Some updates
- Several people spoke at the Delegates & Individuals segment of the school board meeting on 5/16. All who spoke voiced their concerns regarding the school district’s spending and requested that the unprecedented $11.1m in budget surplus be RETURNED TO THE TAXPAYERS.
- Concerned citizens held and attended another successful meeting at the Danville Community Center where a wealth of information was shared regarding what our tax dollars are being spent on. Watch the video.
A note about unfilled TRSD jobs
- This school district, at any given time, has approximately 70 open, posted positions.
- This number of open positions, generally speaking, is budgeted for EVERY YEAR. As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close, this number of unfilled positions resulted in $5.3m of the $11.1m budget surplus. This was presented at the 5/2/2024 school board meeting.
- When you vote on the budget proposed by the budget committee in March, you are voting for these dollars to be used to pay for these faculty/staff positions.
- When these positions have not been filled at the end of the school year, the current school board instead uses this money for UNNECESSARY, UNBUDGETED pet projects like tennis courts and tennis court lights!
A question about the proposed budget
- The proposed 2024-2025 budget that was voted on and passed in March of this year is $89,120,265. Compared to this current year’s (2023-2024) proposed and passed budget of $83,270,418, that’s an increase almost $6.2 million.
- If school year 2023-2024 is ending with an $11m surplus, why did the budget committee propose a budget for 2025-2025 that includes a $6.2m increase?
- The budget committee and the school board know that they will have a surplus that can be spent on unnecessary, unbudgeted pet projects. This is blatantly reckless and irresponsible spending of your tax dollars.
- IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. This proposed budget increase for 2024-2025 was presented for discussion at the Timberlane deliberative session in February, 2024.
- A motion was made to reduce the budget by $6.2 million. This motion was voted down, 115-76.
- Another motion was made to reduce the budget by $3.5 million. This motion was voted down, 116-77.
- The proposed budget could have been reduced at the Timberlane deliberative session with a mere 40 more votes. Your voice can be heard by simply showing up and voting at the deliberative session. Mark your calendars, get a babysitter, attend the deliberative session and this spending insanity can be stopped.
——————————————