Passing the Bucks

I worry that we're all so busy nowadays that we're passing off the chores that are rightfully ours. Time was, the main three jobs of a school board member were (1) making policy, (2) approving a budget, and (3) hiring a superintendent. Today, all three chores are increasingly handed over to subcommittees or private agencies. The result is less local control, which, as someone who believes in national standards, I can't entirely consider a bad thing. But another result is irrelevance. If all NYS school boards start to follow this pattern, as so many are, why have a board at all? Surely not to vote "aye" on a bunch of stuff board members have not even overseen. Or perhaps rubber stamping is the point.

I always have to ask: Cui bono? Once again, not the people.

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