Stop The Blackmail
- on 03.20.05
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I am tired of school districts continually asking for money. Everytime there is an election or primary, they are asking for a tax increase. When they don’t get it, they bring it back the next time. They have now resorted to cutting programs because we vote no. I live in CCSD #46 in Illinois. We defeated the increase last spring. The district response was to cut Art, Music, Drama, Spanish and Band. The new increase was defeated in the fall. Now it is back again. April 5th will be the latest attempt to pass this increase. I have b een getting mailers from a group called Yes For Our Kids. Each one has promises and threats. I am sick of this tactic. If they really were doing this for the kids, they would be cutting spending in areas that don’t affect the kids and they wouldn’t be threatening the parents.
I’ll be putting some statistics up later.
Great site. Thanks for taking the time to serve your community.
Thanks. I have just had enough of the schools always asking for money and still not providing a better education for my kids. They just cut programs with the appearance that it is blackmail to the parents. Enough is enough. I hope to get some flyers out with info as well by this weekend.
In my opinion, they(yesforkids.com) can raise all that money for the mailings, then maybe they could raise the money for their kids and not charge people who are unwilling to give to their cause. It kills me that they say that our property values are going down because of us not giving them more money for school. If anything our property values have went down because the School Board cut programs. Not to mention how high the taxes have become because of the districts schools. Many have left because the taxes are too high. So maybe the thought is that the district will attact a higher social economic family. Well, there’s a catch there too. The schools aren’t holding up to their end of the bargan. They cut programs, deliver about the same test scores (that the kids are preped for ahead of time) and are asking for more tax money. Where does the buck really stop? Go ahead… take a minute to think about the chain of blame and where it ends. I’ll address this in my last paragraph.
What would happen if for every 10 jobs they cut, 1 Administrator or School Board member would loose their job. Do you think that they might work a little harder to keep their job? Take the average household… if they make $40K they do what they have to do to keep within their means. They budget. If it isn’t a need and it doesn’t fit into the budget then you don’t do it or you get creative. What happened to creativity? Oh that’s right… it got cut. Who is to say… we need this program done this way, it will cost this much, and will be done this way or not at all?
I have the opinion that what we need is to ask ourselves who is really dedicated to helping the children? How far are they willing to go with this if they don’t get the money? How creative can they get here… talk about an education. What resources can they tap into to get the same thing achieved?
In the business world, you wouldn’t say to your employeer if you don’t give me what I need to take home to pay for my lifestyle then I will do half the work for you. You would be fired. Maybe that what needs to be done here because someone is not doing their job!
Good points Lisa.
Great website. If you go to http://www.noreferendum.org you can see how much this referendum will cost you.
I think you are very misguided, but that is your perogative.
It shows that you haven’t done your homework if you think that District 46 has any other options than to cut the programs it cut. Everything has been cut to the bone. There is nowhere left to go.
If people like you have their way, our kids will be sitting on street corners.
I will ensure that people like you are exposed for the ignorant idiots you are if it’s the last thing I do!
We spend $34,000.00 per prisoner each year and they also get free health and dental care. I hear no outcry and I see no charts decrying this injustice, yet you resent spending less than $900.00 a uear on each student. They are the future of this country. Amazing.
This is what I find amazing. I am home schooling my children. I fired the school system and I’m still paying for them to go to school. Does this happen in the business world? Now you want me to pay even more to the school system. I’ve got an idea. If you are willing to pay extra taxes… (making it very unappealing to new residents because the taxes are so high) you go ahead and pay my share too. Better yet… I don’t think that that extra money has to come from tax payers. Why don’t you raise the money for willing participants? If it isn’t that big of a deal, then raise it from charity! It is our right as parents to educate OUR children the way that is best for our children. If that system fails… we have the right to take the money with us. That seems fair.
My point of argument is… I don’t think that they are doing such a wonderful job in the schools. I’ve had numbers of teachers say that they feel like glorified babysitters. The teacher/student ratio is too high. They don’t feel that they are able to give students the individual attention and this is from a fully funded school. Behaviors fall through the cracks, special needs and gifts aren’t recognized until there 3rd grade year and by then… according to Joan Smutney and many other experts, many have figured out their place in society. The problem is THERE IS NEVER GOING TO BE ENOUGH MONEY FOR THE SCHOOL SYSTEMS. It’s called parental involvement. I’m talking about more than throwing money at it!!! Those of us that have been involved know what I’m talking about. It takes man hours!!! You know you talk about an investment in the future… that is the kind of investment to make. Take the time. If you don’t care for something that the school is doing… don’t be afraid to speak up. It’s time to stop playing the “I don’t want to make waves” game and realize that all of us need to do the best for our children.
I can invest in the future. It starts at home. I am not raising your children and throwing more money at school is not guaranteeing that they are going to be productive citizens when they are adults. That’s your job as a parent. If you see a problem with peer behavior… don’t just shirk it off and say kids will be kids. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND FIND OUT WHERE IT IS COMING FROM. Schools are not for raising children. YOU ARE!
Lisa, since you call me an ignorant idiot, could you please tell me why my facts are incorrect? Also, could you please explain why the district only spends 38.3% of their budget for instruction? Even the state average is almost 10 points higher and I think that is low if this is really all “For The Kids.”
A Edly, unless you are comparing schools to prisons this argument is invalid to start with. Second, that is an additional $900 dollars on top of what we already pay. That is an additional $75 per month. Also, it will be much higher for those with more expensive houses. I believe the figures you are talking about are for a house valued at a little over $200,000. That increase is approximately 45%. I don’t know about you or most people, but a $75 increase will hit my budget really hard.
lisa, “you haven’t done your homework” “everything has been cut to the bone”
Have you done your homework? You make these claims but have you looked at all the contracts? Can you say there is no waste or fraud? No, you haven’t and you can’t. Seems to me the guy with the charts here is the one who has it figured out. Your uneducated, knee-jerk reaction shows that you haven’t even read (or just can’t understand) what you are criticising. Like so many foolish liberals you would throw money at every problem and sob “it’s for the kids” at every objection. So who is the “misguided” “ignorant idiot?”
And as for you A Edly, if they had a referendum about spending that much on prisoners, I would vote against that too. Let them work to support themselves. Your example is moot. What is “amazing” is that you can equate money spent to quality of education when there is no demonstrated link. Have you looked at the charts above? Why don’t you get some numbers to support your irrational position before you spout this sort of nonsense?
I have read the previous posts and it brings to mind that there are two types of people.
There are those that are happy to give money to what they consider a worthy cause because it makes them feel good without really questioning how their money is actually being spent. Those are the type of people that donate to charities like United Way and such. They trust that their money will be put to good use and prefer not to think about it much further.
Then there are those that want to make sure that their money is spent appropriately and wisely. Those are the people that check to see how much of the money that is collected is used for the cause for which it was intended. They like to see that a majority of the money they donate is not used for extraneous things.
I have personally seen that in most cases, only a small percentage of what is collected winds up where it belongs. Should the people that constantly ask for more money be held accounable to show that they have utilized the money efficeintly, or should we just blindly keep giving them more money? It puzzles me that classes are the first to be cut instead of looking for other areas that might not really be needed.
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