In a last-minute plea Monday, a former longtime Concord School Board official urged the current board that now is not the time to begin spending more money each year offering full-day kindergarten with other pressing needs at hand.
The board will decide Wednesday to what extent it will propose expanding its kindergarten program.
Betty Hoadley told the board in a pedagogic 30-minute public comment that the school district’s taxes have steadily increased for a total of 35 percent over five years.
“Have you had a 7 percent raise in pay for five straight years?” she asked, noting that her Social Security benefit didn’t track with the tax demand. “You hadn’t thought of what the real impact is going to be. It’s more than just the increase. It’s the whole doggone base, plus the increase.”
But after Hoadley – a vocal commentator about school board issues – got up and left the meeting, the school board members defended their process. They noted especially that their recommendation, when it lands, will be subject to more public hearings.
“When we post it, that’s not the final say,” said board member Jim Richards. “I think to say that we haven’t listened to as many people in the community as we possibly can would not be a true statement for any of us. We’ve had a lot of input and we would really appreciate more.”
The newest school board member, Pam Wicks, noted that she campaigned transparently on a platform of expanding kindergarten – and defeated a sitting board member who urged caution, similar to Hoadley.
“I’m sitting in this seat because there are people in Concord who want full-day kindergarten,” she said. “They know the cost and they want it, or I wouldn’t be here. I would have lost.”
If there are many Concord residents feeling the tax strain that Hoadley described, they haven’t spoken out at school board meetings. The former teacher and school board member was the only person to use the public comment period two days before the anticipated final proposal.
School board member Barb Higgins said that if people have strong feelings about the budget, they should make themselves heard as the final opportunities for input approach.
“We had one speaking tonight, one speaker, and she was extremely eloquent and well-prepared,” she said.
“If this is such a passionate topic – and it appears to be so in emails and letters that I’m sure we’ve all received,” Higgins added before pausing and gesturing to the audience, where there were rows of empty chairs, “we have our four usual suspects in our employees and the newspaper, and then nobody,” Higgins said. “I would encourage people to come here.”
Public hearings on the budget are scheduled for March 20 and March 22.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)