School Budget Bilkers' Desperation

The district school election is only four days away, and those in favor of bloated budgets are pulling out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to cozen voters into rubber-stamping the proposed budget hikes. This time around, those in favor of the hikes are resorting to naked alarmism to induce approval. This is a good sign, as it clearly shows desperation.

The latest trend noticed on social media is posts which give the impression that a vote against the proposed budget hikes on ballot next week will cause the school lunch program’s discontinuation. Usually the posts express something along the lines of, “Every child deserves to eat,” or “Children can’t learn on an empty stomach.” When a given outcome is incontrovertible, the controversy turns to the means for achieving said outcome – which is why these posts’ timing is suspiciously close to the school district election on Tuesday, May 20^th, 2025. Those expressing these sentiments hope that you leap to their desired conclusion about the means for achieving this outcome, which is to approve the proposed budget hikes. Yet this is a false choice in this instance, since New York’s school lunch program is not on the table in the upcoming school district election.

For those unaware, the school lunch program serves meals at no cost to students who may not otherwise afford them, even bagged lunches for take-out during school breaks. As I have written before (July 1^st, 2023), the school lunch program is one of the most cost-effective services which public schools provide. Considering the perishability of foodstuffs purchased in bulk by school districts based on enrollment, it is better that needy students consume the food rather than let it go to waste.

That said, the school lunch program is funded by New York State with some federal subsidies, so it has nothing to do with school district budgets. Cafeteria sales from students who can pay are reimbursed to NYS, but the program’s funding is independent of school district allocations. Thus, voting nay on next week’s school budget hikes will not affect school lunches. Anyone posting on social media to give the impression that a vote against the proposed budget hikes will “leave kids hungry” is misrepresenting the options. Some of these posts are honest mistakes by unaware citizens, but others are calculated misrepresentations which take advantage of unaware citizens.

Having listed two days ago all the reasons to vote no to the budget increases, I will not do that again here. All I will say is that those in favor of bloated school budgets would be more trustworthy if they were honest about the options on the ballot this Tuesday. Like their previous statements on social media, they could start with an incontrovertible truism, leading readers to leap to the preferred conclusion. That marketing would look something like this:

“You never leave home without a spare tire in the trunk. Hard-working superintendents shouldn’t confront life without a spare yacht!”