Why this Beaufort County school board member voted against holding referendum
In December, I voted “no” to moving the Beaufort County School District referendum forward. Let me tell you why.
▪ We had fixed, for the short term anyway, the overcrowding in Bluffton by purchasing portable classrooms.
▪ The case had never been made justifying millions of dollars in new construction. The numbers changed weekly; in fact, the final number was delivered to us minutes before we were asked to vote. It was never shown that we know what our true capacity is and whether we manage it optimally.
▪ Not one person on the school board had made one fact-based comment supporting the need for a referendum.. There was a stunning lack of factual argument for the measure coming from board members.
▪ The brick and mortar was without design and the cost projections were made based on the cost of prior school construction, using inflation rates that were suspected of being, well, inflated.
▪ I had moved to hold the referendum in November, saving the district (therefore, you) $90,000 in election costs. The insistence on holding the referendum in April was without justification.
When I took those factors into consideration, as well as the confidence level in the current district leadership, I became convinced we needed to step back and regroup.
We had solved the immediate need, and the children were not moved around ... they stayed in place.
I saw no reason to vote “yes.” I have seen nothing to change my mind.
John Dowling
District 6 representative
Beaufort County Board of Education
Bluffton
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This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why this Beaufort County school board member voted against holding referendum."