To the editor

Southland Superintendent Jeff Sampson and the School Board released a projection to the public that shows expenditures increasing a total of 2.4 million for FY18 – FY22. A previous letter explained how they changed their explanation for 1.75M of the expenditure increase. The remaining 650K was explained as indexing for inflation. A concern we have with that explanation is that the projection is indexed at 2.2 percent and the district average the past 12 years is about 1 percent. There is no reason to project higher than the long term historical has been.

Jeff Sampson and the School board also claim that the district can save $510k by closing the Elementary School. Most (429k) of the savings would come from staff layoffs; however, it is unclear what positions that would be. Why the lack of clarity? They would have to know what positions are no longer needed in order to calculate the savings.

As concerned citizens, our goal is to find the truth. We believe the truth is hidden in the details. So far the details are unclear and confusing. They changed a story and their explanations don’t add up. The truth is the numbers appear to be phony. They inflated both the expenditures and the savings. The district doesn’t have to save any money by closing the elementary, as the district isn’t really headed toward financial insolvency to begin with. They are doing this in an effort to set the stage for the next multimillion-dollar bond referendum.

Joseph Landherr

Rose Creek