The New Hope-Solebury School District Board of Directors will vote on a proposed Final Budget for the 2014/2015 fiscal year at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m.
This year’s budget is even more significant than most because it includes a major campus renovation, and attempts to balance student needs with fiscal constraints. The district has made the budget available for review online.
We urge New Hope and Solebury residents to read the budget thoroughly, and to let your voices be heard at the Stephen J. Buck Theater at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 2. Decisions made at this meeting will have an impact on the quality of education and budget of the school district for years to come.
As I see it,the way the school board and administrators conduct their public business is an embarrassment to the democratic process. Speakers, such as myself, are told that the board will not engage you during the Public Comment part of the meeting.Therefore even if you bring up questions, don’t expect them to be answered. This is really to protect the board and the administration for they don’t want to say something that they will regret later on or be put on the spot with the truth. The speakers are told that if you have questions send them in before the meeting which I have done only to be told by the board president that I send in so many questions that it would be better to meet with the supt. privately.I have refused this invitation since my questions deal with the concerns of all the taxpayers, then my questions must be answered publicly. And by the way, the board president repeatedly either interrupts public comments and /or criticizes comments in his monologue following the comments. See for yourself. Goggle New Hope Solebury School board meeting 5/05/2014.
When Jane Adele says that the revitalization plan will increase our debt for decades to come she’s not kidding. Right now, even without the plan, the district owes $30,000,000 which is to be paid off in ten years. If you add $36,000,000 to this which is the cost of the high end of the plan that is fully endorsed by the administration led by Supt. Boccuti, you get $66,000,000 plus another $25,000,000 in interest which has no where to go but up, putting the taxpayer in the hole for $90,000,000!!! If our taxes won’t go up as Mr. Perrone, the rest of the administration and the the board say,then why not have the plan put on the ballot as a referendum? ANSWER. There are enough wise taxpayers that will vote it down just as they did for Neshaminy H.S.back in 2004 when Supt. Boccuti as the asst. supt.was one of those who pushed a similar plan that got defeated when it went to referendum. If at first you don’t succeed, you change your tactics and by-pass the electorate.
This budget, with the revitalization project possibly strapping the school district with even more debt in the tens of MILLIONS of dollars, seems unwise.
Has the District answered the question: what is really NEEDED to improve the crumbling infrastructure, safety issues and ADA requirements, versus what WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE. Is a new gym really needed? A weight room? A large group instruction room? (don’t we have a cafeteria and a great auditorium?)
They are supposed to be stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars, and every citizen should have a say in what they’re about to pass! The room should be packed on June 2nd, and everyone should speak their minds – senior citizens on fixed incomes, parents, neighbors, and community leaders. Do we really want to force our neighbors out of this community because of the school’s debts and inevitable tax increases if their loan rate suddenly balloons, or there are unexpected upkeep costs, or the teachers’ or administrators’ retirement system drains our funds?
They will say that the revitalization will not increase the annual tax. What they neglect to tell you is that the debt they’re about to incur (no matter how good their credit rating is)will extend our debt for decades to come – just at a time when our current debts were just about to be paid off, and extra moneys could be put to improve educational programs and those repairs that are truly necessary for safety and security.
The school population has stabilized, so what gives?