a dilemma of participation

What gets people motivated to get involved in the fiscal health of the schools that educate their kids?

These days, this is a question which I ponder quite regularly .

New Jersey has tilted the balance of funds to public education from the state coffers to the local community taxpayers, putting schools in fiscal binds and stirring up resentment in the public that gets directed at one of the only budgets that people get to vote on - the school budget. Is it any wonder that people, stirred up by economic situations beyond their control, exert their control by voting down many local school budgets?

But mostly it's just a small portion of the population who take the time and energy to actually exert that right of casting a ballot. Less than 20% of our community came out to vote in last year's school budget election and our populations tops 50,000 people.  

Now since I can't believe that situation is unique to our township, I'm forced to wonder what the obstacles are that prevent people, parents specifically, from taking an interest and active participation in determining whether a school budget is passed or not, considering that their children spend 13 years, if one counts kindergarten, within the halls of an establishment whose main focus is shaping the education, the critical analysis, the mathematical abilities and the reading comprehension those children receive.

Because if I knew what those obstacles were I could find a way to encourage and urge those parents to get more involved, to participate in the discussion and offer their insight, and learn the real facts. Because knowing those facts would overcome misconceptions and politically motivated rhetoric. Pushing information out is as easy as pressing send on an email, posting it on a website or sending an automated phone message. Engaging community with that message, asking them to take in that information and act on it, one way or the other, is the hurdle and given all the efforts put in this year, I'm not sure how else to prompt further action.

It's no secret that people are quick to speak up when something bothers them, or when they feel an action doesn't line up with their agenda, because then the participation gets loud and angry. That's a fine thing, but it's decidedly one sided and usually over a specific topic and once that has been addressed and the heat has subsided, the usual complacency sets in and those folks cast theirs eyes elsewhere, forgetting, or ignoring that there is still day to day business happening that impacts decisions and would benefit from involved community.

As NJ cuts public school aid and ties local school boards hands, the state
turns a blind eye to the increasing costs of private specialty schools needed for special education students, obliquely imply that local districts are spending too much in this area, and do nothing to curtail the year over year increases those private schools burden the home districts with as they endeavor to seek out the best education for that student population. Why does the NJ DOE not look to restrict tuition increases in that sector since it is still education dollars for our students? Why does the state do nothing to limit the increase health insurance costs impose on a school district annually? The average yearly increase school districts are faced with in one of the larger budgetary expenditures hovers in the 15% - 20% range. It seems that the state offices are perfectly okay that tax dollars go to a bloated insurance executive bonus instead of an early intervention reading program, adding an elective to the curriculum, or an advanced placement language course.

It takes the participation of the larger population to decide what is in their best interests, and in the interest of the schools educating their kids, yet that participation is limited to a small segment of involved parents and community minded individuals. And that's a shame as every person in the community, be they people without children currently enrolled or individuals without children, benefit from educating the next generation of innovators, civil servants, scientists, doctors, or businessperson.