vision2020
Re: CQE meeting Monday 3/25
John,
The school district has already made quite a few positive changes.
That's not to say that there aren't more changes needed! In fact, I
suspect that every school district, even every private and public
institution, needs to constantly be making changes in a world that's
changing as fast as our world is these days.
Some of the changes the school district has made: They have already cut
back on expenditures for this year. They are in the process of hiring a
new superintendent. Even if the levy passes, the district will still be
cutting a total of about 24 positions from teachers, staff, and the
administration. This is a major cutback in terms of personnel.
The school district is being hit extremely hard financially for 3 reasons.
Supplemental spending levies are for constant dollar amounts, so inflation
erodes the value of such levies. If you adjust for inflation via the
consumer price index, the current levy was worth 13% less in 2001 than it
was worth in 1996. Its worth even less than that now, but I don't have
2002 figures. The school district has had declining student enrollment
for the past number of years, so the money that the school district gets
from the state (based on student enrollment) has gone down. The third
thing is that the governor and the state legislature have instituted a
hold-back in state funding to all the state's K-12 schools. One really
could look at the enrollment part of this triple whammy as evidence that
expenses need to be cut, and in fact that's what the school district is
doing. Even if the levy passes, the school district's
expenditures/student will be less than in many of the other states and
school districts around us.
If the levy doesn't pass, I think the effects on the school district, and
on our kids would be devastating. An enormous number of teachers and
staff would be let go. All of the grades 1-6 kids would be jammed into
three of the schools. Class sizes would go up enormously, instead of up
the modest amounts that will occur with passage of the levy. Team
teaching would be lost at the Junior High. The list goes on. If we don't
pass the levy, I think we will really be hurting our kids and our town--in
ways which would still be there years into the future.
I think we've also got a golden opportunity here. It seems to me that the
administration and school board and teachers are listening to the people
in town more than they have in quite a long time. People are becoming
more involved. That's the start of a process that can help the school
district and the whole town to work together. That's the start of a long
process, but I think passing the levy will keep us moving in the right
direction.
If you want more info, check out the Citizens for Quality Education web
site: www.moscowcqe.com The site seems to be off-line once in awhile.
If you don't get there the first time, try again later! You may find the
latest brochure to be especially interesting. Its available as a pdf file
at: www.moscowcqe.com/CQE_brochure_March15.pdf
Mac Cantrell
macantr@moscow.com
On Mon, 25 Mar 2002, John Danahy wrote:
> Why not make the "positive changes" first then ask for a tax increase??
> John Danahy
> jdanahy@turbonet.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Cantrell" <macantr@uidaho.edu>
> To: "Kenton Bird" <kentonbird@hotmail.com>
> Cc: <vision2020@moscow.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 11:11 AM
> Subject: Re: CQE meeting Monday 3/25
>
>
> > I'd like to add to Kenton's post, that CQE is also very interested in
> > continuing to help the school district and the people in this town work
> > for positive changes in the district after the levy election.
> >
> > Mac Cantrell
> >
> > On Sun, 24 Mar 2002, Kenton Bird wrote:
> >
> > > Visionaries:
> > >
> > > Citizens for Quality Education (CQE) will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, March
> 25,
> > > in the Great Room of the 1912 Center.
> > >
> > > CQE was founded earlier this year to lobby in favor of the Moscow School
> > > District's $1.1 million supplemental levy, which will be up for voter
> > > approval on April 23.
> > >
> > > More information about CQE and its pro-levy campaign is available on its
> > > website:
> > > www.moscowcqe.com
> > >
> > > --Kenton
> > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
> > > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
> > >
> >
>
Back to TOC