My recent Albany stories, including one about a teenage girl who got pregnant and who then was murdered, allegedly by the would-be father, and an article about a teenage girl who was killed when she failed to operate her ATV competently. Both girls played stupid games and won stupid prizes, prizes that they deserved.
My articles may come at a price. I’ve already received death threats because of them and because the apparent threats are local, some people may be able to carry those threats out or otherwise affect my life. I will continue to report on whatever I damn well please without fear or favor.
But now on to a matter that should be of grave concern for all Albany voters. On May 20th, registered voters within the city will be able to vote on the school district’s fiscal 2025-2026 budget. The school district has published details on its website. The news is not good. I have one word to describe the budget this time around: greed.
I am taking my chance to speak up and tell the district no, no they cannot get away with screwing with our wallets. I am hoping that many other voters will do the same, for no other reason than to say “screw you!” to the city’s students and school district employees, especially overpaid, fat-cat teachers.
The district wants $342 million of our money. That’s absolutely unreasonable! It’s an almost 1% tax increase. That may seem small, too small to bitch and moan about, but given how high taxes are in this greedy city, that’s an unwarranted increase that everyone would notice when they get their tax bills. Just 1% could be matter of several million dollars.
Are you awake yet? How stupid do they think we are? The school district can definitely do more with less.
As a mayoral candidate before I withdrew because there was no way I could have gotten 1,500 petition signatures by the 24th (I suppose there’s still a small chance), I kept in mind that increases would happen and that citizens such as myself and you would take it up the tailpipe. But I could have done more with less, whereas the school district wants more and more of your money.
Yup, I would have proposed a far more reasonable 0.5% increase if an increase had to be the way things had to be done. I still think spending should go down, not up, consequences be damned.
I still think that they should have put out an official proposal to decrease spending. But no, they want to be greedy. Only 0.9%? That small of an increase would affect you personally whether you have kids in the system or not.
The point is, the school district wants more of your money when in fact they should have decreased spending by at least 10%. Better yet, they should have not put the budget to the voters because they would have decreased spending to the point where voters would see a credit on their tax bill.
Don’t let them get away with what is absolute highway robbery. Make no mistake: they’re begging for money that they simply do not need. They may want it, but they will hopefully not get it.
According to a presentation posted to their website, the district is seeking to continue to continue “extracurricular offerings at all grade levels.” That is a want, not a need. In all honesty, such offerings should be completely eliminated. or if they insist upon unnecessary spending and seek to continue those offerings, then students and their families should shoulder the cost directly, not us.
The budget also addresses the following. These are some bullet list items, not all of them:
- More money for emotional support for students. Another want, not a need.
- Accelerated learning. The students can do without that, unless they make the wise decision to attend private schools if they’re that whiny about “accelerated” learning.
- Athletics. That too should be eliminated completely. Let that become a college thing, not a high school thing.
- Salaries for employees across the greedy district are estimated to be $142,082,732. That is beyond insane. Salaries should be decreased, not increased. That’s to say nothing of the benefits that go along with greedy salaries. Do more with less.
- Textbook costs are out of control. Anyone who’s attending college right now knows that. Surely they can decrease that expenditure, or families can absorb this cost.
The list goes on and on. Everything about the budget can be reduced or eliminated. Coming to taxpayers hat in hand is just embarrassing for them!
Thankfully, the school district has a plan that would go into place should voters refuse the proposal. Under that scenario, salaries would be cut as would certain programs. And with those salary cuts, people would thankfully be let go and that’s a good thing for the entire city. Eliminating as much excessive fat as possible and the benefits associated with those employees will be bad news for them, but good news for us, the taxpayers.
If the budget fails, there would be no spending for student supplies, something else that students and their families should take care of, not us.
The list goes on and on. To discuss everything, this article would become a mini-novel. You can sit back and read the details. What I’ve discussed about cuts across the board is the way to go. It was what I proposed during my brief mayoral campaign. It’s vindicating for me. I will be proven right should this budget fail.
For those who wish to vote on this appalling proposed budget on the 20th, you will need to do so at your assigned polling place from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you don’t know your polling site, use this tool to find out where you need to go.
It takes not even two minutes to walk from my residence in the 11th ward to my voting site, so I have absolutely no excuse for not voting. And if I have no excuse, then you have no reason to not vote, especially since we need all the voters we can get who will vote down this insane budget.
It is of extreme importance for this budget to fail and fail epically, so I want all eligible voters in line, ready to vote accordingly. This proposed budget will have a negative impact on all of us, even if the tax bill increase is slightly less than 1%.
Let’s not let the school district screw us over. Screw us? No, screw them!