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Old 01-14-2009, 07:18 AM
 
464 posts, read 1,352,632 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackhillsdreams View Post
Ashnat, I'm not exactly sure where you live, but in looking at various real estate listings which show tax data, there are already many many homes in the Rapid area with taxes ranging $3500 and way up... From what others say, the city council always votes yes on the highest possible property tax increase every single year there. Be careful what you ask for... You just might get it. Your $1800 could more than double in the next 5-10 years. Then what?
Then my kids education would be better, which is my #1 complaint about RC. I'd pay it with no hesitations.
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Old 01-14-2009, 08:57 AM
 
Location: So. Dak.
13,495 posts, read 37,371,380 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ashnat View Post
Then my kids education would be better, which is my #1 complaint about RC. I'd pay it with no hesitations.
I'd be interested in know your thoughts about that. How does raising taxes and giving more money to schools improve them? If you have the same teachers, same textbooks, same computers, same school building, same administration, etc~how will raising taxes and giving more money to schools improve your child's education? Are you thinking along the lines of raising moral?

Also, you may be in a financial situation where it won't cause a hardship, but for many people it would cause a hardship. A lot of South Dakotans are living on a fixed income and they're already debating between eating or having heat or buying their meds. Our economy is going to take a slump whether we want to admit it or not and some people are just barely getting by. I'm all for supporting our schools, but for some people, just surviving is their main concern right now.

Camden, it is important that we support education even if we don't have children in school. I've just never heard a convincing argument that paying more in taxes will improve the school systems.

I've seen links on other states supporting the good or bad ratings about schools. Does anyone have any sites to show where the schools in our state are listed?

Last edited by Jammie; 01-14-2009 at 09:25 AM..
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Old 01-14-2009, 11:31 AM
 
464 posts, read 1,352,632 times
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No because 10 states won't release their info. I don't no the reasons behind it, maybe the results weren't in. SD has no results out there. But if you compare school districts to other places in the country, you will find our kids are not as smart or don't test as well.
www.schoolmatters.com

Or this:
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/...ct_profile/146
RCAS got a rating of 5 out of 10
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Old 01-14-2009, 02:37 PM
 
955 posts, read 3,642,207 times
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I have to say - we built a new home here this past year - our property taxes are much HIGHER here then they were in Denver on the new house we built there - much higher and our home in Denver was larger! We also still own our house in Denver so we make the tax payments currently - STILL MUCH higher here - so it is not inflation or a change in the times.

Everything else balances it out though - no state income tax, lower child care costs, must lower car insurance and licensure fees...

5th Street past the hospital around Minnesota Avenue and further out towards Catron have new development and homes - as does Sheirdan Lake Road area and parts of the Valley - we were lucky to find a great lot right in town on the south side on top of a hill - we built there and LOVE it

Both my husband and I make the same or more then we did in Denver - both well over $20.00 per hour so we happen to be in fields where we are able to find good jobs in the area - so I cannot speak much to the job issues - I know many have a difficult time finding good paying jobs, but that is why we moved here - we had good job offers.

We are definatly a two income family - we could not maintain the life we want and pay for two kiddos without two incomes!

School issues - I would also love to see the school system improve, but not quite sure what would make that happen - I do know the schools here are MUCH higher quality then in metro denver - in that area the schools are bursting and over crowded - not like "over crowded" here in Rapid but to the point where kids attend half days and the second bunch goes the second half of the day - both afternoon and am sessions at the max. ESL issues are huge, causing delays in other educational processes - gang and drug issues were huge in the schools (I did a lot of work in the schools with therapy and child protection) the student to teacher rations are much lower here, which is also a big plus! I think with school, you also get out of it what you put in... stats can be very misleading... I guess I just knew too much about the schools in Denver and that is also part of why we moved - I would NEVER have let my kids attend school there or grow up there if I had a choice.

I would be happy to try to answer any other questions too

Last edited by BusySocialWorker; 01-14-2009 at 02:45 PM..
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Old 01-14-2009, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
3,940 posts, read 14,684,924 times
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Ashnat, what are some of the terrible aspects about RC public schools? I'm not being disagreeable I'm just curious. Have you noticed your own kids' issues or is it just the stats?
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Old 01-14-2009, 03:49 PM
 
464 posts, read 1,352,632 times
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I'll try to make this organized without venting......try

