Letter To The Editor – Taxes Are The Issue

Dear Editor,
I am keeping the children out of this letter, because we have some great teachers, bus drivers and staff and I know that our kids will be safe and get a good education. The BIGGER issue right now is TAXES and what we are paying for! Do we really have a choice? Why is there no trust in our District leaders? Well, we can take a brief walk through history to see clearly why.
Around the late 1950s Grafton voted on which district it would be a part of (Berlin or Brittonkill). The first vote was for Grafton to be a part of Brittonkill. However, promises were made that they would always have a school in Grafton and another vote was put up to voters. Guess what happened, the vote was changed to have Grafton become part of the Berlin Central School District (BCSD). Looking at this now, it would appear to be a broken promise.
Now skip to 2006 when out of nowhere we were told that Grafton (GES) and Stephentown (SES) schools would be closed – no plan, other than an assumed savings of money – just close. There was a plan in progress to bring our schools up to code and improve them at this time. Unfortunately because of poor decisions made, this plan was put on hold.
Again, poor management in our District will cause taxpayers in our District a true hardship. Who will let this happen, and how can we stop it? BES is unhealthy and needs to be repaired (which needed to happen 18 years ago!), or you can just build a whole new school for the same cost. Why have other options not been FULLY and FAIRLY looked at? Closing GES is NOT the only option – but if you taxpayers ALLOW the Board of Education (BOE) to follow through with closing it and renting modulars for $500,000 you will be FORCED back into that $20 million referendum – because in the process of renting they will get rid of GES – AND why would we waste tax dollars on renting modulars, why not add on – AND we cannot allow our building to continue to be run down and out of state compliance – so guess what – we are back to where the BOE wants us to be – at the $20 million. Maybe they will get creative and put it up in two different referendums! Stay alert! Go to meetings and workshops – hear what they are discussing and planning – don’t be surprised when your taxes are RAISED.
By the way, the assumed savings from closing SES was not as Charlotte Gregory will lead you to believe in her letter to the editor in a March edition. The BOE and Ms. Gregory said that if we close schools the money we save will go towards improving education. Did that happen? She was so quick to tell you about all the “supposed” money we were saving, but she neglected to tell you all the increases in the budget and that the savings was only a one-time savings. Actually, reports show that by consolidating your tax dollars will INCREASE over the years. I really don’t want to find out the hard way, but the way it looks now – we just might.
I urge you NOT to take someone’s word for this – dig in – attend meetings – do the research and what you read in the Eastwick Press’ letters to the editors will make sense to you too. Why would members of our District be wasting their time doing all the research and going to meetings if there was nothing more we could do, or other options out there? Trust me, we have plenty of other things to be doing!
But it is worth it and in the end it doesn’t just benefit the taxpayers – it also benefits our kids and the future of our towns.
Make your voice be HEARD – write or call your Board of Education members, the Interim Superintendent, local, County and State representatives. THERE IS POWER IN NUMBERS. You cannot let someone do the job – it has to be YOU! Make it happen!
Regards,
Amy Reger
Grafton, NY
One last note, if local community schools have no value then why did they build them in the first place? Most districts are only closing ONE small school, and they have room enough for all the students to attend at the other locations – they do not have to build and waste tax dollars! The Times Union shows a projected tax increase of 3% to the BCSD with teachers being cut and schools being closed when almost all the other schools districts are showing taxes being DECREASED!