Open Letter to Farmington Public Schools

An open letter to the administrators and board members of Farmington Public Schools.

Please stop sending me emails and letters pronouncing the impending doom caused by state funding cuts. Please stop writing columns for the local papers encouraging me to contact state legislators and demand higher funding for education.

On Tuesday, May 8, your school board election was held. Two candidates, running unopposed, were on the ballot. From the reported returns, it appears that a paltry 4,800 voters turned out. I know that at 4:30 PM, I was only the eighth voter to cast a ballot in my precinct.

According to published reports, last year’s election cost approximately $70,000 so unless the process has become more efficient, this election cost the same. If you have an extra $70,000 lying around to fund your special May elections rather than holding them during the normal November election, I question whether you are good stewards of the tax dollars I send you.

Obviously the funding problem is caused by too much spending on the wrong priorities. When you tell me you’ve cut spending to the bone and then waste tens of thousands of dollars, I can only conclude that you are either lying or incompetent.

Note: On Tuesday evening, the FPS Board of Education grudgingly voted to move school elections to the November election. A little late but the right move. I requested that the Observer not print this letter.

[Letter to the Editor - Farmington Observer. Submitted 05/09/2007.]