Make School Budget Data Transparent Now, not Later

The decision by the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education to withhold its complete preliminary line-item budget from public scrutiny is the wrong decision at the wrong time.  The intent to implement this flawed financial strategy was announced in a November 24^th e-mail issued by Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder. 

Intentionally or not, the approach implies a condescending attitude not only towards parents, but towards the Bridgewater and Raritan communities at large.  Parents of students in this system have specific personal reasons to know precisely how this proposed initial budget may affect programs in which their children are enrolled. 

Similarly, all other members of the voting public at large have skin in this game:  They are just as responsible for footing the bill of the B-R School District as is everyone else.

The administration’s e-mail advisory states that on December 21^st, the communities of Bridgewater and Raritan will be presented “timelines and some projected figures.”  Why only some figures?  Why not all? 

One of the reasons seems to be that too much information e.g., providing a preliminary budget containing line-item detail may “confuse us.”  When responsible people in positions of power keep data away from you while using the word “confuse,” look out!  That’s code for keeping all of us in the dark. 

In politics the unknown gives rise to speculation and to distrust. 

Let’s get at least one fact clearly established at the outset of the Bridgewater-Raritan School budget process:  Nobody in this community is confused.  We all know what happened during budget preparations last winter and spring, and why it happened.  Hundreds of people attended public meetings and probed for clarification and for answers. 

This community is an intelligent, well-informed group of people.  Emotions may have run high at some of those school board meetings, and dissent among constituencies was palpable.  Nevertheless, public participation was orderly and responsible – the final budget outcome was directly impacted by that participation. 

That is democracy at its best.

The sausage is now in the making, and we want to know what’s being put into the pot, however tentative or reversible the list of ingredients might be. 

NEXT:  What might already be in that pot.