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A small price to pay for maintaining the lowest tax burden in the developed world, no? Put the tea partiers in charge and you'll be getting plenty more of this.
Ah, yes...those evil Tea Partiers. I notice you've said nothing about the good-for-nothing Colorado legislature who continues to spend money for ridiculous social programs and debates endlessly over "medical" marijuana laws while just hoping for the best that Colorado will continue to lure well educated people from out-of-state while doing nothing to keep the smart kids IN state.
Colorado...where I can get pot for my supposed "back pain" but can't buy a bottle of wine at Safeway. Where we have the lowest price gasoline but continue to have increased car registration fees. Where one Fortune 500 company after another leaves for greener pastures and even Frontier Airlines, our hometown airline, is now out-of-state (but thankfully the funny animal commercials remain!). Since the Tea Party barely has a toe-hold in Colorado, I'd find another place to vent your frustration.
Colorado, like many other states, built their tax system on the belief that the "party will never end." Well...the party has ended and no one is offering any solutions on how to fundamentally change the system so that we don't keep our state afloat on people going to Best Buy or buying McMansions. It's nothing but lazy legislating to automatically cut school funding, to mandate furlough days and to increase car registration fees. Colorado is just another state who likes to put sparkly band-aids on the problem and pass it to the next generation to solve.
I don't care about any feud between districts or which one is "better". both have great things to offer, as well as littleton.
I just think that schools shouldn't have to nickel and dime parents. it's bad enough that kids are forced to fundraise endlessly for silly things. parents now bring supplies to schools. teachers spend tons of their own cash for basic supplies. now, parents are being asked to pay for bus rides. it needs to stop. education is a basic right of a free society but it isn't free. we need to pay for it - everyone needs to pay for it, whether you have kids in school or not.
I have no stake in either of the school districts so we can replace CCSD with District A and Douglas County with District B. My point by showing the levies (which is simplified because a district with less children per household would have the same funding per child with a lower levy) is that throwing more money isn't the only factor into quality of education. Many in these boards agree that parent involvement is quite significant and that won't change in District B because the mill levy didn't pass. There is more to education than having the most spending - if it was just spending look at the list to find the best district.
true, but you can't continue to strip money from a district and continue to get those excellent ratings for the district. money does, more often than not, equal better education.
true, but you can't continue to strip money from a district and continue to get those excellent ratings for the district. money does, more often than not, equal better education.
Yes, but there is a difference in looking at the "per pupil spending" numbers and actually seeing money being spent in the classrooms. Throwing money at a problem rarely solves anything...whether you're talking about schools, the size of government or even someone in a financial mess.
Until I got involved in the school district and in our neighborhood schools, I really had no idea how much goes into a good education and how much behind-the-scenes stuff is done. Each school operates differently, even in the same school district. While the school district plays a role in the curriculum, everything...from the bathrooms to the art supplies are managed by the individual schools.
My daughter goes to an elementary school in CCSD and her experiences...from the IPODs being sent home with kids who are falling behind, to her THREE field trips just for 1st grade, to the fact she can join a marching band in 3rd grade and gets to chose from a wide variety of extracurricular activities...that's all because of the staff and parental support of our particular school. Our PTO makes a lot of money and has decided to give teachers an allotment every year to spend what they wish. I didn't know that wasn't the same for every school, but after attending a few district PTO meetings and talking to other PTO boards, this is not the case at all. We are one of a few schools who offer that and the teachers sometimes "pool" their money to do some pretty amazing stuff. That's what goes into a good education...it's not how much each district spends on the students...that doesn't take into account the bureaucracy that skims money off of the top.
However...the deeper cuts that some districts are going to have to make WILL affect the quality of education. Some districts have to cut over $50 MILLION. There is no way to do that "behind-the-scenes" which means that parents will have to pay for stuff like buses, extracurriculars, more school supplies being brought from home, and probably increasing class sizes, etc.
It constantly amazes me how folks can expect the government to fund everything - and then wonder why there are budget cuts. It's time to wake up people and realize that the government can't possibly provide everything we want.
I don't care if you are a tea partier, republican, democrat or some other group - you have to realize that current attitude of government looking out for everyone is not getting us anywhere other than deeper in debt. In Colorado, much like the state I moved here from, we are constitutionally mandated to have a balanced budget. That means if we are going to be in the red somewhere, things have to be cut.
Is it fair that they are going after education - NOT AT ALL! But, don't even think about telling the citizens of this state (or any other state) to buck up and pay for something. Because we are "entitled" to have all this for free. Heck, we have so much we'll even welcome people here illegally and provide a free education and healthcare system to them, too. Because hey, we're America - land of opportunity - land of plenty. We'll boycott industry and even states that try to go against the system and not "give" things to people because they are "entitled".
Most "middle Americans" work hard to provide for their families, and yes it is discouraging to have to pay for things that we may have gotten for free when we were younger, but the government cannot feasibly continue to provide for everybody, and at some point the onnus has to be on the citizens to take care of themselves. Unfortunately today that means paying for a school bus ride, tomorrow it will be something else.
