Can a public school board be legally dominated by people only concerned with best interst of private schools?

Question

I can not find the bylaws of a school board in NY state. I am curious if a school board needs to be made up of people with certain qualifications. In my area, the public schools suffer around budget vote time because a certain religious group of people who only send their children to private schools, vote in excessive numbers, and always vote against the budget. The public school must fund their transportation, special services, internet...and who knows what else in order to pass a budget. In the last few years, this group has managed to obtain 8 of the 9 seats on the school board because of their huge block vote. Suffice to say, the public schools around here are suffering. Is this legal?

I say that they vote in excessive numbers because they bring people in from other areas...including other countries to vote. Apparently, you do not need to establish residency for very long to do this. They even advertise how to do so in their newspaper. They even managed to have voting hours extended because the public school board election fell on a minor religious holiday of theirs.

Answer 1

It certainly is.

If the board members run for their positions and the citizens are putting them in those seats, well, that's your city's own fault.

If the board members are elected, your best bet is to find the person who is electing these members and voice your concerns.

Answer 2

This is totally legal. If you do not think your cause is properly represented during elections, then you should do your part to get more like-minded folks out there to vote. You say that certain people vote in "excessive numbers." I'm assuming that you're not accusing them of voting more than once each--- otherwise I'd imagine you'd have gone to the board of elections. So what you really mean is "a lot of people each voting once." That's why their supporters win--- they get their voters out. You're outnumbered. If you want to even the balance, select a good candidate who has a chance of winning, run a proper campaign and get your supporters out to the polls.

Answer 3

If the people are legal to vote ( the practice you named is a commom practice with the democrats and liberal parties and is used often)

If the residence requirements is legal and they are indeed legally registered, then it is legal.
But remember it is the will of the people and if enough people in an area don't like it, I really don't believe they can bring enough people in to effect results that much.

In general most people don't want tax increases and also many don't like the amount of money it costs our schools for illegal aliens. So many areas are having trouble passing increases in property taxes. So they have to make a budget within the money they get. They don't need internet, I have been against it in schools from the beginning, they can get rid of expensive after school programs and other issues.

Answer 4

if the ELECTIONS are conducted honestly, then you're stuck with a special interest group runing the schools.

This is the pimple on the end of the nose of democracy. It happens a lot in local government.

Answer 5

Um, let me see. In every state, the parents of kids who are going to private schools STILL HAVE TO PAY SCHOOL TAXES TO SUPPORT THE WORTHLESS PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

So, why in **** would they lose the right to vote in school elections?

Are you sure the public schools are transporting private religious school kids? That is a weird state thing and hard to believe because he US Supreme Court has restricted help given to religious schools. Sounds wrong to me. I would say that is your problem.

Fix it so they don't have to pay for your lousy schools and they probably would not be involved in running your worthless schools.