Hamilton County Property Tax rates. How much, why and for what? (Cincinnati: rental, crime)

[jmecklenborg]

>And where did you go to high school again?

St. Xavier, which has an entrance exam.

[hensleya1]

Hi all--

The minute someone brings a child into his or her life, your interests become immediately subordinated to the interests of the child. And it means you do everything within your power to ensure the best opportunity for that child to succeed. Provide a solid family life at home, raise the child to appreciate his or her blessings, and ensuring the child gets the best education that's humanly possible. I don't have any children myself but you can be damned sure I'll do everything within my power to leave them in better shape than I was at their age, if I do have children. I may succeed, I may not. But I know that I tried.

Cincinnati Public Schools may be turning around. It may not. I'm not here to debate that. Why would you ever gamble with your child's future? I really pity the fool that wants to take even the slightest chance of damaging their children's prospects. There are countless examples of bad parenting in the world - sometimes they can't leave the city, and other times the children fail because of a bad life at home. But deliberately sacrificing your child's future at the altar of new urban living is not only bad parenting - it's downright foolhardy.

A lot of parents realize this - which is why if they can't get their child into private school, they flee to the suburbs the day the child turns five.

[jmecklenborg]

>But deliberately sacrificing your child's future at the altar of new urban living is not only bad parenting - it's downright foolhardy.

This is insane. YOU THE PARENT are responsible for your kid's development, not any school.

[kjbrill]

There is absolutely no reason to let a discussion about schools turn into a personal attack. Obviously there are going to be differing opinions, but they do not have to be expressed as or taken as personal.

I know why Mason has good schools - because the parents demand it. But that is easier to do in a smaller city with a high percentage of like minded people. The same is true of Lakota, Kings, Sycamore, Madeira, Indian Hill, Mariemont, Wyoming, the ones we hear repetitively mentioned for good schools. People seem to have an impression Mason is some kind of high-income area. Believe me, it is no Indian Hill. Yes, we have a good percentage of better than average incomes, but if you actually look around town there are a number of very modest homes. When they go on the market they are snapped up by people desiring to be in Mason schools.

CPS is showing improvement in specific schools. The district as a whole is not performing to that level. I am sure if there was any kind of easy fix it would have already been done. It is like fixing our economy, with so many things wrong where do you start. CPS seems to be fixing part of it. What happens to the rest is anybody's guess.

I know, I don't live in the City so what should I have to say? Simple, Greater Cincinnati is where I live so anything involving it I am interested in.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Save the lectures. I have a child in CPS by choice. I know many other families that do the same and are perfectly happy. Your ignorance of CPS is glaring as with most things Cincinnati.

I have just as much of a vested interest in the success of CPS as you do, but even so, I am incensed at the lies and the manipulative propaganda that emanate from the administration when it comes time to pick my pocket for more money...and you should be, too. They are at the end of their 10-year rebuilding plan, it's time for the levies to expire.

Besides, I'm not terribly impressed with what I have gotten for my money. The schools screamed that they needed new buildings to replace out-dated 100 year old structures, and yet some of these rice-paper modern structures are already coming apart at the seams. Having been inside some of the buildings, and from what I hear from CPS teachers, there was some really shoddy construction. I'm told Riverview East, one of the newest and most modern schools, on Kellogg Avenue is a disaster. So, what stood for 100 years and educated generations of kids was obsolete, but what replaced it may not last 20 years. A waste of money in my book.

CPS counts on the fact that voters have short memories and are not well-informed. It also counts on the larger renter population in the city who never has to (directly) write a property tax check and therefore fails to appreciate the true impact of voting for these levies. I had to congratulate a friend of mine who owns a number of apartment units in the city, and each year he sends a thoughtfully written letter to tenants to remind them to vote their hearts, but understand that if his taxes go up, so will their rent. I imagine if more landlords did this, we'd see a much different outcome on these school issues, and I dare say would force CPS and other districts to get real.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by Sarah Perry

I think CG's carefully chosen phrase "urban culture" makes an important distinction on the racial issue. There are plenty of parents who actually value having their kids in a racially diverse school AS LONG AS the kids are from middle class families which share the same basic values. Do they want their kids exposed to the kind of culture I mentioned in my earlier posting which TJ suggested was racist, and which exists in many CPS neighborhood schools? Of course not. What parent in their right mind would?

I agree with this. Without a doubt, there are parents who are influenced by purely racial factors. It will always exist. However, I believe skin color to be incidental. Values and culture are the real factors that I believe the majority are concerned about. And if the kids in a school are raised to act like a bunch of animals and underachievers, then it really doesn't matter what color their skin is...what really matters is that I don't want my kid to have to have to try to succeed in an environment that runs counter to the values, morals, and behavior that I hold dear.

I went to a highly integrated high school, not in CPS, but locally, and what I learned there was that kids who did share the same basic values and home life got along great, irrespective of race...it was an absolute non-issue. The conflicts occurred around cultural differences, not skin color.

Anyway, enough on that. This thread is supposed to be about taxes.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by t45209

I have just as much of a vested interest in the success of CPS as you do, but even so, I am incensed at the lies and the manipulative propaganda that emanate from the administration when it comes time to pick my pocket for more money...and you should be, too.

Frankly, I am not. I don't like it but what can you do. How is it any different from Lakota schools making kids walk down busy roads that don't have sidewalks?

[t45209]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Frankly, I am not. I don't like it but what can you do. How is it any different from Lakota schools making kids walk down busy roads that don't have sidewalks?

I'm not following the parallel that you are drawing, but I will grant you, CPS has no corner on shady tactics when it comes to tax levies. The system we have in this state for school funding creates the environment that foments deceiving voters.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by t45209

CPS has no corner on shady tactics when it comes to tax levies

That's my only point.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Frankly, I am not. I don't like it but what can you do. How is it any different from Lakota schools making kids walk down busy roads that don't have sidewalks?

That is definitely true. All school districts use whatever shady tactics they can to get money. And what gets me is the so called pillars of the community we elect to the school boards are right in there calculating how to dupe us.