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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LordSquidworth
^^
The portion of my bill that bothers me is the 70% that goes to the school districts and how people tend to say yes to them on increases for the "sake of the children."
Not because I'm anti-public education.
Not because I'm anti-paying for societies children to get an education.
But rather because of the rampant waste. They've become too bureaucratic. There's really no accountability for public school spending anywhere I've lived. It typical has nothing to do with the cost of actual educators.
Before leaving California I sat on a school board citizen's committee to help make budget cuts when they had severe problems (late 1980s). We were moderated by the "assistant Superintendent for Curriculum." Despite his presence there at our meetings, we were unable to justify his salary and therefore recommended that his position be eliminated. They disregarded our recommendation. Good schools help everyone in a city/town, besides increased property values there is reduced crime, and young people are better prepared to make it as adults. Unfortunately you are right, there is far too much spent on top-heavy administration and not enough in the classroom. Our top notch schools depend on donations from parents, mostly from PTSA fund raisers, typically netting as much as $20,000 for individual schools just from a "pass the hat" event, that supplement the meager state funding.
Fiscal conservative here. Live outside the city of Austin. Pay over $10K per year in property taxes. I don't like writing that check every year, but it makes a huge difference that the money is spent near me, and controlled by locally elected officials. My local K-12 schools are excellent - and my kids all were educated by them.
The less money is spent far away - the better. Yes we need national defense and other functions. Not opposed in principle to many of those things. But the less money Congress has to work with (waste!) the better.
My assessed value went up by $11,400 but the tax rate went down by $0.70 per $1,000 assessed.
In 2014, $3,078.68.
In 2015, $3,178.89.
$100.21 more per year. I live in a town with a great school system (even though I have no kids) so even though I pay high taxes the good schools helps my property value.
Fiscal conservative here. Live outside the city of Austin. Pay over $10K per year in property taxes. I don't like writing that check every year, but it makes a huge difference that the money is spent near me, and controlled by locally elected officials. My local K-12 schools are excellent - and my kids all were educated by them.
The less money is spent far away - the better. Yes we need national defense and other functions. Not opposed in principle to many of those things. But the less money Congress has to work with (waste!) the better.
I guess that's why national defense is the biggest waste of money in the federal budget (probably wastes 100x as much as all other state local and federal government combined). For some reason when it comes to blowing things up, nobody minds getting pennies on the tax dollar.
I guess that's why national defense is the biggest waste of money in the federal budget (probably wastes 100x as much as all other state local and federal government combined). For some reason when it comes to blowing things up, nobody minds getting pennies on the tax dollar.
Everything Federal is blown up and wasteful. It is a consequence of scale.
I believe in a strong national defense. But that doesn't mean they need as much money as they spend.
Everything Federal is blown up and wasteful. It is a consequence of scale.
I believe in a strong national defense. But that doesn't mean they need as much money as they spend.
Reduce overseas military bases in selected areas (Cold War era leftovers, etc). Spend it at home instead.
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