The Clarence school tax compounding an additional 2, 3 or 4 % every year has gone on far too long. The school board and the Superintendent are doing the community a great disservice when they present another tax increase that is backed by excuses of “it’s not us, it’s Albany”. I would like to take the opportunity to remind members of the school board that they are elected officials in charge of leading the realm of education and function of schools. They also have a fudiciary responsibility to balance results with costs and eliminate waste. They claim that Albany has forced unreasonable costs and mandates upon them and they feel the pain too. If that's the case, then the school board needs to step up to the plate. It’s time for a coalition of school districts banded across the state with the set forth goal to abolish imprudent mandates, costs and curriculum by means of dissent and boycott. The only outreach to state government for relief thus far has been to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment. This would only give the schools more money to pay for ineffectual and wasteful mandates. It does not solve the problem of compounding taxes or the difficulty of educating under blanket mandates. I cannot conceive why anyone would argue against putting the power to run the schools back in the hands of our elected school board. It’s time to shuffle the deck that has been stacked against local control of schools. A vote in disapproval of this year’s budget is not a vote to destroy education in Clarence. It is to send a message to the School Board that they need to begin work on regaining the helm of our school from the selfish captains in Albany.