Tax Credits - Interesting Idea. I pay income tax, which goes into the
General fund; I pay sales tax, which goes into the general fund; I pay
local property taxes, some of which pays for schools in Meridian; I pay
vehicle registration taxes, most of which pays for streets in Boise. Hmmmm.
Lets see now, for every $14 the district gets, 4 comes from the override
levy, $2 comes from the M&O levy, $1 from various sources including bond
levies,forest funds, etc. and $7 comes from the state. Before I would
approve of tax credits, I would wish to stop supporting schools outside of
Moscow with local property taxes.
Charter Schools - While I haven't yet read the new bill, this seems to me
to be a law that will solve the political problem, not the educational one.
It will be virtually impossible to start up a new school under this bill.
So who will benefit? If I was a parent in a multi community school
district like Bonners, or White Pine, I would want to know how much my
district receives from the state per pupil. Then I would want to know how
much my district is spending in my community school per pupil. If the
district is receiving $3000 per student, and spending $2500 per student in
my local elementary, (assuming the district is spending $3500 per in a
consolidated high school) then I would want to charter my local elementary
school. Another thought, for those of us lucky enough to live in a college
town, is "are the classrooms in the UCC sitting empty every evening?" and
"Can the University make use of them at $3000 per student?"
Public Schools - If 98 out of 100 students leave elementary school reading
at or above grade level, is this a failure? It is for the 2 who leave not
reading at or above grade level. Of those 2, 1 needs special help because
of some type of learning disability, the other can read fairly well, but
just doesn't bother to prove it with the usual and customary processes.
The question for society is "What do we do with these two students?" This
same scenario can be applied to disciplinary problems, math problems, on up
the line. At some point we as a community must stop and say, Here is the
line. Either acheive at this level or you don't go farther. The problem
with this is who sets the level.
John Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com