My name is George Claassen.

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I live in Berwick with my wife, Mary, and our daughter Leila.

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Why am I running for a seat on the MSAD60 school board?

 

It all started after our property taxes increased by 9% last year. Talking to neighbors and friends, I was told it has a lot to do with the school budget that increased. 

 

I started attending school board meetings and watched previous meetings online. I have been following the process closely this year as the school board worked on the new budget.

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As a resident and a taxpayer, from my vantage point, there seems to be a lot of room for improvement.

 

There is a clear lack of transparency to taxpayers and parents regarding expenses and policies.

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Since then, I have been talking to parents with kids in the schools, seniors and voters.

 

Many of the parents I have spoken to say the board is not listening to them and they feel that they are not getting the proper representation. 

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Many residents are concerned about the increase in their property taxes. Many retired residents cannot afford these increases and it is impacting their quality of life.

 

I spoke to folks who raised their children here and they tell me the schools used to be very good. Most people today feel that there is a great need for improvement.

 

Many residents with children are leaving the district because they are very concerned about the quality of the education their children receive. Home schooling is also increasing. District enrollments are going down year over year. Because of this, we are receiving less state funding. Taxpayers have to make up for this through higher property taxes.

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I will work with the parents, the teachers, the taxpayers, the board and the superintendent to improve the education outcomes for our kids. This is the most important job the board has and everyone must work together to achieve this goal. We owe this to our kids. It's literally the most important thing we have to do as a community.

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The second most important job the school board has is to work on and approve the budget. Asking taxpayers to pay huge increases year over year on their property taxes in not a winning strategy, especially if the outcomes for students isn't very good and keeps getting worse.

 

We must do better. And we will!

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I work in healthcare financing and insurance. I have extensive experience in contract negotiations and budgets. It seems that these skills can be very useful to the board and the district. I have licenses in property and casualty lines as well as health and life. I save my clients millions of dollars each year. Many of the expenses in the budget seems to just go up every year and nobody can tell me how they get to those numbers and agreements. Who negotiates those contracts? Are they doing proper due diligence and are they acting as fiduciaries to the taxpayers and their money? If I get elected I will bring total transparency regarding these large expenses and help to negotiate better contracts so that more money can go to improving the education outcomes for our kids and so that we don't need to keep raising property taxes every year.

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I firmly believe that accountability begins with the school board. The voters elect the school board to represent them and to assure that the children get a quality education that prepares them for their future success. The board is also responsible for the school budget. ​

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My 2 main goals are:

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-Academic Excellence

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-Fiscal Responsibility

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These goals are clear to me and I will work hard to achieve them if I get elected to serve.

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​​Bottom line is, we need to do better. Let's get to work.

 

Go and vote on June 10th at the Berwick City Hall.

 

Register to vote here