Here We Go Again

Looks like placing a renewal levy on the ballot is on the agenda sooner than I had expected. Not much time to gauge public opinion. Not that public opinion matters much. I’m going to step out of my school board member role and step into my taxpayer role. This is what started my trek down the school board path. Does my district deserve to continue to be funded by me? Is it living up to the same standards I place on myself?
Let’s take a look at this. Our household income did not go up but our property taxes did. So we had to cut back in other areas. I heard propaganda that said “it (the levy cost) is the cost of a daily cup of coffee”. Well it’s a cup of coffee I don’t appreciate losing. And for what? Our elementary kids still don’t get field trips, we pay to play extra curricular activities, and our district condones biased bussing practices and class sizes. Why? Because we have a board that allows it. This board has handed over raises and continued to allow spending in areas that are unnecessary. Oh and guess what? The new bus garage needs windows and an alarm system before it would be safe to move in. Well guess what? I need new windows and an alarm system too. Oh and laugh if you want but I still say a Doberman would work as well, if not better than an alarm system. Can I get back that cup of coffee per day if this renewal doesn’t pass?
Then there is the other side. First of all if this renewal fails a couple times, the first cuts will affect our kids. One of the first battle cries you hear at levy time is “do it for the kids”. Yet I know kids in the Falls that are denied bussing because 1/10th of a mile is more important than the safety of an eight year old, families that were “redrawn” at the last minute last year for the sole reason of denying bussing, and kids that are threatened with not being permitted to participate in art projects because their parents haven’t paid school fees. Like a kid has any control of their parents paying fees. And why can’t our kids take AP classes without paying fees? What the hell are my tax dollars going for if not to educate the brightest students to the fullest? But this is where they will make us suffer if we do not pass a renewal. Our kids.
So you’re between a rock and a hard place. Unless you have a board that is willing to make cuts. We could close another building or two if we move to grade level alignment. Big savings involved in that, as we can recall from two years ago. Now when the last two buildings closed I was told that kids are resilient and could handle the change. Now I’m hearing that it’s detrimental for kids to switch buildings. Hmmmm. I was also told a while back that a certain administrator could leave and it wouldn’t pose a problem to us. Another employee would be able to perform their own job as well as the vacant position. This tells me there is a job that’s not needed. Needless to say both jobs are still filled.
And to top it off, “Project Recovery” is more like real life than you know. We have relapsed. Tax and spend with out an eye on the future of education. So what do I do? It’s like enabling a drug addict if I vote for it but I punish what’s most dear to me if I vote against it.
Gee it would be nice to have a board majority that focused on educating our kids and insisted on less waste? Let’s hear the pros and cons of putting this on the ballot. I’m truly in a quandary.