"The Ranger" > wrote in message
>
> What source of long-term funding did you secure for the bus' maintainance
> and storage, the person driving the bus, guidelines for who benefited from
> the bus, etc. "Other funds" also need long-term funding solutions and
> constant review. The money just doesn't "appear" and no program is
> automated.

Right, it does not just appear. We had a budget and that was a line item.
Some of the funds came from the students that rode the bus. Yes, they had
to pay a monthly fee if they wanted to ride. No one was forced to take the
bus.


>
> I'm pretty sure ours are too if you like sitting reviewing excel
> spreadsheets and drawing conclusions from neighboring sd's. Specific
> salaries are not provided. The last budget meeting I attended, there were
> seven of us in the board room; the three board members, the school
> superintendent, the building superintendent, me, and one of my
> Daughter-unit Alpha. The times prior, there were fewer.

Pathetic. Our meetings don't have much more. Only when a big tax increase
is being asked for do some citizens wake up. The local radio stqation has a
part time reporter that shows up mos tof hte time too.



>
> We're the forth lowest in my state, and will take a devastating hit with
> this latest budget blood-letting. Dan Abel's post is spot on regarding
> where most of the moneys go. When you've already cut the perks, who do you
> decide is axed next in a community that won't produce volunteers or
> parents that care beyond the .01% already over-extended and on every
> committee that comes into formation?

Depends on the district. Ours has been putting money away for a new school.
They want to build bigger when the census has been dropping and studies say
it will drop more. That is the type of waste that has to be watched.
Building mainenance is needed, but some improvements can be postponed, just
like you put off buying a TV when money is tight.




>
> Sadly, corporal punishment didn't help in your (or my) day but there's the
> urban legend that every generation believes with religious zeal that they
> survived it and IT WAS GOOD FOR THEM! Show me where cracking a cricket
> paddle over a kid made them toe-the-line and become a productive citizen
> and the prisons will show a 100 more how false that assumption is.

Not necessarily coprporal punishment. There are other things that can be
done but parents complain that Johhny's self esteem is hurt if he has to
stand in a corner for 10 minutes.


>
> Not the two school boards I've participated on. They work with the budgets
> they are assigned and decide every year how our schools might do more with
> less. Now they're going to have to tackle the one thing every parent will
> immediately scream about -- pink-slipping teachers and district office
> staff because they cannot cut anything else.

Perhaps, they are probably setting priorities.

A school district near here cut the basketball program. It was basketball
or a teacher. It fired up one person (my barber) enough that he personally
funded it and then got parents (and other interested citizens) to chip in.