1. Wed school out at 1:15, most stupid thing ever. How does it benefit the kids education? School should be 8a-3pm every day, or at least 8a-2:30. Why inconvenience the many struggling families by making them find other arrangements for their kids only 1 day a week. Daycares want full time, not once a week. Hourly rates are too expensive to make working that day worth it. And keep in mind, my Wed arrangements are fine. I'm talking about a high majority of parents of the school.
Kindergarten afternoon class goes 11:45 to 2:45 M, T, Th, F and only 11:45 to 1:15 on Wed. Stupid.
2. No spelling tests. "word study" is silly and does not help the kids learn on its own. Spelling tests need done to compliment the "study". There is too much of a fallback on "the kids can use spell check on the computer, they don't need to focus on their spelling." I have actually had teachers tell me this!
3. The mentality that they only teach what the kids need to know to pass nclb. We are falling behind other educational systems because we are not expecting the kids to learn at a pace that keeps up with the rest of the country. I have 2 sisters in completely different parts of the country, their kids 3rd grade material is far advanced what my daughter is being taught this year. (I have had issues every year, not just now.) I have a serious problem with teaching the kids to pass the tests, so the school doesn't lose its' funding. MANY of RC schools are on warning status! In fact, the only school that is consistently NOT on warning status is Steven HS. There IS a problem with a school district if almost half the schools are on warnings each year.
4. It's frustrating to constantly hear about the budget deficit and how things like orchestra and band are almost cut from all Elem schools. These days p.e. is only twice a week and music is only once a week. What's next. If Ron Adelstein (spell?) hadn't donated his own cash, band and orchestra would be gone from the schools this year.
5. Homework, my 1st grader get's a new book to read at home every day. Other than that, no other homework. My 3rd grader has no homework daily. Her teacher "doesn't believe in homework". Yes this is a beef with the individual teacher, I realize that. Yet the kids continue to score very low (60-70) on the math and reading tests. If the scores are so low, why aren't the schools doing something about it? I find it very REactive, not proactive.
6. Report card. Another stupid result of nclb. The kids are scored "ends based". Meaning, by the end of the year they should score a 4 in all areas. But 1st quarter and 2nd quarter they cannot score a 4. Scoring a 4 means they've learned everything they need to learn in their grade. If they score a 4 after 1st quarter, that means they should advance to the next grade. So the kids come home with a bunch of 2's on their report card. How can you evaluate that or determine if they're on track? How can you reward them? Also, 4 is the best score, 1 is the worst. And we have 3 report cards a year. They get their first report card in the MIDDLE of second quarter. The report cards don't line up with the semester.
7. I've never lived in Denver. But I find our classrooms overcrowded. Both my kids Kinder classes had 25 in them. 1 teacher, 25 kids, and no teachers aides or parent assistants. Since Kinder it's gotten better, but they still have 22 or 23 in their classroom.
I just hope to God that Obama TRASHES nclb so we can get back to a beneficial educational system.
Okay, so I couldn't avoid the venting
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Old 01-14-2009, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
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Wow! I really had no idea that Rapid City schools were struggling that much. I didn't even know that they got out at 1:15 on Wednesdays. Is that all schools? I can't really speak because I went to private school, but we had spelling tests all the way through 7th grade. Band was a big thing growing up and if your child was in orchestra they brought in an orchestra teacher- just for your child at no extra cost.

25 in a classroom doesn't seem to unusual though. I think theyve been that way for a while. It sounds like this all points to a FEDERAL problem that LOCALS are paying for and that should stop. My boss' wife is a teacher and she says NCLB is the worst program ever. It causes nothing but stress and shows no results.

Have you ever considered private education? It can get expensive but there is financial aide and if you have more kids you get a discount on tuition.
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Old 01-14-2009, 06:12 PM
 
464 posts, read 1,352,632 times
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1:15 on Wed is only in the Valley. It is SO stupid! No on private schools. One of my kids attended Zion for preschool, and that was not an experience I wanted to continue. My other attended the Memorial Christian school across the street from Zion. That was much better, but funding is low, teachers pay is worse than public schools, and there is too much focus on religion. No offense, but my kids will never attend anything Catholic. (My MIL is strict Catholic and she drives me nuts with all her religious chatter!) I'm NOT saying it's all that way, but that is not a route I want to go.
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Old 01-14-2009, 08:08 PM
 
393 posts, read 1,067,321 times
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Ashnat, i mean no disrespect. But how is it my (or anyone else's) financial responsibility to better your children's education? Speaking to Jammie's comment, how would you imagine throwing money at a problem will solve it? Worse, throwing OPM (other people's money) at it... How about home schooling your kids? I've heard that makes a huge improvement and can accelerate learning by leaps and bounds. You probably work full time and can't afford to take that step so you have to do the best with what you have, right.

Let's take me, my dreams and my finances out of the equation. A more general example is this:

Let's say you have a mid 40's family that already owns (with a mortgage) home somewhere in the hills. They save all they can but barely get by. Taxes are increased to the MAX every single year. This is a 3 income home (might be a couple, may have children, may not). 30 (THIRTY!!!) Years from now, their house is paid for FINALLY! They are no longer able to work and have to scrape by on their meager S.S. payments and what little savings they were able to put together. (Did I mention their 401K evaporated in 2008?).

Anyway, given the current trends, their property taxes are now between $7500 and $12,000 per year~! They will now have the privilege of paying about 80% of their monthly income in property taxes so someone else's kids can maybe get a better education. They end up having to sell their home and move into a 1 bedroom apartment to scrape by and hope their savings lasts long enough until they pass on...

Sorry, but I don't think it's anyone's financial responsibility to pay for other people's children's education if this is the kind of hardship that can come from it. I don't think my example is off by much at all either...
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Old 01-14-2009, 09:10 PM
 
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
3,940 posts, read 14,684,924 times
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Ashnat, if you live in Rapid Valley the citizens of Rapid City are paying for your kids' education. You don't pay any of the same taxes Rapid Citians do. Even your sales tax out there is only 4% while Rapid City's is 6%.
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