The Dream Team, or "It Takes a Village"...

We have two weeks to identify 1,500 people to vote yes for the school budget on April 20th. Thankfully, we have a dream team of dedicated parents and students who have stepped up to make this happen!

This is why I love to live in this town – it is truly a community. Faced with this staggering and surprising budget shortfall caused by the state, this community is banding together and sharing their talents to spread the word, educate voters and get out the vote to support our schools. The talent is impressive: The dream team is a group of community residents with students of all ages, as well as students themselves, that dreams of making Haddonfield schools the best they can be despite the budget challenges that are the new reality for residents of NJ. And for the next two weeks, they are going to collaborate to share their talents, insight and access to their networks to get out the vote.

A group of the dream team met last night to sift through all of the budget information and develop a clear message that we can easily deliver in some different formats, whether it is a flyer, a letter to the editor, a newspaper ad or an e-mail blast. And we are using social media: Facebook, Twitter and this blog are all ways that we are going to get out the message.

And what is the message? Well, Vote Yes of course, but why? If you haven’t been following the budget process and the surprise state cuts at the 11th hour, there are a lot of important things about this budget that you need to know:
• This is a budget that compensates for the state budget cuts
• It represents equitable cuts in all schools, and cuts are shared by administration and operations
• This budget preserves most classroom services

While the marketing team continues their work on the message, I have an early bit to share with you now: every vote counts. A few years ago, the budget was overturned by only 10 votes. So, one of our goals this year is to reach every eligible voter in a household. Everyone has a stake in this, to preserve our schools and to protect our property values.

So what can you do? Are you a Dreamer, because we would love your help! Email me (maureen.eyles@gmail.com) and I’ll get you connected to the team leader for your school, or the committee of your choice. Talk up the vote with your friends and neighbors, research the school board candidates, and get involved in the dialogue about the school budget. Because as I posted yesterday, we are now self-funding our school system – the state aid is unlikely to come back, and we all have a stake in the future of our schools.