On May 15 of 2007 the following propostion was voted upon as part of the annual Newburgh School District Board of Education election, and budget vote:

Proposition III -- Student Transportation Limits:

Shall the Newburgh Enlarged City School District change the current transportation limits of 0.9 for students in grades K-6 and 1.0 mile for students in grades 7-12, and provide transportation to all students in grades K-12 to the school they legally attend, up to 18 miles, effective the 2007-2008 school year, at an additional cost of $1,015,632 for the 2007-2008 school year?

The voting results indicate 1,009 votes in favor and 1,299 votes against this proposition.

This proposition was poorly written and deceptive.

The proposition has two main points, that current transportation limits be changed and that transportation be provided to all. The proposition does not explain whether the transportation limits are to be increased or decreased or by how much; it merely states that they are to be changed. The proposition does not explain whether the "up to 18 miles" limit is a change or not.

The proposition is deceptive in this way--suppose that you are completely happy with the school transportation arrangements in effect during the prior school year and you don't want to see anything changed. Which way do you vote? You would expect that voting against the proposition to "change the current transportation limits" would be a vote to keep things as they are, but that is not the case.

The proposition failed to make clear that in prior years, the district was already providing transportation to students residing closer to school than the minimum distance. The "additional cost" was already being paid in prior years.

In summary, the proposition asked the public to vote about a change. However, neither the current situation nor the nature of the change were specified. The proposition included the current minimum transport distance, which was not being enforced, and it included a proposed maximum transport distance. No explanation of how or which of these limits was to be changed was given.

Why does this matter?

According the this June 2008 press release this school year the minimum distance will be enforced for students in the City of Newburgh. Letters are apparently in the mail to affected families in the City of Newburgh. September 4 is the first day of school.

From the minutes of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District Board of Education meeting of June 24, 2008:

WHEREAS, the voters of the District voted down the school budget presented by the Board of Education for approval at the Annual Distric Meeting on May 20, 2008; and

WHEREAS, the Board has decided to adopt a contingency budget to pay for the costs of ordinary contingent expenses for the 2008-2009 school year, within the limitations of s2023 of the Education Law;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that pursuant to s2023 of the Education Law, the Board of Education hereby adopts a contingency budget in the amount of $226,375,874, to pay for the ordinary contingent expenses of the School District for the 2008-2009 school year and authorizes the levy of a tax therefor;
...

So the budget in effect for 2008-2009 is $226,375,874.
The budget voted down in May 2008 was $227,777,046.
The difference is $1,401,172; about 0.62%.

Monetarily, the budget vote did not matter so much. It matters in other ways.

On the Newburgh Schools website the vote results have been posted.

Things to notice:
* The Town of Newburgh and New Windsor outvoted the City of Newburgh by 3.5 to 1.
* 210 voters voted neither Yes nor No on the budget.
* The library budget passed with a comfortable margin.
* Machine 3 at NFA registered 27 Yes and 43 No on the budget, but had a machine tally of only 69.
* Very good turnout for McLymore.
* Votes for DeMarco exceeded those for other candidates by 25%.
* The number of voters declined 4% from last year, from 2453 to 2352. Maybe they couldn't afford the gas to get to the polling places.

So according to the Times Herald Record more people voted no than voted yes for accepting the proposed budget for the Newburgh School District on May 20.

Today, May 22, 2008 the Record reports:

NEWBURGH -- After an all-day canvass yesterday, the Newburgh School District budget still failed, this time by 62 votes instead of 13. The district put to voters an almost $228 million budget, requiring an additional $4.5 million in revenue from property taxes. The board made no comments when accepting the vote last night as to whether it will hold another vote or use a contingency budget for next year.

Meghan E. Murphy

Any questions?