This ain't right

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » June 23, 2007 7:49 am

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... gh_school/

SchoolGirlHeart · Post by **SchoolGirlHeart** » June 23, 2007 8:08 am

sickening...... and yet our town is facing the same thing..... the town is short on money and they're looking to cancel school programs as a result.... the gifted and talented program is already gone, and they've cut way back on the sports budget and are looking at killing sport altogether.

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » June 23, 2007 8:13 am

SchoolGirlHeart wrote:sickening...... and yet our town is facing the same thing..... the town is short on money and they're looking to cancel school programs as a result.... the gifted and talented program is already gone, and they've cut way back on the sports budget and are looking at killing sport altogether.

The only problem that the people in charge aren't seeing is that sports is a way for some people who can't afford college to attend. I know, I know, some of the big name schools are only interested in attendance in the stadiums but some of the smaller schools give scholarships to these kids.

cocotel · Post by **cocotel** » June 23, 2007 8:42 am

What's sickening is the obnoxious tax revenue that comes into most North Eastern cities but there's always a budget shortfall. Property, vehcile, etc.
Don't know, but seems like a mis-appropriation of funds......again.

Who suffers?
The kids, once again.

PackPhanGirl · Post by **PackPhanGirl** » June 23, 2007 9:10 am

cocotel wrote:What's sickening is the obnoxious tax revenue that comes into most North Eastern cities but there's always a budget shortfall. Property, vehcile, etc.
Don't know, but seems like a mis-appropriation of funds......again.

Who suffers?
The kids, once again.

You are SO right!! This is very disturbing! Playing sports keeps many kids off of the streets and literally saves them!! I feel for those kids and parents!!

mommar · Post by **mommar** » June 23, 2007 9:16 am

Things similar to this are happening all over MA, for the 4 years of my daughter's high school I had to pay $300 each year for her to play sports after school. (it kept her off the streets except for car-wash day)

Our high school is now dropping phys ed for seniors

and I'm no longer aware what the situation is for the sports teams.

I also know that some cities and towns are at least debating, if not actually charging families for their children to ride the school bus

pojo · Post by **pojo** » June 23, 2007 10:23 am

Its happening in Neenah, WI.... they've tried rearranging the Elementary Schools, changing what grades go to what Middle School and eliminated some sports, plus the teachers rearranged their contract... AND they tried cancelling the buses (Neenah goes out into the farmland to pick up some kids!!!)

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » June 23, 2007 10:53 am

cocotel wrote:
Who suffers?
The kids, once again.

You know why? It's because kids don't vote. It's easier to cut services on a constituency that doesn't vote than services for those who can or will vote you out of office.

sy · Post by sy » June 23, 2007 10:54 am

And people want to know why kids get into trouble and are misguided.

If they took a good hard look at these types of programs past the dollar sign of what they cost, and looked at the results in the kids years down the line, they'd realize what a mistake they were making.

Of course, that would also assume that they cared, and the tax money that should be going to fund these types of programs weren't lining someone's pockets (which I firmly believe is what's happening in our school district)

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » June 23, 2007 10:57 am

sy wrote:And people want to know why kids get into trouble and are misguided.

If they took a good hard look at these types of programs past the dollar sign of what they cost, and looked at the results in the kids years down the line, they'd realize what a mistake they were making.

Of course, that would also assume that they cared, and the tax money that should be going to fund these types of programs weren't lining someone's pockets (which I firmly believe is what's happening in our school district)

You are forgetting the fact that they would need to do what make sense. Since when do politicians ever do anything that make sense?

phjrsaunt · Post by **phjrsaunt** » June 23, 2007 1:27 pm

That is just CRAZY...on many levels!!

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » June 23, 2007 1:59 pm

Funny there is no mention of the tax rates the residents are already paying. More taxes might not be the answer. Since this story is about a community in taxacheuttes, I am assuming that the residents are already taxed out the wazzoo. Story seems a little one sided. I wonder if their auditorium has wooden seats or the sports fields have lighting for night games or if the classrooms are air conditioned or if there is a computer on every desk. Seems that my high school didn't have any of those things when I was there many of my friends did ok. Most attended some of the top colleges in the nation.

