HOW THE DOLLARS TRICKLE OUT

Yesterday afternoon’s “Your Schools” newsletter arrived full of praise for the newly adopted 2009–2010 school budget and its architects’ hard work (even having attended most of the budget meetings, the curmudgeon in me thinks “yeah, right…”). The New and Old Business section of the May 5 board meeting yielded a glimpse of how the spending actually happens.

SCOTTISH MSPs HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH

The live session of Scotland’s Parliament I attended yesterday morning was so interesting that instead of staying the half hour I had planned, I sat through the entire three-hour session. The discussion was about energy conservation and midwife services. The MSPs were on top of their facts, and the government collaboration with the opposition seems to be reaching its carbon-reduction goal on schedule. Particularly moving was the passion with which both male and female and members advocated for midwife services at home, supported by personal anecdotes and as well as documented results internationally.

What does this have to do with Hastings taxes? Plenty. I was struck by how sensitive Parliamentarians were to their constituents’ needs. Yesterday, the Scots politicians I heard seemed conscientiously aware of their constituents. Although they may simply be paying lip service, some of them seemed quite sincere.

Listening to them, I was reminded that I have never heard a member of the Hastings Board of Ed express concern for the community. Would it kill them to