mail in ballot

[thedog]

With the mail in ballot for the Howard Lake Waverly Winsted School 2687. I would like people to find out that the money that the school board is trying to raise is to just keep what we have not add more classes. It is not for the new high school building it is for all the District schools meaning programs, teachers, office staff,??? Right now we can not even offer everday Gym class to all our students because of the buget, We have a very tight belt and now we need to tighten it more, at the cost of the kids? As a school district we need this to pass it just don't effict School District 2687 but the other Schools that it servers.

[thedog]

The school district can only ask once in a 12 month period for an operating levy so if this fails than the district has to wait 12 months to ask again. By than the board will have to try to cut over 600,000 dollars from a tight budget. so if this one passes the district will not get the money until 2009 January. So we need everyone to think about OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION.

[mod34]

Maybe school districts, like all levels of Gov't need to learn to live withhin their budget. DC just passed a levi, 1 month after it passed there the teachers were with their hand out, where is ours. It happens every time a levi is passed, people in private employment have to earn their raises, teachers do not. They get automatic yearly increases, and then they get raises bases on steps and leads. None of these are based on performance.

[JD10]

First off, the DC teachers were not there with their hands out asking for raises 1 month after the levy passed. The teachers there, like all other teachers, are members of a union and their contract was set for renewal by the end of the year, like all other teachers. This happens every 2 years as that is the length of their contracts. This negotiation would have happened wether the levy was passed or not. In the private sector there are many union jobs that the members are given automatic raises as set by their contract and are not based on merit. Why are teachers singled out as the only union that is scrutinized by the public for what they get paid? Many of the other government jobs are also unionized or set on a pay scale and are paid the same way not based on merit. Why are they not scrutinized the same? As for the levy, people need to vote as they can afford. The saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If an extra $100 put into education today will keep someone out of jail tomorrow because he/she is a productive citizen in society, can't we afford to do that instead of paying thousands for them to sit in jail? Studies have shown that educated people make more money, are more productive citizens and are less likely to break the law.

[Citizen]

Living within their means? What a crazy idea!!!!! More money is always the answer!

Like any other gov't entity, there is no accountability.

I would like to know how the cost per pupil at HLWW compares to other schools in the area. How about the private schools in the area?

[LyndaJensen]

Well, actually school districts are the only ones that have to ask (and be turned down) for increases in the form of local levies. So, in that sense, they actually are held more accountable than any other government entity (think of increases on other levels of government -- city, county, township, state and federal).

[Citizen]

More accountable................ Interesting idea. However, I disagree.

Yes, a school district must have its levys approved by a vote but, the worse they perform, the more money they claim they need. I am not referring to HLWW specifically here. It is the same way across the state. For any and all issues, it seems that the claim is that more money will fix the problem. A private business would not last long with this mentality.

And now I read in the paper that if the levy doesn't pass we may have to close a couple of buildings. But, Wait a minute!!! How can we do that? I thought all of our buildings were bursting at the seams so we had to build a new High School.

Accountability?

[thedog]

Right now the schools are bursting at the seems that is one of the reasons why we needed a new high school. The Elementary schools are full next year I hear that they are looking at putting the 5th grade in at Howard Lake in the old elementary school. I think Dist. 2687 gets about 330 per pupil unit. There text scores are good, but as a community it is up to US to make the Dist. a little bit better. If this don't pass look for larger class size like 30 to 40 kids per class room. The board is very reasonable with the tax payers money. It is running a business just like any other business sometimes the prices go up. I used to spend 250.00 for groceries in a month that is no meat no milk, just cereal frozen food and baking supplies and snacks now it cost me 350.00 and nobody asked if they could raise the price on that stuff. Now the state is raising gas tax??? WE AS A COMMUNITY NEED TO JUST DO THIS.

[mod34]

More money hasn't proven to accomplish anything. The city of Minneapolis spends approx $16000/yr per pupil, with very sad results. The best private school in the Twin Cities charges $8500/yr with much better results. The biggest gripe I have with the teacheers union is that they already have a monopoly, if I chose to send my kids to a private school I still have to fund the public monopoly, I don't have a choice. Then the legislature passes a law that says if the school district doesn't settle with the union by Jan 16, they get fined on a per pupil basis. Wow that just put all the power in the unions hands why should they settle? Even if the district did side with the community and was to fight for a more managable contract they still get penalized. Everyone needs to write to their congressman to get this law changed. I'll lay 10-1 odds the teachers union was in there lobbying for that rediculous law.

[Citizen]

Bravo to Mr. Jude's letter in the Herald Journal this week.

Finally, some factual numbers from a factual source. I knew those numbers had to be published somewhere. I was never able to find them.