Goodrich – The board of education reluctantly passed a formal resolution Monday allowing running school elections according to new state law.
The election consolidation law, which went into effect Jan. 1, aims to increase election date awareness and voter turnout, keep elections consistently run by trained coordinators, and save school districts dollars by possibly including school elections on municipal ballots.
School board members believe it will cost more’not less’money.
‘It will add stress on our already stressed budget,? said Goodrich school board president Michael Thorp, who estimates the process of consolidating elections will cost more than $4,000. ‘This is coming from the state. It was supposed to save us money.?
The expected increase in election costs are a result of paying additional election workers, said school superintendent Kim Hart.
‘It’s going to be terribly confusing to people,? Thorp said. ‘If you don’t like it, write your state legislators or (Genesee County Clerk) Michael Carr. I will be hanging onto Mr. Carr’s phone number and handing it out to people.?
Earlier this month, representatives from Genesee County school districts met to discuss how elections would take shape under the new law.
‘Using the (county) clerk’s projected cost for precinct operation, the school district cost countywide will at least double,? said Thomas Svitkovich, Genesee Intermediate School District superintendent in a media statement recently issued by the Genesee County Superintendents Association.
The new state law drains money from local schools, preventing them from fulfilling federal requirements, the GCSA alleges.
According to the GCSA statement, ‘Given the fact that schools have cut a cumulative $100 million over the past three years, any unnecessary increase in costs takes dollars away from students and further limits the development of curriculum that meets the standards of federally-mandated No Child Left Behind requirements.?
Svitkovich estimates consolidated elections will result in a countywide increase of $100,000, as the number of precincts voting in Genesee County school elections would increase from 92 to 192.
Until this year, Goodrich School District residents voted in only one precinct, located at Goodrich High School.
No more.
In the first Goodrich school trustee election under the new law, slated for May 3, 2005, ballots will be collected from 10 polling locations.
In addition to added costs, board trustee Michael Tripp feels taking voting out of the school will create distance between school officials and district residents.
‘Sometimes it’s the only opportunity to interface with the voters,? Tripp said.
Under the new election law, superintendents no longer oversee school elections. Instead, a school district election coordinator has been appointed; the clerk of the township in which the largest number of school electors reside.
For the Goodrich school district, Atlas Township Clerk Tere Onica will oversee the elections.
While the township clerks have been ‘very helpful,? district officials are seething that decisions made at the state and county levels will cut further into the schools? strapped budget, against school officials? will.
‘If this is the way our legislature saves money for the taxpayers, God help us all’quote me,? said Thorp.