Slashing Away

Trying to restore some common sense to the budget mess, School Board members Mike Leahy and Vic Bernson are trying to slash some of the excess from Kevin Maxwell's proposed school budget. Leahy has a good quote that is as true as it is disturbing:

"There's this mind-set that if I don't have the same opinion as the superintendent, that I'm evil. I assure you I care just as much about the children. I just have a different idea about how to get from Point A to Point B."

And he's right. Union and liberal education activists have unilaterally decided that if you are not with the Superintendent, that you are against education and improving education. Of course, that is bunk.

The entire point of the Leahy/Bernson exercise is trying to cut some of the things from Maxwell's budget that look as if they are not necessarily geared towards classroom instruction, or new positions that are ambiguously defined, a blur of new "specialists," "technicians" and "assistants" as defined by Leahy. A list of these is found here.

I doubt that Leahy and Bernson will be able to convince any more of their colleagues that being fiscally responsible is a good thing. Though, I am glad to see that at least two of the board members are taking the high road instead of reading aloud the union's talking points and generally pouting about John Leopold's refusal to acquiesce to the spending request.

Of course, perhaps we would have more fiscal responsibility from a school board that was elected...