I’ve had some interesting conversations lately. A relative in South Dakota tells me that their teachers pay is 49th in the United States. Yet they are ranked one of the best school districts in the nation. Oh yeah, and their property tax bills laugh at ours. Taxes levies fail resoundingly over and over. Guess what I suspect funds their schools. Gambling. Let’s look at Nevada. Per pupil spending in Nevada is some of the best in the country. I think you all know what funds it. In fact Nevadans aren’t real clear on what taxes are. Now a conversation from Iowa. For over 20 years the state of Iowa tried to legalize gambling. The issue finally passed a few years back. To quote the source- “Once people realized what a cash cow it was for the state, gambling issues passed faster than prunes through Grandma. We pass gambling issues to fund just about everything.”
Now I’m not saying issue 3 was perfect. But I would like to take at look at what other states, especially Nevada, to allocate so much funding to schools from gambling proceeds. What I find perplexing about this issue is that the people who wanted property tax relief and legal way of funding our schools, seem to be the same people that voted against issue 3. Without an alternate source of funds, property owners will continue to foot the bill. Strickland’s “Learn and Earn” is going to cost the tax payers money. Whether its income tax or sales tax or a reduction in Medicaid funding to reallocate to Learn and Earn programs, we all will pay for it one way or another. Unfortunately it won’t be through gambling proceeds. So in order to help out our freshly minted State Representative, tells me folks, how should we pay for education AND reduce property taxes? Or how about one better. Until someone in the state figures out how to pay for the mandates they issue, and make the playing field fair, public school districts should not have to abide by them. The same could be said to our federal lawmakers. Let expensive court ordered special treatment centers come out of the court’s budget not the school districts. And please legislators stop trying to tell us that local dollars do not follow a child to a charter school. When we must pay a charter school more money than the state pays us for that child, the difference is local dollars. If you want to send money to charters schools, let the district send ONLY what we get for them from the state.
The Ohio School Board Association’s capitol conference is next week. The whole gang is going. I will learn all the new and improved ways to spend our money. There will also be legal lectures as well as educational issues. The room of vendors peddling their wares rivals the IX center. Some are truly valuable products. Most are consultants. Surprise. But I always learn something at the seminars offered. The free highlighters and stress releasing squeeze balls make it all worth it. Bonus- our very own Plan for Excellence team will be there filling other districts in on how we saved ourselves from financial ruin and brought the community together.
Stay tuned, if time allows, I’ll be posting from Columbus.
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5 comments:
Rblack,
Kevin Coughlin was not the sponsor of SB 99. It was a Senator from Cincinnati.
The scholarship program in issue 3 was not the same plan that Coughlin proposed.
I lived in Iowa, and near one of the casinos. Lives sure were affected, but not always for the better. The local school districts were just trashed because so many "temporary homeowners" would move in until they lost their money. You think the Falls has quite a turnover around the holidays, check out a school by a casino. I know the chances of a casino near the Falls is slim, and sometimes you have to think of the "greater good", but there is an entire new box of worms with gambling. I'm not against the idea, I just agree we need a good sound plan to implement it.
I have just found this forum. I was surprised to see some of your comments. To be honest, it comes off as being very unproffessional. In a way I can appreciate your honesty and getting it out in the open, yet at the same time very embarrassed that other school districts and families are reading this. Some of this leads to useful conversations, yet others...
Leslie, at last night's BOE meeting, they decided to delay the survey until after the holidays. Also, the board wants to refine the purpose and the goals of the survey before they are sent out.
Tonight, the Reconfiguration sub-committee of the Teaching and Learning sub-committee of the PFE is meeting in the board offices at 7:00 PM.
One question, does that make it a sub-sub-committee?
To: Mrs P and others who are uncomfortable with honest, open and responsible discussion,
Please see Molly Benedum's blog for a moderated option to Kellie's blog.
I grew up in Iowa during the 40's and 50's. The only legal gambling we had then were the church bingo
games.
At the same time, the problem of priests molesting children was denied vehemently by the moral majority. The silence that bound everyone in shame becames the solution to the problem.
Sometimes problem statements first appear as an un-professional expression of anger or fear. And, sometimes the anger leads a victim to the point where they become a victimizer.
Please see Molly's blog -- for more on this topic.
Lou Schott
Barry, I was being facetious about the sub-sub-committee, but I do think it's a good thing the way the PfE is being broken down into smaller groups (who tend to come to the table with different viewpoints and experiences) to work on pieces of the puzzle. Then the pieces will gradually be put together by the progressively larger groups to formulate the plan as a whole. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.
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