This week's Tele-Talk question is: Should Conway School Board tap into its surplus to buy items for the new school, or return the money to taxpayers?

The whining of the budgeteers is merely sour grapes by a bunch of emasculated hatchet men. In their initial, illegal (and confirmed so by the voters), swingeing cuts of the original budget, they fearlessly slashed teachers and equipment with a cavalier disregard for the effect on education. The school board and school administration's careful spending managed to save money allocated and now propose to use it to make good on earlier axings of budgets. For Mr. Aughton to say it's unethical to spend money on things that should already be in the new school is to not answer the question, "Why are they not in the school?"because they were previously axed or the designers did a poor job and overlooked them in the estimates. Trimming to the default budget has amongst many debits resulted in the prospect of fewer electives, two fewer teachers and therefore more study halls whilst ironically cutting the study hall monitor as well! If all else fails, budgeteers should read the Sun's hit list of cuts made by the board and administrators to meet the default budget. But then they would not understand because it saves money at the expense of education. If I save money from my yearly housekeeping, I use the surplus to buy essentials for the house. It's the same principle. Ianto in North Conway.In the past, this is how the surplus has been achieved: One, the district includes more money to pay for special education in the school budget than is actually required. Their rationale is they never know what the actual cost for special education will be. Fair enough. Two, the revenue from the state for special education is usually more than what is required by the district, although this is spite of the fact that the lions share of special education revenue is from local property taxes. This results in what is often referred to as unexpected revenue. Three, the combination of overstating the cost of, and understating the revenue for, special education contributes greatly to the bottom-line surplus. The rationale for not spending this surplus at the end of a fiscal year is that since the federal and state governments have never fully funded special education, as they have consistently promised (usually every election year), the impact to local property tax payers is significant. Any budget surplus presents an opportunity to ease the financial impact on the local communities who support the schools. Furthermore, for whatever reason, the voters either rejected or were not asked by the school board to support those items included in the districts wish list. It seems to me the process of protecting the peoples right to decide is at stake. Historically, the surplus money is raised and appropriated for one reason (special education) but expended for other reasons. Irrespective of the severity of the need(s) for spending the surplus, it is the standard of a proper democracy to honor and respect the process and work to include as many people in the decision as possible. To have just four to seven people decide on spending any of the surplus not only tends to work in breaking faith with the citizenry, it is not how things should be done. Simply because it is easier does not make it right. Mark Hounsell, Conway School District Treasurer-Elect, Conway.This week's Tele-Talk poses an interesting question, and a review of certain historical facts should be the first step in responding to it. Over the course of the last ten years (Doctor Nelson has been superintendent for nine of those years) the school budget has doubled, rising to this year's taxpayer-approved "default" budget of $30,700,000. The initial bond for the new high school did not "budget" for certain items which most folks would consider essential for operation, such as bleachers for the new gym. The school board's response to this administrative "oversight" was to seek approval for a supplemental bond issue, which was also approved by the taxpayers of Conway. While I cannot speak for every taxpayer, I am sure that the vast majority of those voting to approve the supplemental request made the reasonable assumption that the supplemental bond would eliminate any previous oversights and errors on the part of the school board. It appears that that assumption was in error, for in the May 26 edition of The Conway Daily Sun, it was written that school board member Mike DiGregorio "said these items were identified a long time ago but were excluded from a supplemental bond request to construct the new high school." In April 2007, the taxpayers of Conway defeated the school board's recommended operating budget. The school board's "default" budget cut approximately $300,000 from the operating budget of $31 million, a reduction of less than 1 percent, not including the cost of approved warrant articles. Very recently, The Conway Daily Sun reported that the school board was experiencing great difficulty in implementing the taxpayer-mandated 1 percent reduction. The board elected to spread the pain among a wide variety of programs, to include all sports. The message to the taxpayer appears to be that any cut from our bare-bones budget will cause essential and important budget items to be reduced. In public-sector budgeting, this approach is