Wayne Brown wrote:
>
> On the contrary, I think vouchers stand for the notion that people who
don't use
> the public educational system shouldn't have to pay for it.  If I send my
> children to private school, then I pay their tuition PLUS paying for
everyone
> else's kids (with my taxes).  Rather than vouchers, I'd prefer that
families who
> don't make use of public schools simply be exempted from paying whatever
> percentage of their taxes goes to fund education.

I agree with Wayne - to a certain extent.  I agree that those who do not
benefit from the public school system should not have to pay for it.
However, if that would be applied to our community - virtually no one would
be exempt.  Why?  Let's take a look...

1.  Our school system has help fund our public library.  The school and the
county decided several years ago that it was counter-productive for a small
community like ours to have both a school library and a public / county
library.  Instead, a joint library was established.  As a result, we have a
exposure to a wider variety of reading material (not just books) than either
could have established independently.

2.  Our school system has underwritten the majority of the cost of bringing
high speed internet access into town.  The school district benefits
immensely because they have t1 access throughout the district.  However, the
business community has benefited from being able to piggy-back off of the
school system radio link lines to Great Bend (and beyond).  The local
community has been able to benefit because a local businessman was able to
establish a local ISP that also piggy-backs off of that radio link.

3.  The school district supplies virtually our entire cultural arts for the
community - from plays to concerts.  While there is a charge to get into
such events, the gate could never begin to cover the costs of the instructor
time (often done on a volunteer basis after normal classroom hours) nor for
the lighting and heating / cooling of the building after normal school
hours.  About all the gate covers is the cost of purchasing supplies to
build sets and make costumes and the cost of promotional materials.

4.  Senior citizens in our town have the right (and privilege) to be served
a hot meal twice a day and extremely reduced rates.  Anyone over the age of
65 can eat in the school cafeteria for both breakfast and lunch on school
days - at the same cost that students would pay (which is currently $2.35
for lunch and $1.65 for breakfast).

5.  Virtually all children in the district benefit from the combined city
recreation commission and school district cooperative efforts.  Our t-ball,
floor hockey, roller skating program, youth soccer program, and youth
basketball programs all charge a fee to cover administrative costs
(predominantly salaries for the required referees and the rec commission
director).  The facilities are local school facilities that are offered for
use at no additional cost to the community.

6.  Almost anyone who drives on our city streets is beholden to the school
district as well.  Throughout the years a number of street improvements have
been paid for either entirely or in part from district improvement funds
because of the need to meet federal requirements for handicapped access and
/ or bus transportation safety requirements.

It might just be that our community is unique, but I would hope not.  I
heavily favor a voucher system, but I respectfully decline the option of
simply "opting out" from the tax burden unless you can validate that you
benefit in no way from the school district funds.  When it comes to a
voucher system, I also contend that it cannot - and should not - exceed 80%
of the amount of money that you actually contribute to the system.  If you
withdraw more than you contribute (which is what most voucher systems
proposals stress), you are actually taking from the community at large.  If
you take everything that you contribute, you leave nothing left for the
local district to meet administrative costs associated with administering
your vouchers - and nothing for community improvement.

Glenn Koster