I, for one, think the district we are debating did what it felt it needed to do. And, they went with the majority of survey respondents asked them to do. That is government of the people by the people. No, it doesn't mean every person was happy with the outcome, but it was the best compromise they could come up with.
Don't look around for someone to blame, look at people's voting records. And voice your complaints at the polls.
As one of the parents who attended the budget cut meetings at CCSD, I disagree.
First, I thought it would be like every other district meeting...a lot of "managers" and just a few parents. In reality, the one I attended was very full. I was pleased and surprised and felt like there were some very good ideas passed around, including changing the start/end times. I filled out paperwork, as did most of the people sitting around me, that indicated I was more in favor of changing start/end times and walking distances over increasing class sizes. As a result, class sizes for CCSD will stay the same and start/end times and walking distances have been changed. BTW, for those parents who work, they also increased the number of slots available for before/after care and everyone I know in my neighborhood school has said they were given a slot for next year.
Last year, CCSD thought they would be okay since the bond/levy passed. Then, they got the news that the state was cutting funding so things had to change in everyone's district, and fortunately for CCSD, they didn't have to cut as much. I think the number is $14 million, which seems high, but in reality can be compensated for with a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff instead of affecting what most kids see and do.
The atmosphere in each school is determined, as it always has been, by parental involvement and the PTCO. Our PTCO is very active and has great opportunities for fundraising instead of making kids go out and sell candybars and magazine subscriptions. In return, the money gets turned over to teachers to give them extra supplies, fund extracurricular activities, host community (non-fundraising) events and even send kids on field trips (my 1st grader had THREE field trips this year!).
I wish it were that simple 3D. I spoke with a district board member confidentially about a month before the first scheduled townhall meeting, and was basically given a rundown of the entire budget cut, not down to the exact dollar, but every single one of them as planned in the final version. I was told that there would be no class size increases as they are pegged at an already low limit, and they were going to change start times to make busing more efficient. So I'm not sure what the charade they did at the public meetings or maybe they were just good prognosticators. BTW our CCSD meetings have always been packed for years, we go to the Campus/CCHS one.
Even way before this, with regards to class room size, I was concerned last fall when I noticed on a classroom reorganization schematic of my kid's school for 2010-2011 that perhaps a class would be cut. That's when the principal reassured me that there was no push on the board to increase class room size, and that it was a monumental task to make those changes.
Is it fair that they are going after education - NOT AT ALL! But, don't even think about telling the citizens of this state (or any other state) to buck up and pay for something. Because we are "entitled" to have all this for free. Heck, we have so much we'll even welcome people here illegally and provide a free education and healthcare system to them, too. Because hey, we're America - land of opportunity - land of plenty. We'll boycott industry and even states that try to go against the system and not "give" things to people because they are "entitled".
I agree with you 100%. However most people want their free public school education, they expect the government to provide that, but there's obviously no push to raise taxes to cover that cost. It's too bad in every state, education is the first to be cut anytime there's a budget crunch.
I cannot find that article about the survey but it was not even close to being a representative survey. I think that, like CCSD, it was just a way to make parents feel like they were part of the resolution when in fact decisions had been made. It is a well known strategy of change management.
Just a thought, why not sell advertising on the bus to help cover costs?
I have no stake in either of the school districts so we can replace CCSD with District A and Douglas County with District B. My point by showing the levies (which is simplified because a district with less children per household would have the same funding per child with a lower levy) is that throwing more money isn't the only factor into quality of education. Many in these boards agree that parent involvement is quite significant and that won't change in District B because the mill levy didn't pass. There is more to education than having the most spending - if it was just spending look at the list to find the best district.
That is an interesting point. The lackluster DCSD elementary school my kids attended from '06-'08 had very little parental involvement, while the CCSD elementary they attend now has a very large and active force of parent volunteers. I have to wonder if it's their presence that made the levy easier to pass, since parents who spend time in the schools can see the needs and the potential benefits of additional money.
I have very mixed feelings about DCSD charging for buses. They have a lot of money to cut from the budget (so does CCSD), and if this helps them do it, well, I guess the parents are going to have to ante up. But, my guess is that these cuts are going to hurt the people the people who can least afford it. Affluent parents will just load the kids up in the minivan and take them to school, but what about those people who are hurting financially and don't have any other options?
Last edited by formercalifornian; 05-21-2010 at 12:21 PM..
While I am not there yet, it's interesting to read about the different school systems and to have a heads-up for what I will be moving my children into later this year... Here's the link to the results from the survey everyone's talking about. 2010 Community Survey Results
The problem (which is probably a strong word) I have with the question about paying .50-1.00 for riding a bus is that it asked if the students would still ride the bus, not if we (parents) liked the idea. For many parents there are not other options- they may not be able to drive their children to school. So, of course they would mark yes, their child will still ride the bus. I also wonder how the payments and logistics are going to work for this- but I am sure DCSD has weighed these costs with the money they will make on charging for the bus. Also, how hard will it be to suspend a student from riding the bus, which their parent has paid for; will the parent be reimbursed?
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