Larry Allan said: Andy Jorgensen said: 55+ communities that don't allow school age children here in Marion County are exempt from the school property tax. Hence, our school system is millions in the hole each year with no end in sight.
You are absolutely correct that quality of life starts at young age with proper schooling. That's why so many foreign countries put such a strong emphasis on schooling, and pay for kids college education. A college education in 'Merica is too dang expensive now and the Universities wonder why enrollment is down. To combat this, they increase tuition. It's a downward spiral that is already causing schools to drown in debt and cut necessary programs to survive. The part that affects us is research dollars - something we've all seen dwindle in the recent years.
Educating our youth is a burden we all should have, regardless of if we have kids or not.
I also pay for litter control for our county to clean up roadsides. They collect millions each year then have inmate labor do the work or volunteers under an "Adopt a Road" program. Where does the money they collect really go?
Andy, this must be the first time I have ever seen you post in a political discussion...Everything OK?
Slow day yesterday. I have a friend that is very passionate about this topic. I've listened to him hours on end give presentations to anybody that would listen. The sad part is, he's right. Our county is full of 55+ communities and not a single one of them get charged school tax. That leaves the burden on the rest of us. Our school system is in the hole because they built schools like crazy trying to keep up with the influx of families moving to our area when housing was booming, eating up a lot of the reserves. Our classroom sizes are still over the state limit, but it's cheaper to pay the state fine than to hire another teacher or build another school. They learned from their mistakes from just a few years ago. We also have many aging buildings that need dire repairs to stay open. Last year two elementary schools closed for various reasons because the school board didn't have the influx of cash to keep them open. Our county is also very large, and the transportation budget eats up a lot of the overall operating budget the school system has each year simply due to fuel usage.
The school board has tried their best to overcome a lot of these issues. They've looked at year 'round school and contracting out the bus system. Both got voted down by the public - including those in 55+ communities that don't pay school taxes to begin with!!