known as "pull the cop off the street, and next time the rubes will give us everything we ask for." The school board's actions to date do not inspire any trust and confidence in their willingness to exercise financial restraint on behalf of the taxpayers of Conway. The board's previous actions remind me of a teenager given his parents credit card for a limited purchase, who then goes out to the mall and charges a whole new wardrobe, knowing full well that the parents will have no choice but to pay the entire bill. I call on the board to return the entire surplus, to include any additional interest from the bond, and the savings from the lower costs of health insurance. James R. LeFebvre, Intervale.Of course the entire surplus should be used to give our taxpayers some relief. They requested this by rejecting this year's school budget. Apparently School Board Chairman King George, whose ego is bigger thanthe school budget, Mike alias Ted Kennedy DiGregorio, who never saw an expenditure that he didn't like, Lisa"Always Vote Yes" Eastwood and others are not listening. They have apparently forgotten that their job is to provide our kids a good education with a fiscally sound budget based on the taxpayers' ability to pay. This is not being done. Spending surplus on athletic equipment will not improve the dropout rate at Kennett. I hope that all the taxpayers who are being ignored will voice their disapproval.This is the worst school board in the history of Conway, so why should we expect them to return all the money to us? They will do what they want and then offer apologies after it is done. Bad news all the way. North Conway.It definitely should be returned to the taxpayers. I don't think it's ethical for them to use the surplus money for this purpose. We certainly need to lower the taxes for the people who are on fixed incomes.Definitely the surplus money should be returned to the taxpayers. In the process of getting the new school, the school board left out a lot of the costs to get it passed. They cannot see beyond the length of their noses, only to get their way. They cannot be trusted. This is Ed.My inclination is to say no just out of spite because they're so arrogant in general. They have absolutely no idea why everybody is dropping out right and left from the school all these years. It's obvious. But if we don't let them tap into that surplus, they're only going to tap into our wallets through more taxes if we don't do it. I say let them have it, but it should be meted out, perhaps by the budget committee, because they can at least keep an eye on them. Otherwise, once again, the fox is guarding the hen house.What's the point in whining about items that "ought to be already in the school"? If they're not there and they're needed, which they are, then buy them and be done with it, and quit your whining.This is Barbara from Center Conway. The school board should return the money to the taxpayers. The items needed will have to be done without, just like taxpayers do without new clothes, food, movies, health care and vacations. Enough is enough. This is an outrage to spend the so-called surplus. Get with it, school board. You haven't won the lottery. You are hurting the taxpayers, especially those on fixed incomes. Better save your surplus for a rainy day, because you've pinched taxpayers enough with this new school.They should give the money back to the taxpayers so we can have those new, ugly wires over the Hannaford parking lot and entrance removed. It ruins the whole mountain view. Someone should take a picture of that new, improved view with all the new wiring and put it under "This is Mount Washington Valley." It looks terrible.They should return the money to the taxpayers. When the push for the new school for all these towns was on, we were lied to regarding its costs. The school board is made up of teachers' spouses and parents, many well-to-do, who will never be satisfied. They will get whatever they want, anyway, since they know how to play the game.The Conway School Board should spend part of its surplus on equipping the new school. We in Jackson will be paying nearly $30,000 per pupil to go to the new Kennett. To ignore the fact that we agreed to attend this new school based on the assumption that Conway would do the right thing now appears to have been a big mistake. How dare they not spend part of the surplus to keep a bargain with the sending towns. Let the school committee run the schools and tell the budget committee to take a walk. We are sick and tired of being a continuing donor town for Conway, and they will not provide the services that they have contracted to. Shame on you for cheapening the entire education process. Your shortsightedness is pathetic and unsound.This is Ken from Conway. The budget committee should check into getting the money from the surplus apparently somehow to get the $150,000 for a new soccer field. Maybe they can get the money for the furniture and stuff instead of taking it out of the surplus. You know we'll never get the tax money back.I have my real estate tax bill in hand. Send me my refund from that $1.2 million surplus, and I'll send you a check for my tax bill.They should return the money to the taxpayers. They're supposed to tell us if they had a surplus and they've got enough for the new school as it is, and it's still not good enough for them.