To the editor:

The Mehlville School District Board of Education along with its administrators just doesn’t get it.

The district contracted for a public survey to study why Proposition C failed. The conclusion was that the failure was because the ballot measure asked too much at the wrong time.

I hope that the district did not pay a lot for the survey. The survey’s conclusions should have been obvious to the board and the

administration.

The survey is just a ploy to justify another vote on a revised Proposition C. The Board of Education hopes it will pass on a second attempt. It appears that the district believes that by placing a revised Proposition C on the ballot, the district’s patrons would be given a chance to vote on a tax-rate increase before a decision on possible staff and program cuts are made.

Again, the district’s leadership just does not get it. Proposition C was voted on and failed. The residents of the district have spoken.

The district has a very arrogant and elitist attitude if it thinks that those who voted against the tax increase are not intelligent enough to know and understand the impact of their vote.

The residents of Mehlville are not stupid. The voters knew fully well the impact of their negative vote. There is no need for another tax-increase ballot.

Residents understood that there may be personnel and program cuts. Mehlville residents are very familiar with these types of cuts, many on a personal basis. Virtually every resident has either experienced or knows someone who experienced budget and program cuts, including layoffs.

Many have not received a pay increase for two or three years or more. Despite these hardships, remaining employees are expected to pick up the load of the laid-off personnel and to increase production beyond the pre-layoff levels.

Besides providing a first-class education to their children, voters expect the district to operate in a responsible fiscal manner. If program and personnel cuts are necessary, join the rest of us and do more with less. That is the real world today.

George R. Schillinger

Oakville