In my district I actively fight every tax increase proposed now and will continue until the tennis courts do not have lighting, the high tech track surface is replaced with cinders and the baseball field lights go out. I'm not happy about the football stadium lighting either but it was there before I moved in so it gets grandfathered.

aeroparrot · Post by **aeroparrot** » June 23, 2007 7:39 pm

Skibo wrote:Funny there is no mention of the tax rates the residents are already paying. More taxes might not be the answer. Since this story is about a community in taxacheuttes, I am assuming that the residents are already taxed out the wazzoo. Story seems a little one sided. I wonder if their auditorium has wooden seats or the sports fields have lighting for night games or if the classrooms are air conditioned or if there is a computer on every desk. Seems that my high school didn't have any of those things when I was there many of my friends did ok. Most attended some of the top colleges in the nation.

In my district I actively fight every tax increase proposed now and will continue until the tennis courts do not have lighting, the high tech track surface is replaced with cinders and the baseball field lights go out. I'm not happy about the football stadium lighting either but it was there before I moved in so it gets grandfathered.

The thing is, the taxes I pay in Massachusetts are lower than what I was paying in DC. DC taxes were close to 6% and Massachusetts were close to 5.5%

frognot · Post by **frognot** » June 24, 2007 1:26 pm

Gonna step on some toes here but don't know how not to do so.

We've had a long run of politicians saying "no new taxes" and voters voting no to bond issues but populations for schools keep increasing, expenses keep rising, and the time eventually comes when something's gotta give. We've got a rapidly growing increase in population in Texas but no politician wants to be the one to raise any type of taxes. (We've been doing the stealth approach of raising various fees, licenses, etc but NEVER TAXES!) So we keep passing the bill to next guy.

Guess the bill arrived and the credit card is maxed out.

Dezdmona · Post by **Dezdmona** » June 24, 2007 1:34 pm

Voters here defeated a $3 million override Tuesday,

I guess they knew the potential consequences.

NYCPORT · Post by **NYCPORT** » June 24, 2007 5:53 pm

8 cents a day per resident doesn't sound like a whole lot of money to me for the kids to have an athletic program. I don't get it.

Grams · Post by **Grams** » June 25, 2007 1:24 am

This is just wrong!!! I feel for all of the kids involved with this. What a senior year

green1 · Post by **green1** » June 25, 2007 9:48 am

aeroparrot wrote:The thing is, the taxes I pay in Massachusetts are lower than what I was paying in DC. DC taxes were close to 6% and Massachusetts were close to 5.5%

It's not the tax rates. It's what the government does with the taxes. DC pays the most per student of almost any other city in the country, and yet the public schools are abysmal. The Northern VA area pays less in taxes than MA, and certainly DC and their public schools are some of the best in the country? How and Why? Politicians, the teachers unions are all "greedy piggies at the trough", in my book. Focus on improving education that will draw more kids, more kids succeeding, more kids succeeding means more money in the budget for that succesful school.

LaTda! · Post by **LaTda!** » June 25, 2007 10:35 am

frognot wrote:Gonna step on some toes here but don't know how not to do so.

We've had a long run of politicians saying "no new taxes" and voters voting no to bond issues but populations for schools keep increasing, expenses keep rising, and the time eventually comes when something's gotta give. We've got a rapidly growing increase in population in Texas but no politician wants to be the one to raise any type of taxes. (We've been doing the stealth approach of raising various fees, licenses, etc but NEVER TAXES!) So we keep passing the bill to next guy.

Guess the bill arrived and the credit card is maxed out.

well, ya, those fiscally Conservative voting folks can afford to put their kids through private schools & the he11 with everyone else

green1 · Post by **green1** » June 25, 2007 11:36 am

LaTda! wrote:well, ya, those fiscally Conservative voting folks can afford to put their kids through private schools & the he11 with everyone else

What? If this were the case, then how in the predominently Conservative Northern VA area (until the last few years) has public education been consistently excellent for decades? How are some of the best public high schools in the country in FL and NY? It has nothing to do with political drive, but rather a clear view of priority's at the local education level.