Back To My Old School
Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010
by Jack H. Schick
They're raising my school taxes again this year. They're limited on how much they can raise them each year without special approval from the State. I think it's about 9.4%. Because of extra construction and the new teachers' contract a few years ago they got a waiver to go higher a couple of times; but, by eliminating some programs, cutting back on transportation costs and getting rid of a few janitors and assistant coaches, the last few years they've stayed just under the maximum.
They've expanded, too. It's twice as big and a lot nicer. There are 25% more students than when I graduated, maybe more. Our class rooms were a lot smaller than the new ones. So were the auditorium and the gym. We didn't have a pool or indoor track. The assistant principals had tiny offices, which made it more frightening when you got called down there. Now they are big and gorgeous. They put a million dollars into the football stadium. The field's still grass and still gets muddy and torn up, though. They thought about artificial turf but it was too expensive.
They built a huge, beautiful new middle school. The old one was in such bad shape they were better off building new, they said. Afterwards, though, they decided to save the old one too, for future growth. It must have been in really bad shape. It cost over $9 million to fix it up. They did tear down one of the elementary schools and replaced it with a new one, though. They were going to do it with another one, but refurbished it instead. It's amazing what it costs to renovate a school building, but we have some of the nicest looking schools in the area.
Our teachers are some of the highest paid in the area too. Because the economy has sagged around here, the teachers volunteered to postpone their raise a year and combine it with next year's raise. The union made a big stink, but I think they finally allowed it. The pension plan is in really bad shape though. Like me, they invested in the stock market and took a big hit. They are talking about a special State tax to make up the money so the teachers, politicians and government workers don't get less money when they retire. I wish they could do the same for mine. I'm stuck with the decisions I made.
We're still having trouble meeting the education standards, though. We're not the only ones. They say it's because of the parents. The kids don't do home work and don't behave in school. I've done some substitute teaching there, and I might agree. I got in trouble for yelling too loud at a couple of guys who were disrupting class. Nobody acted like that when I was in school. But, what I did didn't come close to what Mr. Reese used to do to us, back in the day, if we even talked in class. Back then we weren't allowed to wear t-shirts or torn pants to school. Back then, parents wouldn't have even thought about suing a teacher or the school if their kid was disciplined. I guess they can't really do anything to get things under control because of all the new laws and lawyers.
So, it looks like school taxes are going up another 9.39% again this year. That's only about $20 a month, though. My raise next year should be about $40 a month, so that will be okay; unless they raise my real-estate taxes, my income tax, my electric bill, my insurance bills, my oil bill and institute the new government employees pension tax too. I don't mind contributing to my old school. I had good times there. I just hope my car doesn't break down or I have to do any home repairs. I'm close to broke, and unlike the school district, I have to worry about that.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Seems like everyone is juggling these days- well, most of us always did, I guess, it's just more and faster juggling now. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, but poor Peter never gets his money back! Thanks for the interesting article- Always- Ellathanks fro reading and commenting
So Jack...just how long ago was it, that you wen there? Come on now, equiring minds want to know!way too long, thanks for reading
Hear. Hear. Too bad our social security checks didn't see ANY COLA this year... but I guess that didn't affect any of those who are making the legislation. Thanks, Jack!Thanks again for your support.
It is such a fun article to read. I actually enjoyed reading it since most of us adults can relate to this. Great article.Terence
a good common ground piece that I think any tax paying adult can easily relate to and helping to stimulate thought about where is this all going. Thanks for writing Jack.Thanks for reading and commenting
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