Stirred but Not Shaken: A Commentary About School Board/Budget Voting

(Photo Courtesy of the National Civic Summit)

May 21st is Election Day for most local School Districts.  That means the School Board that makes policy decisions on YOUR schools is up for vote.  That means the School Budget that affects the lives of your children, grandchildren & neighbor's children - AND your taxes is up for vote.

Sound mildly important?

I Certainly Hope SO!!

Unfortunately, I don't hear a single one of my friends talking about it.  No one is wearing a t-shirt or bumper sticker in support or opposition to any of their local school board candidates. 

I do see a few signs scattered about on my drive into work.  Most of them only recently appeared, and I'm willing to bet, most of those lawn signs belong to family members or friends of the Board Member.  Or people who work in the school district.

I went to a 4th of July event a couple of years ago, and a young man in his twenties, the son-in-law of the event founder, spoke about the direction of our country as a whole.  And he said, quite succinctly and with a great deal of forethought, that the future of our country was really going to be determined by the decisions we made on a local level. We get so caught up in presidential elections, but pay little attention or no attention to the very real decisions we make that affect our lives every single day. Decisions on where we bought our fruits and vegetables and other groceries and clothes and tools; decisions on our local legislators, and decisions on our local school boards.  I walked away, permanently changed from that speech.

At least I hope I was permanently changed.  Let's see if I show up for my local school's budget vote on Tuesday - because I'll be completely honest with you right now - I didn't go last year.  I realized, once again, that it is possible to be emotionally stirred, but not shaken to the point of actual change.

I'm writing this, partly to give people a place to find links to their school district's budget information; partly to motivate you all to GET OUT THE VOTE - but also partly to hold myself accountable.

There had better be a blog post, tweet or status update from

me on May 21st saying I VOTED!!!

What about you?
Are you Stirred - or Shaken?

Below are Links to Many of the Local School Districts where you can find information on both the proposed budgets, and the Board members who are up for election or re-election.  

Get Informed.  And Make A Choice! Put it on Your Calendar -

AND then SHOW UP and VOTE.

NISKAYUNA - http://www.niskayunaschools.org/district/budget/index.htm

 Scotia Glenville - http://scotiaglenvilleschools.com/budget/budget.cfm

Mohonasen - http://www.mohonasen.org/budget/index.cfm

Schalmont - http://www.schalmont.org/budget/index.cfm

Schenectady - http://www.schenectady.k12.ny.us/

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake - http://www.bhbl.org/

Shenendehowa - http://shenet.org/LatestNews_Archive/LN_Budget.cfm

Ballston Spa - http://www.bscsd.org/boe.cfm?subpage=13351

Albany - http://www.albanyschools.org/Budget/2013-14/13-14_budget.htm

North Colonie - http://northcolonie.org/budget/budget.htm

South Colonie - http://www.southcolonieschools.org/Budgetvoteboelections/budgetvoteboehomepage.cfm

If your school district is not on this list and you're having difficulty finding it - call me at 518-858-9421 and I will find the link for you, add it to this list and email it to you.

What about you?
Are you Stirred - or Shaken?

Thank you.

A Fellow Citizen of her Local Community