The people have spoken…
Despite our best efforts to bring sanity to the ever-rising school budget, at the School Board annual meeting on March 6, 2025, the townspeople rejected our proposals.
Congratulations to the parents, teachers, administrators, and long-time residents of Thornton for making their case against the three warrant articles proposed by the Thornton Tax Group. As one person remarked, this is a democracy and it “isn’t always easy” and “you need to show up.”
Democracy is being talked about nationwide in recent years and what perhaps makes it most challenging is that it allows dissenting opinions to be heard. The taxpayers who have shown up over the last five years to express their dissent have not been welcomed. It has not been easy to understand what is going on with our taxpayer monies as it relates to the school’s budget, capital expenditures and improvements, and increasing impact of special education on the costs and student outcomes.
We, the Thornton Taxpayers Group did not support our case and, as a result, the large audience in attendance only heard one side of the story. A lone vet obviously feeling the brunt of increasing property taxes and another individual clarifying democracy as having faith in the people to check off the right box were small voices among a passionate group of taxpayers who feel that giving the school whatever it wants, despite the cost is the right thing to do.
We see real issues in how the school board has represented our interests as taxpayers. We always presented data to support our concerns sourced directly from the SAU. If we are to thrive as a democracy, we need to be more open and respectful of the different perspectives among our fellow taxpayers. That discourse of contrasting views and relevant data is what makes democracy work in getting to solutions that work for the people.
The rate of property tax increases, the limited access for many taxpayers to understand how their tax payments are being spent, and the small window allowed for discourse on one evening a year to learn and then vote on issues that further impact future taxes and their effective use are still at large. If there is only one example to show how the current way of doing things has not worked out for the Thornton taxpayers and the Thornton Middle School itself, it is the issue with the boiler at the Thornton Middle School. That deserves a case study to learn how we as a town could have done a better job of addressing a key issue for the school but in a way that worked for the taxpayers as well.
And lastly, to those who sent personal attacks via this website, they have been deleted. We strive for a reasonable conversation, and we published every comment whether it agreed with our position or not. It’s disappointing that certain people would resort to that kind of thing.