By: Dylan Topper, Rob Coolidge, Emerson Smith

After a long problematic budget process, the votes are finally in. The results of the very close voting were posted around 9:30 on the night of the budget vote (May 17) on the EMC website. We asked Mr. Bednarek a few last questions, concerning the outcome.

Are you happy with the outcome of the budget voting?

Yes, I’m very happy that the budget passed, however I am disappointed that the bus proposition did not pass, and we will have to find a way as a district to make sure we stay on schedule with the replacement of busses as needed.  I’m very happy that the budget passed, and I’m glad to be able to prepare for next year, knowing what we will have. More questions have been answered and more details are in place now, however specific details about the core schedule and classes to be offered or changed, still have to be answered. At least I have fewer variables to work with now. Before the budget passed there were a lot of variables; there’s always a possibility that the budget could go down, and if that happens, we would have been stuck with another couple of weeks of reworking, and waiting for another budget.

Did you feel that this was the best outcome?

Yes, when any school district gets to the time of proposed budgets, having it pass is usually the best possible outcome. Does that mean I am happy, about the reductions that we had to make in order to get to that budget? No.

Will we see a significant increase in size of classes, and how will that effect education?

Some classes will definitely be larger than in the past. There is a cap in class size according to the teachers’ contract.  In some cases we have some small classes that can be combined. I think generally I would like to see smaller class sizes, but in some areas that is a luxury that we cannot afford.

How do you feel about the loss of some of the faculty, and where do you see Galway going from here?

I don’t think we can ever feel satisfied or happy about the fact that some of the individuals that we have here are losing positions. I think we have a very valuable faculty, and the positions that we are going to be losing, you can’t just gloss over. But in terms of where we can go from here; integration of concepts across content areas is something that our teachers are very good at. This makes the education more holistic and integrated. I think Galway will definitely move forward from here. The deficit that we are facing forces us to think more creatively, and I believe there are definitely some positives about that.