A quick introduction: I have lived in the Monona Grove School district for 7 years now and Wisconsin most of my life. I would like to delve deeper into issues affecting the Monona Grove community as time goes by, and the relationship that we have with Madison and Dane County. No subject is off limits and I welcome ALL feedback. Thanks to everyone at FL who have allowed me to join the site.
In the Monona Grove School district, we have the same issues as many in terms of a very large budget deficit. The “goal” starting last year was to cut $1 Million dollars a year for 5 years from the budget. There is also a small vocal minority in the community that is dead set against a referendum to cover the deficit(does not mean it wont happen but there is perpetual opposition). That being said, and with some very strong opinions in both communities, the local school board race has two people running for two positions. Current Board President Susan Fox and Monona community member Dean Bowles are the two community members running for the two positions. I personally am happy with the quality of candidates but not the quantity of candidates.
Bring up the school system to most people in the two communities(or any community) and they will have a very strong opinion and if/when a referendum is brought to the community there will also be very strong opinions. Yet no one(except the two) seem willing to put their opinions and ideas out in the public and run for office. Is that due to the polarized political climate we are living in today? Is it due to the fact that with the bad economy everyone is working too many hours trying to make ends meet? Is it a combination of the two or other factors?
Our democracy works better when EVERYONE participates, so how do we get there?
Holding office is a huge time committment. That, the cost of running and the way citizens treat public officials affect my desire to hold an elected office. Perhaps public funding of campaigns, better meeting rules and making public service a positive thing would help bring more people to the table.
Katrina thanks for commenting. I agree public funding would be great because school board races can be very costly. I also think we need to hold the politicians who run negative campaigns accountable also.