School-finance Hearing Turns Out To Be Quiet

Approximately 60 people crowded into the Board of Education meeting room last night to attend what turned out to be a very subdued public hearing on school finances. It was so lackluster, in fact, that the questioning nearly came to a halt 20 minutes after the meeting began, forcing School Board President Hazen J. Schumacher Jr. to change the previously announced format and to allow all questions to be answered during the meeting, instead of by mail or telephone. Only about 10 citizens asked questions and presented comments to the trustees on the financial problems of the school district. The meeting had been set by the Board of Education in order to receive citizens' suggestions on possible future courses of action the board could take in financial areas, in light of thel two millage defeats last year and the decisive Jan. 8 bonding. The "nay-sayers," however, as Trustee William C. Godfrey dubbed those who had opposed the bonding and millage elections, were sparsely represented last night. The citizens' questions and comments seemed to center on two areas: the actual need for a new administration building and the problems of delaying the third high school until the fall of 1972, a step which Acting Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. proposed last week in his tentative, revised $8.5 million bonding proposal for May or June. Westerman said that, despite I what he termed the "great I need" for a new, enlarged I ministrative facility, it is now of the "lowest priority" on his personal list because of certain "risks" involved in federal nancing of the building. He was referring to an approximate $200,000 reimbursement f rom the federal government which may accrue to the school trict as a result of the Library I Construction Act, and which is I now planned to be allocated to the administration building. In the Jan. 8 bonding proposal, $819,000 was asked for the administration building. In ' jWesterman's revised proposal, only $600,000 is asked. Thus the $200,000 government g r a n t w o u 1 d make approximately $800,000 available for the building, if the grant is approved. Westerman added that about $1.4 million would actually be needed to build a first-rate administration building. Three or four_ people also I questioned the wiseness of I laying the third high school. Arthur Southwick, said " the third high school was of "crucial priority," and should be I stressed rather than a new administration building or library facilities. He stated that he íwould hate to see a repeat of the present overcrowding problems in 1971 or 1972. His views were echoed by several other audience members. Another member of the audience recommended that the revised bonding proposal be divided into separate packages, such as an elementary school package, a junior high packlage, etc. This way, he said, the voter would be able to decide which has the greatest priority. Schumacher replied that no "firm decisions" have as yet been made on the possible make-up of the bonding proposal, and that all such suggestions will be considered by the board. Schumacher also reminded the audience that anyone may give opinions and suggestions on financial matters during future "Comments, Questions and Petitions" portions of the regular Board of Education meetings, and he urged the public to do so.