It’s amazing to me how our elected Oak Harbor School Board directors continually demonstrate total cluelessness about basic school district budgetary issues at their own publicly held meetings. Do they not ever actually read the News-Times?

Both School Board President McCool and board member Johnson continue to beg for school district staff to identify “unfunded mandates and programs” for “possible elimination to ensure a sustainable budget” (News-Times, Feb 27, “Student drop-off continues in district”).

Yet, months ago, the News-Times clearly reported a compilation of what it called “those pesky and expensive “unfunded mandates” months ago (News-Times, Dec. 19, 2007, “Schools compile top 10 list of complaints”), as envisioned by the three superintendents of the Whidbey Island school districts.

That list included such items as: Medical benefits, administrator salaries, student transportation costs, non-employee-related costs including technology, WASL administration and management, cost of living adjustments for staff not funded by the state’s basic education dollars, special education, Section 504, nursing and health services, required staff training (HIV, sexual harassment, etc.), TRI payments, which are extra days paid in teachers’ contract in addition to the 182 days the state pays, and reports and data school district’s compile throughout the year.

I’ve once before called for school board meetings to be televised over the school district’s television Channel 21. With such buffoonery and budgetary grandstanding apparently an ever-present element at these meetings, televising these events should result in pretty high local viewing ratings.

William Burnett

Oak Harbor