Education Department praises budget votes
Bangor Daily News, June 13, 2008
(excerpt) After reviewing a sample of Tuesday's election results, the Department of Education is satisfied that the new school budget validation process is working.
Communications Director David Connerty-Marin said the two-step approval process appeared to have worked smoothly and brought about the results the department was hoping for.
Connerty-Marin emphasized, however, that the department's opinion was based entirely on election results culled from newspaper articles. Of the 50 school districts that the department found reports on, residents in six of them voted against the proposed budgets. Despite that 12 percent rejection, Connerty-Marin said, the process was successful.
"I think it's been a success because more people than ever have been involved in the process," Connerty-Marin said Thursday. "The fact that some budgets have failed shows that there is greater participation in the process and that the voters are paying attention. Whatever is happening is good because the people are weighing in."
The two-step budget validation process was approved by the Legislature as part of the school consolidation law that called for shrinking the state's 290 school districts into about 80 regional school unions. Communities across the state are in the process of consolidating into RSUs in hopes of meeting the June 2009 deadline.
The two-step process mandated that every school district in the state use the same budget approval method. It required that the budget must first be reviewed and passed at a public district budget meeting — or, in the case of a municipality-controlled school system, at a public hearing — and then validated at the polls. Most of the budget meetings took place last month, followed by the validations on Tuesday.
(excerpt) After reviewing a sample of Tuesday's election results, the Department of Education is satisfied that the new school budget validation process is working.
Communications Director David Connerty-Marin said the two-step approval process appeared to have worked smoothly and brought about the results the department was hoping for.
Connerty-Marin emphasized, however, that the department's opinion was based entirely on election results culled from newspaper articles. Of the 50 school districts that the department found reports on, residents in six of them voted against the proposed budgets. Despite that 12 percent rejection, Connerty-Marin said, the process was successful.
"I think it's been a success because more people than ever have been involved in the process," Connerty-Marin said Thursday. "The fact that some budgets have failed shows that there is greater participation in the process and that the voters are paying attention. Whatever is happening is good because the people are weighing in."
The two-step budget validation process was approved by the Legislature as part of the school consolidation law that called for shrinking the state's 290 school districts into about 80 regional school unions. Communities across the state are in the process of consolidating into RSUs in hopes of meeting the June 2009 deadline.
The two-step process mandated that every school district in the state use the same budget approval method. It required that the budget must first be reviewed and passed at a public district budget meeting — or, in the case of a municipality-controlled school system, at a public hearing — and then validated at the polls. Most of the budget meetings took place last month, followed by the validations on Tuesday.
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