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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2004)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, June 17, 2004 The INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor, Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@ the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh, email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising, Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net Opinion School board clarification doesn’t solve the situation We are glad to provide the Vernonia School Board with space for objections to what has been written here (see Letters). We’re only sorry they don’t think that peo- ple on a budget committee should read and understand what they were appointed to review. It makes no differ- ence what OSBA policy is because they are not respon- sible for local spending. When 85 percent of a budget must be used for per- sonnel, as it is in most school districts, that remaining 15 percent should be very carefully reviewed to cover as many needs as possible. The district must send an adopted budget to the state by June 30, but there is no law requiring the budget committee to meet only once a month. If more meetings are needed, they should be scheduled. That would be inconvenient for the administrative staff because they live out of town, but that should not be a consideration. Going back to space provided, The INDEPENDENT has given 47J a monthly column with no limits on either space or content. Within the limits of our 3.5 person staff, we cover as many school functions as we can. We have had very little cooperation in getting information from the district about positive student activities, regard- less of how often we have offered more publicity. It’s re- ally too bad that one letter (written by a student), one cartoon and one editorial are all that the board has no- ticed. Adequate reasons should exist for recall elections Petitions are being circulated for the recall of Colum- bia County Commissioner Rita Bernhard for “willful negligence” and “fiscal irresponsibility.” Unfortunately, there are no specifics and no examples of these charges are included. Equally unfortunate is the apparent unwillingness of the petition sponsors to speak publicly of their reason- ing. They won’t explain why they think county taxpay- ers should pay $25,000, or so, to recall someone for “fiscal irresponsibility.” Unless there is something more specific – and prov- able – it is probably best to ignore these petitions. Letters 47J board objects to critical viewpoints To the Editor: Recently two articles and a drawing appeared in the Inde- pendent that criticized the budget committee, school board and administration of the Vernonia School system. The Oregon School Board Association (OSBA) provides guidelines for school budget committees that assist districts in complying with the intent of the law. OSBA states clearly that it is not the charge of the budget committee or its mem- bers to determine what dollar amounts or items should be on a particular line. These detailed issues are the responsibility of the school administration with over sight from the board of ed- ucation. It is the responsibility of the budget committee in a broad prospective (sic) to look at the budget and recommend the total amount of dollars that will be spent by the district. Any citizens may ask any ques- tions at any time about the budget, it is a public document. Superintendent Mike Fun- derburg created a budget as- sistance team (BAT) when he arrived two years ago. This is a sub committee of the budget committee. This group of budg- et committee members have additional meetings and review all aspects of the budget. In ad- dition the BAT team gets input from staff, administration, citi- zens and state officials to de- velop the most accurate budget possible. This occurs in a very detailed fashion and takes a considerable amount of time for those who volunteer to be on this sub committee. This sub committee serves in an adviso- ry role only. The following are some ad- ditional facts concerning Ver- nonia’s budget process: On the April 22, 2004 budget committee meeting (the first meeting) Superintendent Mike Funderburg made it clear due to contract negotiations with the two staff unions a complet- ed budget document might not be available until late in the budget process, or until the contracts were settled. The budget proposal was developed by the budget assis- tance team and the administra- tion, with information from a multitude of sources, such as school staff, school administra- tion, school district citizens, budget committee members, school board members and state officials. The following is what oc- curred on the May 20, 2004 budget committee meeting: The proposed budget was handed out. This was the earliest this document could have been put together as two staff unions and the board was negotiating contracts. Discussion was called for re- lating to the proposed budget that was handed out. One person asked to have another meeting. The commit- tee members were then asked if they desired to have another budget meeting, committee members expressed their con- fidence in the results of the process that had occurred. The agenda for the May 22, 2004 meeting was very clear as it stated the budget committee could pass the budget on to the board of education or another Please see page 3
