This is how the RSU 16 budget process appears from the outside.
Let’s say a student takes a test and fails. The student tells the teacher if three questions are changed, he can pass the test. The teacher agrees and gives the student the test. The student fails again.
The student tells the teacher if one question is changed on the test, he will pass it. The teacher allows this condition, but the student fails a third time.
The student tells the teacher if he is given the exact test without changing any questions, he knows he can pass it for sure.
The student’s test is scheduled on Nov. 8, when the school budget comes up for validation for the fourth time this year.
The system is broken. If the same questions can be asked over and over again, ultimately you may get a passing grade or a school budget.
The process and the unwillingness to compromise have created a division among the communities, among neighbors and set things up for more unrest in the future.
The RSU school budget law was poorly written. If a school budget passes the annual meeting but fails in the validation vote, the dollar amount should default to the previous year’s budget until a new budget passes both processes.
In the long run this stubbornness will be at the cost of all students in RSU 16 and that would be the biggest shame of all.
Walter Gallagher, Poland
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