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Example 1:
Something like football uniforms came up and, pretty much without any debate, the attendees approved a rather large amount to replace them.
The elementary principal's request for ONE classroom's replacement desks (30 year old desks) came up next and it was voted down. He got up later and reamed out the town, using the uniforms as an example. He asks for the desks in ONE room to be replaced every year and it takes 30 years for that cycle to repeat.
Example 2:
The elementary "school" consisted of 3 buildings. At the time, the eldest of them was 112 years old and had over 120 safety code violations. The upstairs (of 3) levels was always sweltering while the lowest was freezing. There were wasps everywhere. A stairway collapsed and a second story window fell out right where the students stand to wait for the bus. Fortunately nobody was hurt in either incident.
The next newest was built in the 30's, also 3 stories. It had two moderately useful bathrooms on the 1st level, none on the second, and a converted broom closet on the third that you had to scoot into with your knees under the sink to use the toilet.
The newest was built in 1963 and was in serious need of repair.
The issue of building a new elementary school came up every year. The first year we were involved in the process, the estimate was on the order of $8 million. Every year it was the same deal. The Republicans would bus in seniors from the nursing home (who wouldn't pay anything toward it ANYWAY since it was based entirely on property tax) and spend GOD knows how much money on ads claiming property taxes would go up by a factor of 10 and other such stupidities. It failed every year. My wife was on the school board so she knew the details of the existing buildings. She has a BS in El. Ed/Early Childhood and an MS in El. Ed, so she home-schooled our kids while we lived there. When we moved out, the estimate for the school had risen to over $15 million. A few years after we left, it finally passed at a cost of like $21 million. Yeah, that was certainly cost-effective.
Oh, and here's another fun bit. One of the years, when the vote was about to come up, our state representative (Republican of course) ran out and parked in front of one of the only two pay phones in the building (cell phones were rare at the time) and pumped quarters into it calling people to come vote against the school.
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