Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Make an informed vote on school levy

This is a new tax (if the levy is not passed, taxes go down).


Bob Corker lives in Hailey.

By BOB CORKER

I want the best education possible for children. Like many others, I have spent time, energy and personal funds directly supporting public education. I served as an Education Foundation board member for four years (two of those as president). I was among a handful of people who met with interim Gov. Jim Risch in 2006 to be sure that our children's educations were not disadvantaged by property tax reforms he was proposing. I wholeheartedly support spending on things that really affect the quality of education, which include teacher training, reduced class sizes, curriculum enhancements (like AVID and IB), foreign language instruction for all students beginning in primary school, after-school programs, and pre-K initiatives, to name a few.

None of these items is covered by this plant and facility levy. In my opinion, too much time is spent by our school board and our district leadership on plant and facility issues. The district just went through an unprecedented 10-year period of construction. The more you build, the more time and money is spent on upkeep.

In the next few years, I'd like to see the district focus primarily on instruction and student achievement—the core business of schools. I'd also like to see the district start to gauge progress by using measures that really count—like four-year graduation rates, the percentage of kids taking advanced classes and graduating college-ready, etc.—not just standardized test scores. That's what world-class, model school districts do.

Can we please set the record straight? There is some misinformation out there. First, money from this levy cannot and will not be spent on teachers or curriculum. Second, this is a new tax (if the levy is not passed, taxes go down; therefore, this is a new tax). Third, it is not fair to say that teachers may lose their jobs if the district doesn't have levy dollars to fix a roof or replace a boiler costing a few hundred thousand dollars. This is not true. Lastly, the argument has been made that a levy saves interest expense over issuing bonds. This only makes sense if one assumes that we should be spending $60 million on plant and facilities in the first place.

The facts are: Our district is in good shape financially, has fabulous facilities and great safety measures. Our schools have enjoyed a funding windfall that would be the envy of any other branch of our local government, because school property tax income is fixed at 2006 assessment levels—the high of the real estate market. We will have at least a $60 million budget, even without this levy—about $20,000 per pupil. In addition, the district has about $13 million in its "rainy day" account.

Jobs are scarce and our valley's population is not going to grow in the near future. There is no reason that our school district cannot scale back on grand plans and put off the levy for a couple of years to wait and see if our student population begins to grow again.

In the end, if voters make an informed choice to prioritize $60 million worth of plant and facilities spending, that's OK. However, I would like district leadership to focus more time and energy on things that will make us one of the top 100 school districts in the country. I can tell you it won't be new facilities that get us there. It will be a laser-like focus on curriculum and teachers.

Please vote on Thursday, Oct. 29. Voting takes place at area elementary schools.




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