There seems to be no compassion for taxpayers in School Adminisration District 13 by the administration and the board of directors. They need to walk in our shoes for the four years — we have not had even one penny increase in our Social Security checks.

The school’s response was: That’s too bad, but we have to get our raises every year. I took that one to the state. The state agreed with me. They don’t have to get raises every year, but they want them.

The shell game played by the administration for the third budget vote is fine for a circus, but not for education. The total amount of the budget needs to come down.

The district appears to have no problem “padding” the budget to allow for raises across the board. The board should have no problem reducing the budget down from $3.5 million by at least $200,000 from surplus funds.

Two years ago, more than $130,000 was returned by the state to the district. That amount was on top of the surplus funds we had then. Now, the surplus is more than $600,000.

The administration and the board will find if they work to lower the budget, it could very well pass this fourth validation vote at the polls.

Any school district with a budget at a cost of more than $18,000 per student, when the state average is about $11,000, is basically out of control.

It is the responsibility of the board of directors to work on the budget. The superintendent, by law, is secretary to the board and should not be calling the shots.

I find no transparency in this district, and will not rest until we get transparency.

Essie Golden

Bingham

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