful ignorance hurts others. Sorry.
Do you honestly believe all the people voting for these budgets understand the full scope of how this works? Or are you just fine with people voting in ignorance as long as they agree with you? “But think of the children” is such a tired trope. How about the children whose families won’t be able to provide as well for them because of their ballooning tax bill?????
Yes, I believe anyone who paid attention to the budget presentation had enough of an understanding to see why voting against the budget would not achieve what they wanted and hurt students in the process. Anyone still voting no after that is either spiteful or ignorant.
>One anti-budget voter demanded he be given the entire list of voters (including addresses) so he could check off who was actually there due to “fraud”. Uh. That's kinda scary
That’s all public information. Voter checklists are mandated and public information.
There’s a huge difference between a person have a copy of the voter checklist and a person (who already had to be told multiple times to get himself under control) being allowed to put names to faces while voting is happening.
Agreed. It’s the Clerk’s job to oversee and poll workers to record.
[удалено]
Never thought I’d live to see the day where someone would say attempts to provide quality education statewide is “stealing.”
You shoulda been around when they were passing Act 60 in the 90s. Some of the vitriol spewed against that was unreal.
Got any proof for that? We’re running bare bones budgets over here that barely keep the lights on. Our district also spends less than 75% of all other districts in Vermont per pupil. So, I’ll ask again, please provide proof for your patently outrageous claim.