Candidate Night- advocacy and accuracy

Thanks to the folks of the Greater Hyannis Civic Association for organizing the candidates night.

The questions from the audience and moderator were excellent. I especially appreciated the fact that two young people attended and asked questions relating to bus fees,the PM school, and graduation rates. I made two suggestions on how folks interested in these topics could continue their advocacy.

1. If interested in graduation rates and the PM school topic please attend the Nov. 7th summit at CCCC presented by the Cape and Islands WorkForce Investment Board.

2.Transportation issues come down to money. It has been mentioned the State is discussing providing more aide to districts to ameliorate these costs. Please talk with your State Rep. on this topic.

One of the challenges of being an elected official is finding ways to make sure that accurate information gets out to the public. People can have opinions but facts are facts.

There are rumors being started that the School Department faces a 3 million dollar shortfall going into FY 2008/2009. This is simply not true.

1.Revenue estimates for 2006/2007 were conservative. The Municipal/School Savings accounts are expected to be replenished to some extent when this FY closes...Oct 1st.

2. Revenue estimates going forward can be expected to be in the range of 2.5-3% increase.

3. We are closing a school to save money.

4. Enrollment declines means that we will need to replace fewer teachers.

The budget process work.