Kent and I at least care about your Children's Education
COVENTRY -- Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to vote for the fourth time on a proposed town budget, this time a plan that cuts some athletic and extracurricular activities at the high school and middle school.
The new budget calls for the elimination of $4,000 in each school for the after-school activities, though school officials have not decided what will be cut.
“You’re probably looking at bus trips, after-school activities, choir,” said board of education Chairman Larry Pietrantonio. “We are going to try to keep as many programs as possible.”
Voters, who have rejected three budget proposals since May, will weigh in Tuesday on the fourth, a $30.5 million proposal that calls for a 4 percent increase in taxes. The budget would increase the tax rate one mill. [...]
Since the first budget referendum the school board has cut a total of $392,000 from educational spending, Pietrantonio said. (source)
We live in a cheap town. There’s no getting around that. I can understand being fiscally conservative in terms of summer programs and the like. But when it comes to the quality of education given to school children, I don’t think you should be stingy on that. The tools we give kids during their time of learning is their foundation that will support them throughout their life.
The odd thing is that Kent and I put the education of children in our town higher than the parents do. We always make it a point to get to the polls and vote “Yes” to approve the budget. It always seems to be defeated. This makes the fourth time this has happened. Last time, the town said that they are down to bear bones and that essential services would have to be cut, such as snow plowing. That budget also failed. Now, we are cutting after school programs and some jobs are being cut.
Kent and I have no real vested interest in this. We could sit back and vote “No” to the budgets. We don’t have children so it’s really no skin off our nose. We vote “yes” for other people’s children and are willing to pay higher town taxes to support those children’s education.
With parents themselves not taking an interest in their child’s education, why do we wonder that so many kids turn to crime and drugs?
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August 31, 2005 - Town Budget Lost... Again
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You lost me.... Who posed nude and what does it have to do with this??
That takes guts to pose nude like that, I could never do that. I hope it was for something special. Have a great day. Oh, I'm not trying to turn straight per say, I'm just experimenting before gay sex...I dont' want to be 80 and say, damn I wonder what it's like to be with a women. Have a great day.
Wannabeleader
Well, here, they'll cut the teachers, libraries, etc long before the politicians take a pay cut!!
Rather than not hire their political buddies into the top paying positions, they'll eleminate teachers and say the ONLY solution is higher taxes!!
I really wouldn't be opposed to a tax increase if it went to benefit the kids and the lower level employees. But it always seem here the 'central office' people benefit much more than the front-line teacher, police officer or fire fighter.
I don't know why what's happening in my neck of the woods hasn't received national attention.
The city of Salinas, California is the hometown of John Steinbeck. Last year, the city became the first in the state to close public libraries because the population is too cheap to support them with very tiny tax increases.
Here's the story:
Salinas Libraries Closing
Failure Of Measures A, B Blamed For Drastic Cuts
November 17, 2004
SALINAS, Calif. -- All three libraries in the city of Salinas will be closing, the City Council announced at Tuesday night's meeting.
City leaders said they were forced to make the drastic cuts because voters failed to pass Measures A and B, the sales and utility tax increases on the November ballot. The measures would have raised $10 million -- enough to save the libraries.
The libraries will close July 1.
"The bottom line is that without the ballot measures, we don't have the resources to continue to provide the level of service we have now," Salinas Mayor Anna Caballero said.
"We're upset, we're deeply upset. We're worried that the city of Salinas will be the first city in the state of California that would close its libraries and it sends the wrong message to the rest of the state that we don't value free public education," youth leader Aurelio Salazar said.
There is an effort to save the libraries with another ballot measure this November:
http://www.savesalinaslibraries.org/measure.html
What's lurking behind your town's situation is the vastly larger issue of how we devalue education in our country. Whenever there is a budget problem, teachers, police and fire fighters are the first to be cut. So many countries have finer educational systems than ours it's a major embarrassment. Kids can't speak or write properly.
Then again, neither can the bozo in the White House.