The EASD plans to raise our taxes 11.85% and will vote to approve the budget this Thursday
Posted by: Noel Jones
How can you fight to stop this tax hike?
1. Come out to the School Board meeting at 7:30pm this Thursday and either speak up and be heard or sit in support of those speaking and be counted as a taxpaying voter who is against it. This is the strongest way to get our point across:
Agenda for School Board Meeting This Thursday, Jan. 28, 7:30pm
Guidelines for Public Participation in School Board Meetings
Easton Area School Board Meeting (Finance Committee)
Thursday, Jan. 28, 7:30 p.m.
Easton Area Education Center
1801 Bushkill Drive
2. If you can't make it, you can still email members of the board to read whatever you write out loud and enter it into the minutes of the meeting (if you keep it civil):
Contact Info for Our School Board Members (We are District II)
(You can also watch on line footage of past EASD meetings on the link above to get an idea of what happens)
If you plan on taking action to stop this tax hike, post here!
Posts
14 comments:
I've heard from a resident so far who is going to email a letter to the school board for the meeting.
Anyone else?
Just heard from another resident back-channel that they are emailing a letter to the EASD...
Where is 1801 Bushkill drive?
It should be noted that Thursday's meeting is a finance committee meeting. It's worth residents attending, but the preliminary budget will not be approved until the full board meets in February. The Morning Call had a budget story last week that spelled out the situation.
1801 Bushkill Dr would be across from the old Binney & Smith plant along Bushkill Creek. EASD sign is at driveway on right as you go toward Tatamy.
Thanks, Mike! I have heard from 5 residents that they will be attending w/me for a total of 6 and if you and Anon 7:30 are going that would be 8 and counting...
Anon 7:59 thanks for the clarification--all the more reason we should make ourselves heard now, not when it's too late and they've already decided what they're going to do...
Noel,I will definitely go to the School Board Meeting,I love the sense of deja vu it brings to me.And you are 100% correct if we as "Neighbors" and residents of the City continue to allow spending to go unchecked,our school district will end up being taken over by the State to insure that the curriculum and all of the services are up to snuff.In my earlier posting I mentioned working to vaccinate children in EASD,at that time the District was in danger because of the high percentage of children who were not up to date on their shots. One would have assumed that would have been a low percentile but not so,the numbers were so high something had to be done.And we did,so do I want to see how my tax dollars are being spent,you bet!
It takes a village to raise a child and maybe to prevent what happened in Philadelphia were the State had to step in an take over well maybe "Neighbors" can prevent such chaos!Oh and thank you Mike for the directions,I would have been lost,and also prior to the School Board Meeting,the Block Watch is having a sign up at the State Theater at 6 PM anyone interested in strengthening our Block Watches please attend.Thanks for the opportunity to put my 2 cents in.Peace
Don't mean to ask a rude or stupid question but am curious as to what might be wrong with the state stepping in? What bad things would that cause? Aside from the embarrassment might it be a way to make a clean sweep?
While I support the idea that all citizens benefit from public education and should contribute to its costs - it is Socialism.
While I support the idea that sports are possibly part of education and should be publically supported to a small degree it is Sports Socialism to ask the tax payers to underwrite the huge amount that is going to Easton Sports. This is where they should be making the cuts, not turning to tax payers. But if they try to make cuts in sports WATCH how many irate citizens show up to protest at their meeting. And I wonder how many of these jock families are also Tea Partiers and hypocritally write letters to the editor against Obama and health care.
Anon 10:29--not rude or a stupid question at all--this is precisely what this blog is for--open earnest discussion and debate so that we in the community can learn from each other. i have wondered the same thing myself, as i just started learning about all of this a few years ago when i moved here.
for instance, i have heard of some cities that have gone bankrupt--that the state has taken them over. I've heard a few people say that it wouldn't be a bad thing for Easton. i would like to know the pros and cons of this hypothetical scenario. would it mean more or less taxes? better or worse education and services? more or less croneyism? a better or worse quality of life for the average citizen? doomsday or a new beginning?
i would like to hear readers' thoughts on this.
Anon 10:38--interesting points and the board should hear them--can you make it to the meeting to speak up thursday night?
i heard from another resident last night that she will be coming to the school board meeting to protest tax hike, so it looks like we have 10 people so far--if anyone else is planning on coming, please post here!
if you can't attend the meeting but would like to do something to stop this tax hike, please copy this line:
myersk@eastonsd.org, reillyt@eastonsd.org2013, vulcanop@eastonsd.org2013
…into the address of an email, and send your comments to our school board reps (Kerry Myers, Timothy Reilly, Pat Vulcano) so that they can be entered as part of the public response!
"Schoolboard fiddles as the budget burns"
Went to schoolboard meetting hoping to attend the finance meeeting. Building and grounds went 1.5hrs over talking about hair in the swimming pool and other crucial items. Glad I stayed for Ms Guidry who did a pretty nice job explaining the difficulty we are in financially.
Thanks to all the residents who came out tonight, especially to Troy and Carinne for speaking up for tax paying residents against this hike, Larry for posting the meeting on his Facebook and playing chauffeur--and thanks to everyone who couldn't come but sent in emails to our reps on the board too!
The next EASD meeting on this issue is next week, Thursday, Feb. 4th--that is when the school board will vote in the preliminary budget. Please mark it on your calendars, post it on your Facebook sites, and lets get a real crowd in there on that night to be counted and speak up before the board votes!
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