A Lump of Coal for the School Board

If events go as scheduled, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education will present to the public an abbreviated version of the fiscal year 2011-2012 school budget on Tuesday, December 21^st, at its regularly scheduled meeting. 

In a short e-mail issued by the school superintendent on November 24^th, the board’s rationale is given for suspending its prior practice of presenting a preliminary detailed line item budget.

Early this evening, during a brief phone discussion with Lynne Hurley, Chairperson of the Board’s Finance Committee, Lynne clarified that on Tuesday, “We will give as much detail as possible, considering that we don’t yet have much information from the state.” 

She was referring to the fact that The State of New Jersey has not yet released its financial aid numbers, making precise budget planning very difficult indeed.

But in this post, I’d like to concentrate on timing, not numbers.  Specifically, December 21^st, the date picked for the presentation of the school budget – albeit abbreviated and incomplete – will occur during Christmas week. 

That is in the heart of the last week of the Advent Season, the culmination of a time of reflection and anticipation for Christians.  It is also a mere 72 hours before Christmas Eve, a night when many Christians choose to begin the official celebration of one of the two most holy days in all of Christendom. 

Although not individually responsible for picking the December 21^st date, Lynne Hurley was responsive enough to call back this evening to explain that these board budget meetings have in recent times occurred “on the third Tuesday of December”  which, this year, falls on the 21^st. 

I understand.  But it’s not sufficient reason for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and its Administration not to have anticipated that this year, the third Tuesday of December falls squarely in the middle of Christmas week, and to recognize that this is not an appropriate date for as significant a matter as key data for a budget that will significantly exceed $100 million to be presented to the public for the first time.

I see nothing nefarious in the BR-BOE’s inauspicious timing.  Indeed I suspect that perhaps no one on the board or in the administration may have thought this through. 

But that’s the whole point isn’t it?  No one thought it through.

Author’s Note:  The board of education is presented with a calendar of projected meeting dates early in the year by the board secretary and votes as a whole to approve those dates or to modify them.  During the year, meeting dates can be altered by board vote.