HTT: School levies

shaw

 I am a teacher and just started back to school this week.  Our district, like many, is really suffering from the budget cuts to school funding.  My district is very large and pretty affluent.  It's also rated excellent with distinction...if you are familiar with these labels :O)  For the last few years, parents have been very upset with the school district and are refusing to pass a levy to help fund the district with tax dollars.  In order to make do..there were a lot of cuts (job loss, loss of bussing, some elective classes...)  Today, we had an open house and parents were complaining that it was hot (no air conditioning to save money), there were too many kids per class (teachers lost jobs to save money), our online communication tool was nixed (save 50K)...etc...  I feel like the parents complained about paying taxes to support the school district and now they are complaining because the district had to make changes to survive on a much smaller budget!?  Why do some people want to have their cake and eat it too (without paying for it???)

SeussicalOne

I hear ya! I don't get it, either. I mean, I know times are tough and it sucks to have to pay more taxes but ultimately it's the kids that suffer. I know in my hometown when the budget is in the toilet (every year, pretty much) parents don't start making noise until they threaten to cut the sports budget. Who needs textbooks, world languages, classes with less than 30 students in them as long as our precious (sucky) football team has new turf and lights? It's really kind of pathetic. Then there's the other half that are on fixed income and don't want their taxes raised. Again, understandable, but if that's the case then sell your home and rent or something where you don't have to pay property taxes! When you chose to buy a house in the town, you chose to support the schools and other local services.

I know often money is mismanaged and I think that gets people upset but I don't mind paying taxes if the money is used appropriately.  

kat81again2

omg, that is F-ed up. and it pisses me off. They probably want you to have lower salaries, but will get really mad if it means you do a sh*ttier job. UGGGHHHHH

shaw

kat81again2:

omg, that is F-ed up. and it pisses me off. They probably want you to have lower salaries, but will get really mad if it means you do a sh*ttier job. UGGGHHHHH

We do.  We took a 3 year pay freeze and are paying more for health insurance.  So ultimately my checks will be less :O(

shaw

SeussicalOne:

I hear ya! I don't get it, either. I mean, I know times are tough and it sucks to have to pay more taxes but ultimately it's the kids that suffer. I know in my hometown when the budget is in the toilet (every year, pretty much) parents don't start making noise until they threaten to cut the sports budget. Who needs textbooks, world languages, classes with less than 30 students in them as long as our precious (sucky) football team has new turf and lights? It's really kind of pathetic. Then there's the other half that are on fixed income and don't want their taxes raised. Again, understandable, but if that's the case then sell your home and rent or something where you don't have to pay property taxes! When you chose to buy a house in the town, you chose to support the schools and other local services.

I know often money is mismanaged and I think that gets people upset but I don't mind paying taxes if the money is used appropriately.  

Yep!  One of the things we considered when buying our house!

jillybean800

I kind of don't know about the issue of school levies, because in NJ all public schools ARE funded by taxes.  But our governor is very anti-union, and he often turns the public against the teachers.  So the public has voted down our budget for 2 years in a row now.  They say that the teachers are overpaid.  So now we have a pay a larger percentage of our health care.

I really don't like it when people make the argument "Well I pay for health care so why shouldn't teachers?"  They do not understand that when we bargained for our salary, we counted our benefits as a part of that.  That's why we make less than the average person with a masters degree: we traded off!  So now we have to have the lower salary AND pay for the health care?  Now I am even further behind my fellow advanced degree holders!

Meh, it makes me all upset to go back to work, so I can't focus on it that much

kat81again2

flgirl79:

Lack of funding for education really makes me mad. I hate hearing the "I don't have kids in school, so why should I pay taxes for education?" Well, you (general you) realize that these kids are our future, right? These kids will one day be doctors, scientists, etc. Wouldn't you rather they have a good education and be successful or would rather them have a poor education and fail at life?

I really feel bad for teachers and what they have to deal with in regards to funding. 

This. Seriously. I know these people are thinking, "well I'll just go to a doctor trained elsewhere in a school district that gave a fvck about their kids" but what s/he doesn't realize in saying this is that the only qualified doctors willing to work in random rural locations are the ones who are from that location originally (yes this is a problem; I'm not making it up.) So if you want people taking care of you in the future you need to invest in that future. 

It is just generally sad how people don't tend to think about what they get from social services and what their tax dollars actually do. Even really rich people do benefit from social services. The way I see taxes is that I never count that part of my salary as mine to begin with. It helps when the money is automatically withheld each paycheck than if I have to pay a huge tax bill April 15.

jillybean800

flgirl79:

Lack of funding for education really makes me mad. I hate hearing the "I don't have kids in school, so why should I pay taxes for education?" Well, you (general you) realize that these kids are our future, right? These kids will one day be doctors, scientists, etc. Wouldn't you rather they have a good education and be successful or would rather them have a poor education and fail at life?

I really feel bad for teachers and what they have to deal with in regards to funding. 

Me too! And not only this, but if you want your house to gain value and for people to buy it once your ass is old and gray, then you need a good school system!