School Bond and Levy Feb. 2015
The notice in the mail reads, HERE"S THE TRUTH. Funny, but it feels a little like and "Easy-open package," you know, the kind you have to wrestle with for at least ten minutes and then you still cannot open it, even if you resort to using teeth. There may be a lot of truthful information here, but then, is it really full disclosure? You have to wonder...... Is it the TRUTH, or just what the sender wants you to know?
The directive is to "VOTE YES TWICE" The words on the yellow paper work to convince the reader that "Mead kids need" your vote of YES. It's an emotional plea, isn't it? (It always is!) "Help the children, please continue funding public schools."
We are told that the state only provides 77% of the District budget. The levy funds the remaining 23 %. Could the math really be that simple?
Hardly. It's interesting too that in this simple equation there is no mention of how much Federal fund in at use in our local public schools. with no mention of any federal funding in this mailing,one might recall how, last year,
the Spokesman Review reported that in Washington there had been a decision made that took a chunk of federal funding, (about 40 million dollars,) out of the control of Spokane school officials. Bummer for them. Needless to say, schools didn't like the loss of funding control... and many didn't like the notion of parents choosing their child's school,or using outside rescources for learning... but your kids... are your buisness and their education is your choice.... and it's your job, to fund the schools. You can bet they like having your money in the form of taxes... "for the kids."
While the schools do get and use federal funds, they make it sound like all the funding they use comes from two sources; the state money allocated to the district's budget and your generous bond and levy funding. And while schools do
accept and sometimes solicit, donations from parents and philanthropists, there is no mention of any
private donations or
grants or even business "donations"to a
tax deductible charity...known as the local
public school. There is no mention of any federal funding either..
We are told that the bond is needed to upgrade "all" facilities and implement them with
new security enhancements, build new schools, and purchase land for future school sites. It's not for the economy, it's not for the peace of mind for staff and parents, nope. It's not for school administrators, teacher salaries or job security for staff and planners who work in the system to make it the best it can be, those have to think about the future of public education in general. It's not so that the parents can go to work, make a living and pay bills know the kids are being taken care of in a good and competent school...... No, the "truth" is, it's "for the kids"
We are also encouraged to renew a levy, to maintain "superior learning programs, "and this is also "for the kids," but what these programs are or might be is left to our imagination. We are not told specifically what programs these are, just given superlative adjectives. It sure seems odd too, that the state funding would not be being used to provide these anonymous "learning programs" used in schools for kids. We are also informed that levies support athletics and activities, but we have no idea of what thee activities might be...
All we are told as voters who have received this yellow paper in the mail is that the schools can use the money and "Vote yes, twice... It's "for the kids."
To learn more about how money is spent in your school district, (so you can perhaps better decide how best to vote,) go to the
OSPI website, here. Use the pull down menu to select you particular district of interest, then click on "search"
for links to the published reports.
Other articles that might be of interest include:
Some articles related to things that your dollars buy for schools:
A Stadium
Buildings and Land.
